Cleaning Cats' Teeth - or Just how Much DO I Love Oscar?

Such a charmer! (Bill D. Cat reincarnated, it seems...)

I found this -- not very encouraging:

rotten kitty teeth info

This sentence does seem a mite suspicious:



"Most responsive", eh? Sounds vaguely cultish -- how to prepare the target and then go in for the kill.

Hmm.. I set a brush and toofypaste out on the counter in the spare bathroom for my cat but she never used it... I guess it's somthing you have to train them to do when they're young...

Not sure as I think your methods are all that good, Fishin' - it appears tp put the paws out of commission!

Soze - is that shorthand for "sucked in"?

Hmmm - maybe if I do not feed him for a day - then shove him out on the balcony with a couple of chicken necks and don't let him in until they are finished?

I mean - he is a chubby feller....

Bailey also suffers from gingivitis and REFUSES to have his teeth brushed, unlike the agreeable (in this case) Miss Cleopatra.

Our trainer recommended the 'doggie oreo' - 2 doggie treats, with flat surfaces, with toothpaste in between. It works to get the enzymatic toothpaste into the mouth and onto the teeth enough to be of some benefit.

The alternatives presented by the vet : were surgery for a dog who could die in surgery; or untreated gingivitis, leading to heart disease, in a dog that already has a heart condition. Doggie oreos it is. There has been a slight, but noticeable, improvement since we started this about 2 months ago.

Hmmm - dunno if they HAVE pussy oreos!

The annoying Stripe has an abscessed tooth. Being an elderly feline with a heart condition, he can't even have the operation needed to remove the tooth. Instead, I'm giving him antibiotics twice daily and "building him up" with lots of expensive fish oil & amino-acid supplements. This is more difficult than I remembered or he's become more ornery. He still wants to eat dog food instead of cat food, spits out his pills and threatens to bite me, plus he screams and makes really scary growling noises.

The dog-girls eat Greenies and have gorgeous teeth without my needing to brush them. Getting their Greenies is the high point of their day. Unfortunately, Stripe has no interest in Greenies.

I am not say a single word... Nope.. Keepin' my mouth SHUT! <bites lip>

Poly gets Petrodex Dental Treats, dental treats an oxymoron in my book. The cat is supoposed to chew the died fish paste,green,cylindrical, mesh wrapped object,( mesh left on) for at least one minute. Poly chomps his for maybe 15 seconds. 50 treats cost 9.99 + tax and are helping to clean my wallet .

d bie - the doggie 'oreos' are something i have to build each evening. they aren't sold that way. 2 biscuits per dog - toothpaste in between - let it sit 5 minutes - serve.

Fishin' - I must say that your methods
of training pets are somewhat... original.

Some dry catfoods (Iams for one) have dental cleaners built in... will the C&C eat dry foods?

My kit's teeth are much cleaner now... if I could get doggie to eat dry stuff I'd be happy...

I buy that sometimes - li'l smegger has only just developed this problem. I might try it again - and maybe get some chunks of tough meat for him - if I cannot do the chicken neck thing.

Thing is, I could safely starve Oscar for a while, so he might fix it with the necks - but his companion is really skinny - and they hate being separated all day.....sigh.

Yup. But they don't pee on the rugs any more so I'm stickin' with it! lol

Short of grappling with kitty with antibiotics and what-not, that might be the way to go. Although depending on the severity of Oscar's gingivitis; a bit pricey, but, maybe he could use a good teeth cleaning.
We went to the vet last week and were told that Marmie our cat had some plaque built up which might become gingivitis if left untreated. Besides the recommended cleaning - which we haven't done yet- the vet advised us to give her raw chicken neck bones and to change her diet to all meat with a powder supplement added, so we bought this stuff: not an owner or stockholder
A lot of work to feed kitty; mixing in pureed liver, fish oil and the powder to ground chicken, and more expensive than regular cat food. The transformation is slow, at this stage mixing in small dollops to her regular wet food, but I'm going to try this for awhile and see how it works.

Damned animals! Why can't they clean their own teeth! Thank ee Flatted Fifth!

Hi Flatted Five -- Is that Taurine powder you're adding? Oh, never mind, that was a link. Hmmm, your powder does have Taurine in it.

What is the deal -- all the vets are coming up with near the same prescription for cats - add fish oil and Taurine to wet food. Did they all go to the same conference or something?

The ever-more annoying Stripe is at my heels right now, meowing and poking my leg. I've opened two different cans of catfood for him today but he won't eat it. Turns up his darling little button nose and meows for dog food or the killer dry food or something (what???). What's a body to do? My vet says he's addicted to the carbos in the dry food. Meanwhile it is all I can do to keep the slavering hounds from knocking me over to get to the cat food before it is placed out of sight and reach.

OK -- Just opened the third can of food FOR THE DAY and he finally appears to be eating it. Of course, believing he wouldn't eat it, I didn't bother to put the supplements in. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Why can't I just buy cat food that has whatever nutrients cats are supposed to need? What a concept!

maybe the pet food-vet industry doesn't consider that recipie profit inducing

My vets mantra is that cats should only eat raw meat with the added powdered nutrients. Bringing the domesticated kitty eating habits close in line with their jungle cousins. He equates wet and dry kitty food with teeth problems, dry skin condition and shortened life span. Easy for him to say… unless kitty starts off with this diet. It is going to be a long process to train my six year old to eat the healthy way.

BtW, where is Bombay,Washington?

I'm sure it's all about profit.

My vet was high on raw food for Stripe too, if I could get him to eat it. (as if....) I also got the lecture on "they become addicted to carbs, just like us" and "texture is the most important thing to the cat." The ever-annoying Stripe, nearly 16 years old, is almost a lost cause. Until this sudden decline, he's always been healthy and I've had a "sixth sense" about knowing what he wanted. One meow meant dry food, this one was for fresh water, and another was "let's open the frig and see if there's any cream." Sometimes he just waits while the dogs are getting their special canned food with the obvious expectation that he'll get the gelatin stuff on top.

I'm headed off to the local health food store to see about their newest line of cat food. I can't take this.

Bombay, aka Vaughn Bay, is in south Puget Sound between Gig Harbor and Olympia.