new cattery on the Block

Hi Everyone,

I just thought I would say hi
My name is Alon Bigler and I am the owner of BigPurrs Cattery in Israle.
i am not a new member "per se" since i first registered on april 2001, but I have never actively participated on the boards of this site.

I breed persians in Israel so I am usually more active on the Isralei cat boards and the persian-cats.com boards. but am now gld to join these very nice friendly informative boards.

My cattery is very small and the persians I breed are in white and Bi-color verieties.

I am very pleased to meet you all

Oooh Ooh!! I am so glad you are here!! I usually don't welcome people by asking them questions but my Kitty Sampson needs some help.

First let me give you a little history... Sampson is a 3 year old Persian who I adopted in October. During one of our grooming sessons I looked in his mouth and his teeth look awfull. One of his canines are brown and his gums are inflamed so I guess my question is how are the strength of the breed's teeth?

I know about their bites and how bad they can be but his bite is pretty good for a Persian. I'm just wondering if his dental problems are common to his breed or if it's just him. He is going to the Vet Tuesday to have them check them out.

Thanks!!

BTW Welcome!! Nice to see a fellow Persian lover on the boards.

Hi BadHabit,

I am as glad to be here as you are to greet me.
If I can be of any assistace I am glad.

as for your question. you are right about the problem of misalighned bite. that is common in persians due to the shortened nose, but that doesnt have anything to do with the teeth streangth and the breeds teeth are not known to be any weeker than other breeds.

through my experiance with my cats I have found that each cat has its own tendancy for teeth problems. this is very much so in humans too (my mom has very week teeth, while me and my brothers are quite ok on the matter).

I have one cat that needs to have complete dental care and cleaning about every 6 months! while I have quite a few others that could stay up to two years with no need for even a tratar cleaning treament.

I do believe that its genetic though. but I dont think anyone has really gone into the "teeth streangth and genetics" question too deeply, or at least I havent seen anything substantial research accept for bite alignment researches.

but there are things you can do for your kittie when he is well though. there are quite a few snacks for cats which are supposed to give constant teeth maintanance. you can feed him a few of these a day, or you can brush his teeth weekly with a special paste and brush you can get at a pet store. (they do hate it though).

Lately I have also started using a new science diet formula made for teeth maintanace as well and so far I think its very good. feeding dryfood instead of wet food also helps the natural brushing of cats teeth and reduces tartar and other problems.

lots of love and good luck on the teeth treatment.

Thanks for the reply. That was the answer I was looking for. I'm going to start brushing his teeth and hopefully he won't put up a stink. As I said he will be seeing his vet in a couple days and by the way things look he's going to need a dental.

I had thought of putting him on a tartar control diet but looking at the T/D kibble it's too big for him. I know that sounds silly but he used to eat Iams but had such a hard time eating it. It would always fall out of his mouth and it would take him a half hour to eat and sometimes he wouldn't finish. Once I switched him to a smaller kibble he's been fine.

But I do give him tartar control treats and maybe I'll give him a little more. Poor little guy!!

Once again thank you for your answer. I've looked everywhere for some information, books, web sites and other Persian owners but no one was sure. Thanks!!

you are most welcome Jessica.

actually you are right the science diet tartar controll kibble are quite big.

if you are looking for smaller tartar controll kibble I would look for the "pounce" snack series. I dont know if you have these in your country, but they are sort of in the Iams kibble size and are also very good for tartar controll.

good luck
Alon

Hi Alon,

I was just about to check and see if you managed to log in when I saw you made the last post in this forum

Welcome!!!

Hi Anne,

Thank you so much for all your help with my log in

as you can see I am making friends allready.

Hope to see you at the next show in Israel. I have quite a few nice ones for the next showing season.

Lots of Love

Hi, Alon! Welcome. It's so nice to have you with us. Did you already know Anne? I guess we have the two of you to pray for now. Keep safe. God bless.

Hi Jeanie,

Yes I know Anne for quite some time now.
Anne is also the administrator of a very large Israeli Cat site and forum.
Since I am active in the Israeli Forums for about 3 years I know Anne about 3 years now.
Actually Anne invited me here, and I am glad she did so.
I have also met Anne in person at one of our shows, and hope to see her again.

I guess you are right, you have to pray for both of us now, and on our sides we will try and stay safe. there is quite a big community of cat lovers in Israel, and a small developing fancy purebred cats too.