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

For Stripe to make it to 16, you must be doing something right Piffka.

Great area up there, my mom spent her retirement years in Gig Harbor and Purdy. I'd always get lost driving around the different islands; which always turned out to be a good thing.

Thanks, we have been lucky with Stripe, his brother died about seven years ago. Stripe is a handsome brown tabby, a stub-tail with back leg problems common to Manx.

It's indeed a small world... I went to school in Purdy and will be driving through there soon -- the tide drops to a -3.8' and then rises to a 12.5' between noon and 8pm today. Lots o' fun for boating and beach-walking. Which islands did you have trouble with? Maybe Fox? That's a tough one, but the bridge is sure nice. As far as I can tell, the road signs here are meant to confuse and there are so many bays & peninsulas to maneuver around, it can be difficult. Lots of different views to enjoy though. I've always been fond of the Purdy sandspit.

Stripe will be left at home, of course. He seems to enjoy his new dry cat food made of mostly salmon with taurine added, but refused to eat even the gelatin stuff from the top of his canned food. He did drink lots of water before and after his feed so that's good. He's now refusing to cooperate at all with the pills.

Good luck with Stripe. After consulting with my vet, I decided to change some things with my cat. I've stopped all the vaccination shots, the annuals and the rabies. My vet agrees, saying that if cats are vaccinated as kittens for feline leukemia and the fvrcp shot, that is all they need. In re: to the rabies, he said that in Oregon there has not been a reported case of rabies from any species for years, although he did mention areas that do have rabies, Texas for one.
I've also stopped giving her that nasty flea treatment (Advantage?). A healthy cat will not get fleas, and the toxicity in that stuff can't be a good thing for a cat.


Fox island was interesting…… I kept hoping to see the bridge around the next corner. Probably over stayed my visit by a good hour or so. One time, I think we were going to Kopachuck state park, and we missed the side road and ended up doing a complete return trip to where we had started out on highway 16.
Beautiful sights and sounds, really enjoyed it up there.

Hmmm - mine are indoor cats - and I stopped the shots when that happened. No fleas.

yes - 16 year old cat=good genes and no disastrous care!

The cats are, as I write, munching on big, chewy pieces of raw meat. I wonder if Oscar suddenly developed gingivitis because I switched to mushier meat?

dlowan, did the cats take to the raw meat right away?
When I give my cat chunks of raw meat she gives me the you-got-to-be-kidding look.

Mine have always had raw meat some days of the week - it was just I had gone to pet food meat, instead of stewing beef.

They turn their noses up at things very unpredictably!

This week, chunks were ok.

Raw meat? You've been feeding your cat raw meat all along? (Why didn't anybody ever tell me this before! Awkkkk) You folks in Oz are so ahead of things.

Flatted Fifth - I adore the Fox Island bridge, it's got a wonderful view. I can easily imagine someone getting completely turned around getting to Kopachuck. I dread having to tell anyone how to get there -- you can barely get there from here.

Hey Deb, What's with the raw chicken necks and wings? I never heard of this. I thought chicken bones were bad for cats--and dogs.

Does this mean that it would be good for Mikey to eat raw chicken necks and wings? What a concept.

As far as I know raw bones generally are fine - it is cooked ones thta cause problems.

Mine had chicken necks - and clean teeth - until they obscurely decided they would not eat them any more.

Wings are horrible for indoors - they leave fat deposits everywhere, at least for me they do - my cats insist on moving them about a lot. The necks are not as bad - and have LOTS of bones.

http://www.oxyfreshww.com/pet/default.asp

We started using the Oxyfresh pet oral hygeine solution for the dog on the suggestion of our new vet. He told us straight up that some of the products they offer are a bit bogus, but this particular one works really well for teeth cleaning. All you do is mix a couple of capfuls in a measured amount of water and pop it in the fridge. Just use it for their daily water and brushing may not be neccessary. I am not certain about gingivitis, but it is excellent for plaque and tartar control.

Thanks Cav!

I think gingivitis is just part of that whole cycle.

Did you know, by the way, that tendency to tartar is genetic?

I just do not get it, and never need to have my teeth cleaned by the dentist. I asked, all ready to be proud, why this was so - and was told to thank my parents!

I went to get some Iams from the local pet shop - stores do not sell it here - only to find the pet shop all packed up and gone!

I dreamed last night that, for some reason, I had decided to buy more than 30 Siamese, and other assorted, kittens (puppies kept turning up in the dream, too) and, belatedly realising I had too many, I started trying to find homes for them in all the weird places that the main plot of the dream kept taking me to. Oh, the kittens thing was one of two sub plots.

My parents got resurrected in the dream at some point to yell at me - as they would have done if I had done such a thing.

It is damned hard to keep track of 50 odd small animals when you are moving around as much as I did in that dream - and boy, were they playful!

What on EARTH does it all mean...sigh.

Hey! I got some Hill's Prescription Diet tooth cleaning dry food, and Oscar's little choppers are better, and his breath getting back to normal!

Thanks for the advice, all!

So Pacco is eating IAMs this week. Does that Oyyfresh stuff work with dogs? Piffka, I have bought the Greenies for Pacco, who clutches them madly for a minute or two...v. expensive and I keep finding greenies lying around the house.

I had Pacco have teethcleaning with anaesthesia when I got him from the Humane Society, two years ago, but he is an older boy, possibly nine now, and I hate to do the anaesthesia thing if he doesn't need to, so I put any more such teethcleaning off.

Ah, Deb. Glad to hear that Oscar's teeth and gums are in better shape.

tooth cleaning
hello. i took my kitty to be groomed today, which was hideously expensive, of course, was feeling all better that now he will be cute and fluffy again and then they shaved him!!! thats ok though, he kinda looks like a lion. or maybe if a lion bred with a poodle and created some sort of mutant... either way, hes still cute. but now we've got more problems than before. it seems he lost a tooth in a fight and now i have to take him to have his teeth all cleaned and fixed. im all for healthiness in my cuddly little baby, but i called the vet and its going to cost me about $400 to have all the work done. AND as soon as it is done, im moving and sending him to live with a friend. im a student. im broke. im beyond broke. i just cant afford to pay out $400 just to give him away. do i have ANY other options though?

You do not HAVE to have the cat's teeth cleaned. That is just a nicety...only a necessity if the cat's teeth are in REALLY bad shape. Even the most pampered kitties only have that done once or twice in their lives. They have to use general anesthesia on cats for this, it's quite traumatic for the poor darlings. Of course, it does generate a lot of money for the vets, so they try to talk people into doing it as often as they can get away with it. Don't fall for it.

Are his teeth brown and covered with tartar - are his gums red and inflamed, does his breath stink?

Try some of the foods discussed here - RAW chicken necks - some of the special foods - before you even THINK of that! I think Eva may well be right - vets seem to be going nuts with this!

If his mouth is really bad, it can be serious - but try other things first.

There's been news about how dirty/plaquey teeth correlate with plaquey arteries and heart disease. I wonder if that translates into feline biology. Does that make any sense at all?