Thread: Snip. Snip. Snip!

As you say,interesting.....
The one thing we always do is check the teeth & ears of any animal that under goes an anaesthetic,an opportunity not to be missed & we always maintain that if an animal comes back a week or two after we have had them on the table with mouth or ear problems then we would feel we had let the client down.We very often find retained baby teeth in cats & dogs but how unlucky for all your boys to have vestigial teeth,pleased they are not charging you for another anaesthetic but that really is one too many for the poor boy to be having so early on in life.I have found that the reds do seem to suffer more with their gums,don't know if it is something genetic,Bruce is my only one that has suffered with his gums & that was from a very early age,still very young for your boys to need a s & p. We have had some clients whose cats have responded to the t\d but equally as many not,boss maintains it is the chewing on little furries bones that keeps them clean,natures way,you can always tell the domestic cats that catch & eat their pray their teeth are invariabily better than others that don't,this time of the year boss says throw them BQ rib bones to have a chew on,some of mine will the others say excuse me could you cut that up please.I don't know the answer,I feed wet as you know & have had no problems,my thirteen year old went to her grave without any tartar build up at all so wet food done her no harm,could be a good bit of research needed here & I've no doubt you will get plenty of help from forum members.
Cuddles to all the boys & so sorry that two of them are sore both ends....x

From what I can remember T/D is just a large hard kibble, not sure what the difference in size is between that and RC Maine Coon. Did the vet offer to use dentagen wax when the had done the S&P, I think it is used in cats as well as dogs. There is also a water additive which carrys on coating the teeth with a protective film (you start this five days after the wax if memory serves).

From our experience it is not that unusual for young (<1 year old) MCs to have gingivitis. Not severe plaque though (if that is really the case). We have had various levels of tooth and gum issues here. I now brush the teeth of all four nearly every night, and that has made a huge difference. Our girl Bella had some issues with her lower incisors (the pin-sized tiny teeth in the center), so she saw a vet dental specialist at one point. He recommended brushing as the very best thing you can do for your cats teeth. So that is what we now do. You don't need to do that thorough a job brushing, as the enzymatic toothpastes seem to work quite well if simply spread around a bit.

I think that Peter is exactly right about dry not really helping tooth problems--just not causing as many problems as canned. This is one place where I think it is quite obvious that a raw diet would be better for the cats, but I am not willing to risk them or my family getting sick (or even potentially dying) due to the pathogens that are proven to be in a high fraction of the US human meat supply. Brushing their teeth is a whole lot safer--and it takes way less time than would be required to deal with cleaning up after raw food to try to prevent illness IMO.

As for the Science Diet t/d, we feed some of that as treats to our cats (mainly the two boys). It is not high enough quality to be used as a primary food. The younger male eats the most of it, probably 20 pieces per day typically. He does have the whitest, cleanest looking teeth of the four. Not sure how much part the t/d plays, but he does love to bat the large pieces off the edge of the counter and then around the kitchen floor before eating them. The other male probably typically eats 5-10 pieces per day (along with other tooth products like Dentabites).

Originally Posted by Helen & John

From what I can remember T/D is just a large hard kibble, not sure what the difference in size is between that and RC Maine Coon. Did the vet offer to use dentagen wax when the had done the S&P, I think it is used in cats as well as dogs. There is also a water additive which carrys on coating the teeth with a protective film (you start this five days after the wax if memory serves).

Yes Helen you are right about the dentagen wax we apply that,also right about additive to the water,we used to have Aquadent but although they claimed it was undetectable by animals I wonder if they had tried it out on many cats,can't remember one that drunk it but must be some out there,we used to use logic oral gel on one of our dogs years ago & that helped a lot especially using it early on before things started to get bad,just rubbed it around the gums /teeth & as NCarver points out the enzymes do the rest ,don't know if you can use that on cats,could be homework time coming on here....!

Yep,good old google,you can get a dog/cat one.

Looks like we've established that commercial food, wet or dry, is no good for a cat's teeth in the long term. Even my vet agrees with that.

So for optimal dental health the options are: feeding a regular raw chicken wing, or rib, or a few chunks of beef....or cleaning your cats' teeth? Hmm, let's see...which one is easy, natural, and pleasant for the cat?

It's a no-brainer.

Originally Posted by Howlinbob

Looks like we've established that commercial food, wet or dry, is no good for a cat's teeth in the long term. Even my vet agrees with that.

So for optimal dental health the options are: feeding a regular raw chicken wing, or rib, or a few chunks of beef....or cleaning your cats' teeth? Hmm, let's see...which one is easy, natural, and pleasant for the cat?

It's a no-brainer.

Have to disagree a bit there,I fed my domestic cats on just felix canned & never had a tooth problem with them, 14yrs when one died & 7 when the other one argued with a car,they didn't even have any dry kibble & all this lot have only ever been fed on Felix canned with the sprinkling of dried & except for Bruce who has had the gum problem from babe none have had any tooth or gum problems,as yet,touch wood.Merlyn had his check up a couple of weeks ago & got full marks for his pearlies,he is one who won't even try to gnaw a rib bone if you throw it to him & he is now the ripe old age of eight so I think its a bit like us,some do everything & still suffer others do b****r all & get away with it...

Originally Posted by Howlinbob

It's a no-brainer.

That pretty much sums up what one must have "upstairs" to ignore the potentially lethal pathogens that are found in much raw meat.

While I said that I believed raw meat is better than canned for cats teeth, this does not mean I think raw is a replacement for tooth brushing. Brushing takes 1-2 minutes per cat each day. That is not easy? We spend way more time on grooming.

As a friend pointed out, her cats never had problems with their teeth or gums, but they were free range cats that also caught, and ate, lots of mice, voles and the like.

PS Back on "ginger" track, here is a pic of two of the boys not wanting to leave their carrier as it's too comfy - this is today, 24 hours after coming home:

Belly rubs & kisses to them both,bless x