Dry cat food to reduce plaque?

liz545

Just been to the vet for my cat's annual boosters and checkup, he's generally in good health, but seems prone to plaque build up on his teeth. We've been trying a few different foods lately - including Pets@Home "Purely" complete dry, which he seems to like but it gives him a the runs, and now he's happily eating Burns dry food, which seems to have settled it. The vet suggested Hills dental formula food, as the larger kibble will keep his teeth cleaner, but I'm a bit wary as a) it's really expensive (£20/2kg - double the price of Burns) and b) it seems to be quite high carb and it sounds like it might be made with mechanically reclaimed meat rather than quality ingredients IYSWIM.

I want to do what's best for my cat, and I'll book him in for a scale and polish as soon as I can, but it's possible that his dental problems are caused by the calicche (sp?) virus so I'm not sure if the food would make much difference, and I was generally pretty happy with the Burns food. Does anyone have any advice - short of brushing his teeth - I doubt he'd allow that!

spookylukey

I use logic gel and plaque off powder - think you can get both at Pets at Home but much cheaper online from somewhere like www.vetuk.co.uk

The plaque off is sprinkled on food and doesn't seem to put my two off whatever they are eating so must taste OK! The logic gel is ideally applied to the gum area (doesn't need brushing) but my two won't tolerate that so I squirt a bit onto the food. One of them will lick straight from the tube but the one with the plaque issues refuses to :rolleyes:

As for effectiveness, I started using them when my vet said one of them had quite a lot of tartar for his age - a year later at the next booster/check up I asked how his teeth were and they said they were fine - obviously he still has some tartar but nothing to be concerned about. Both products are relatively cheap and last for ages so I'll definitely continue using them.

ClaireLR

One of my cats has calicivirus, I also use the logic gel, mine will lick it off her paw. She also has metacam from the vets when her gums become inflamed.

As far as food is concerned, we've switched on vets advice to Royal Canin dental food (which they both seem to really like) it's £25 a bag and one bag lasts about 6-8 weeks, they also have Go-cat indoor food along with this though.

HTH

rita-rabbit

You are better off feeding them Burns & putting the Logic on the gums. Logic works better on teeth than any `dental' dry food. I don't like Science Hills - some rubbish in the ingredients & expensive. Burns is good for skin, diet, fur & also v good for your pocket - I only give mine Royal Canine or JWB when they are on special offer!

In my opinion all dry food is better for cats teeth than wet. When I feed mine wet (ocassionally for a treat) I sprinkle `plaquoff' on it.

I have been putting Logic on my two's gums for a while now & at their recent checkup the vet said the older one really didn't dental treatment & continue with it as both were looking good on it (they are approx 10 & 9 yrs respectively). At last year's checkup I was instructed to use Logic & examine their gums regularly if not they would both need dental treatment - so I am v happy about that & recommend it to everyone.

UKTigerlily

My Cat had a scale & polish & was recommended Hill's t/d & I think it's a !!!! food! When I told my Vet he seemed shocked, insisted it was amazing & said even if I used it once a year it'd benefit (Yeah right, he means buy at least one bag!) I've been using the Plaque Off for the Cat & Dog, it's supposed to be used once they've had a dental, but I started to give the Dog it anyway also & it's improved her breath & teeth!

I'd stick with the Burns & use Plaque Off after the scale & also Logic too! If you do buy some t/d, get it online!

BitterAndTwisted

Feeding your cat raw meat will also help to keep the teeth clean. Try something nice and chewy like chicken wings or hearts. Go very, very easy on the liver

geminilady

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Feeding your cat raw meat will also help to keep the teeth clean. Try something nice and chewy like chicken wings or hearts. Go very, very easy on the liver

I always thought you should not give animals chicken bones or is it just dogs?

ClaireLR

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Feeding your cat raw meat will also help to keep the teeth clean. Try something nice and chewy like chicken wings or hearts. Go very, very easy on the liver

I've heard a few people mention giving their cats raw meat recently, I'd never really thought about it before. Is their anything they shouldn't have, I think I'll start giving them some a couple of times a week instead of the tinned stuff that they have for a treat.

Also, can someone tell me about plaque off, what is it and where can I buy it? Thanks.

lostinrates

You can feed RAW bones, but not coked ones, really even beef bones for dogs are, IMO, better raw. Cooked bones risk splintering and lodging, but raw ones are edible.

My cats are fed a partially raw diet (used to be fully and hopefully will be again,) but a full raw diet i not to be taken lightly: it still need to be balanced, and that can be a bit of a pain. anyway, they are now 5 and a half and their teeth are great, My vet would not recommend raw, but admits, my cats are thriving on it and now his cat gets the odd bit of raw (on the bone) too.

I don't like dry food at all., personally, but with the ''better foods'' they are better balanbced than a poorly prepared/reserached wet food. If I were not a feeding nut I'd feed a well balnced commercial diet with regular ''treats'' of raw as a comprimise measure (which is more or less what I do now!)

Not all cats take to raw well. we had to turn it int a game

Avoid giving liver. and remember: it still needs to be a balanced diet, and we're not all nutritionalists, so don't plan to feed a cat off raw chicken wings only!

NB: Its worth pointing out, while cheap eat meat ght seem MSE I don't think it is. I feed good quality meat. In fact, the cats often eat our own reared chickens.

Research before fdoing yourself.

Shoshannah

Giving cats raw chicken necks/wings, or raw rabbit legs, is a good way to keep plaque off their teeth and much easier than brushing! As mentioned before, all meat and bones must be raw.

While dry food is better for teeth in that it gets stuck around teeth a lot less than wet food, it will have no significant effect on plaque removal.

When feeding cats an exclusively dry diet, care needs to be taken to ensure they are drinking. Cats are a desert species and do not naturally drink a lot; therefore they rely on moisture obtained in their food. If they do not take in adequate moisture they can run into problems with their bladders.

There are some useful websites out there regarding raw diets, just plug it into Google.

leannehammer

I've had my kitten for about 4 1/2 months and he has really liked Blue Buffalo cat food (bluebuff.com), its all natural, no byproducts and human grade meat (they get what we get) his coat is beautiful, it feels really soft and slick. He likes the taste better than the Nutro brand, he just picked at that one. My outside cat likes the Nutro brand but he eats just about anything!!!