Cat teeth care

Further to my different post, I wanted to ask the members here for advice.

I live in Dubai and I recently posted a message regarding a new kitten that we added to the family (cat leaking from mouth). I am basically worried that we're not getting the right vet attention and I wanted to be aware of a few things:

Dubai is a great place to live but it's highly inflated, certain professions can't thrive here as all costs are 5 star hotel-like and therefore some businesses can't over-charge while at the same time can survive in the middle of high rents, high cost of living, and high everything, vetrinary services i am afraid seem to be one of them. My vet until now have not satisfied my need to know and seems to be.... hmmmm .... not really caring. Mostly what I want to know is:

Is feline gengivitis treatable or not? because i keep reading about your messages here that it is but my vet casually dismisses it and says it's something to live with, and every now and then he'll just remove a tooth. Is that right?

Sam

Well you can brush your cat's teeth on your own and that will help. If not than if their teeth are getting really bad the vet can do a deep cleaning. Not recommended for all cats because they need to be put under for the procedure and it can be very hard on older cats.

Oliver is only 2 years old, but his breath can wipe out civilization. He has a reddish line accross his lower jaw gums at the teeth. I kept reading here about antibiotics to "finish off the problem" and dental cleaning. But that's why I was concerned that our vet here in Dubai seems to say that there isn't such a thing and cleaning doesn't help gengivitis. Sounded contradictory and not making much sense.

Comments anyone?

Sam

P.S. (Do I brush their teeth with a normal (but soft of course) human toothpaste and brush?)

Originally Posted by sampharo

Oliver is only 2 years old, but his breath can wipe out civilization. He has a reddish line accross his lower jaw gums at the teeth. I kept reading here about antibiotics to "finish off the problem" and dental cleaning. But that's why I was concerned that our vet here in Dubai seems to say that there isn't such a thing and cleaning doesn't help gengivitis. Sounded contradictory and not making much sense.

Comments anyone?

Sam

P.S. (Do I brush their teeth with a normal (but soft of course) human toothpaste and brush?)

Click to expand...

Yes antibiotics are often used to help treat gigervistis but yes brushing will help but DONt use human ... the foam will make kitty mad and it contains some things that can be toxic to kitty

Feline gingivitis is not something you can really ever "cure" in a cat predisposed to it, but it can be managed successfully with the right treatment. Regular dental cleanings with subgingival scrapings are mandatory. A course of antibiotics will assist in clearing up the infection, but if you don't have the scraping done, it will return, sometimes resulting in the loss of teeth. There are also additives you can order and place in the cat's drinking water which are supposed to help, but I have no experience with them so cannot give you an endorsement one way or the other on them.

Living in a country other than the US (I am not familiar with how things are done in other places) may prove to be more difficult when it comes to finding the appropriate vet care for this condition. I am not certain what you can do, but maybe if you were to take in some printed materials for your vet to read, he may change his opinion ... here are some good ones:

http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/health/gingivitis.html

http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/health/dental.html

Peraps printing these articles and taking them in to your vet will assist in obtaining the appropriate treatment.

Best of luck,

~gf~