Matt's refusing all wet food but cheap brands.......and can eat corn now????

[minka]

Kitties can have all the same issues people do with their teeth and gums. A large part of it is genetic - though just like with people, diet and dental hygiene play a role.

All of our vets (we work with three vets at three different practices) recommend annual dentals. We haven't kept up with it for all 8 cats, but we do try to have dentals done for everyone at least once every two years, and for two cats that have dental issues, every year or six months, depending on the what the vet sees and recommends.

Here's a short article on the relationship between oral health and overall health: http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/gum-disease-health

It discusses the issue in people, but it's the same for animals - better overall health if good oral health.

I am really am curious though. Why did Bluebo's cat seemingly get bad breath after they started feeding wet? Is it similar to how when switching away from grains, some owners experience stool problems because the grain was masking a problem that was already there?

 

[ldg]

I am really am curious though. Why did Bluebo's cat seemingly get bad breath after they started feeding wet? Is it similar to how when switching away from grains, some owners experience stool problems because the grain was masking a problem that was already there?

You know, I don't know. My cats had the opposite happen - when I switched them to canned food only from a mostly dry food diet, their breath improved. And on raw, it improved from that.

I think maybe it depends on how the cats eat? :dk:

My Spooky, with the worst dental problems, doesn't chew AT ALL. I tried the Greenies dental treats a long time ago, and she swallowed THOSE whole! BUT... she chews raw meat. :dk:

When I fed them canned food, I always added water to it, so it was kind of soupy. I wanted them to have the extra water, but they also wouldn't just "eat" pate foods - they liked "gravy." So I turned the pate foods I wanted them eating into gravy. And they'd "lap" up their food. It wasn't until we switched to raw that anyone started chewing anything.

BUT... on dry food, most of them would crunch on it. So I suspect that little bits of kibble got stuck in their teeth, and that's why their breath smelled on kibble - and because they lapped up the wet food, not much food (if any?) got stuck in their teeth. Now - we know why raw benefits their teeth, even if they're not eating bone. It's a lower pH, so less bacterial growth - and the chewing, of even just meat, helps clean their teeth.

So I'm wondering... if a kitty is fed wet food that they take bites of, if more food doesn't get stuck in their teeth than when fed dry? :dk:

 

[minka]

Hmmm, that sounds like a possibility...

 

[socksy]

We did cat skulls in my zoology lab today.  There were some cougar skulls and 30+ domestic cat skulls.  I noticed that most of the domestic cats had plaque on their molars and premolars and you could clearly see where the gum-line was.  The cougars had very clean teeth.  Also learned that cats are supposed to have 30 teeth but many of them loose their rudimentary first premolars and so only have 28 teeth.  On many of the skulls, these teeth were lost early in life and bone grew over, showing no trace that it was ever there.  If they lost it later, there's a hole left in the skull.  

Fun facts, right?

 

[minka]

So the conclusion is that raw meat is much better for the teeth than kibble. ;-)

 

[socksy]

Presumably.  It doesn't really prove anything, them being different species and the sample size being so small, but it was quite striking to me, because the cougar's teeth were SO nice.  They looked like they had been polished.  

Also, I came home after that and started poking my own cat's skulls and looking at their teeth.  Hester has an almost fully-formed postorbital bar, which is quite unusual.  She didn't seem to care, lol.