Help, have to brush cats teeth

MrsE_2

Took George for his annual jabs today.

Vet says he has the beginings of gingivitis (he's 2), she says it can be breed related:(

I feed him a dried diet.

She says to start brushing his teeth:eek:

Anyone brush their cats?

I looked a video up on a website & it recommended a finger brush.

Any recommendations of toothpaste & brush type?

925dancer

I can't help with the tooth brushing but feeding raw chicken wings (bones and all) is great for cleaning a cats teeth. Your cat may find it a bit intimidating to be chucked a whole wing at once if never been fed any raw at first but just break it up a bit. Another way is to try raw mince and chicken first and move onto the wings. My two love their raw treats, makes them feel like big bad wild cats!:D

deedeeliz

MrsE occasionally I use Logic gel on a babies toothbrush on my vets advice. My best bet is to wait till they're sleepy and curled up in my arms - not sure how effective it is but they dont talk to me for a while afterwards! Good luck!

Btw Dancer, Luna Mia and Nova say hello lol

meritaten

hmmm, ask the vet to show you how its done!!! my bet is he/she will don gauntlets and will have the nurse hold the cat! or anaetheatise it!
unless you can con the cat into thinking its a desirable thing to do - you will be on a hiding to nothing!
in my experience cats absolutely hate you messing with their mouths and unless your cats are willing to let you do it - then you have more chance of winning the lottery than cleaning thier teeth!
But, as someone has already suggested, there are natural ways of cleaning their teeth they will enjoy!

diable

Karcher.............

sammyjammy

My cat had to have some teeth removed and my vet told me to feed him with Hills Dental dried food to keep the remaining ones clean, he loves it and it's been about 18mths without any further problems.

Shoshannah

Brushing is the gold standard and if you can do it, brilliant. It is certainly worth a try - don't expect instant results if your cat has never had it done before as it gets some getting used to for the both of you. Aim to let your kitty gradually get used to having their mouth opened, gums touched (watch your fingers) and then the introduction of the toothpaste and brush.

That said, brushing cats' teeth is much easier said than done. It's very easy for us as vets to hand you the toothbrush and say 'toodle-oo, best of luck', but we're not the ones doing the brushing! I certainly don't brush my cat's teeth.

As 925dancer says, feeding your cat raw chicken wings is a great way to keep his teeth clean. Wild cats keep their teeth in good shape by chewing up mice, birds etc and the chicken wings have the same effect. If they are not used to eating them then it is a good idea to supervise them the first few times, and always handle raw chicken as if you were eating it yourself (common sense hygiene rules, really).

Veterinary toothpastes and gels may have some effect if you can just get them into pusscat's mouth, so try smearing it on the gums or putting it on his paws to lick off. Not as good as brushing, but certainly better than nothing.

There are also in-water dental products such as Aquadent which are great, if your cat will drink it! Some will, some won't.

If you are still struggling, give your vet a call or book an appointment with one of the nurses to go through dental homecare measures with you - prevention is definitely better than cure with dental disease so don't give up!