Dental decay through small sized dry catfood

Hi everyone,

I didn't think of this until I got a cat who has very sensitive teeth and gets all kinds of dental problems really fast. My veterinarian suggested special dental care food by Hills, which works wonders. It's quite expensive, but they suggested to make a mix of at least 25% of the dental care catfood and 75% of the other catfood I used. She has had little to no trouble ever since.
The size of the pieces is a lot bigger than regular catfood and it has a special structure that scrapes the teeth of your cat whilst he or she is chewing on food. It's a bit like the dental care treats for dogs, which basicly works the same way.

If anyone has a cat who is sensitive to teeth or gum problems, I would highly recommend this type of food.

 

I might have to try this. We have a cat who had sensitive teeth and she has always fared much better on canned food or something soft. Hills makes great pet food, even if it is pricey. We had a cat in renal failure once who was put on their prescription renal health cat food. It extended his life another three years.

 

I've never heard of the idea, but it makes sense. I've noticed that some of the cheaper cat foods that I've tried feeding have very small kibble sizes. The cats used to eat more, and I always assumed it was just the quality of the food leaving them hungry. Maybe the size of the food has an impact on how much they feel like they've eaten.

I'm hoping to get our cats used to having their teeth scrubbed with a finger tooth brush. They're all between 1.5 years and 8 months old, so it should still be easy.

 

Brushing sounds like a good idea when your cats are still young enough to get them used to it. I honestly never heard about the size being an issue before either, but I've noticed this food does make a big difference for my cats. Hills in general proofs to be of a higher quality as I used to have over 15 kilo's a month for 6 cats, and when I turned to Hills I could easily get through a month with 10 kilo's.

 

I know that cats usually eat less on a good food, but mine are eating more. I think it's because they refused to eat except for the minimal amount of the cheap food I had to feed for two weeks, so now they're pigging out to compensate. They'll eventually slow down and eat less again. All of my other cats were already pretty old when we got them, so I'm trying to give these three better health from the beginning.

 

I'm soooo glad you posted this. My girls have been raised on Iams, which is basically just little pellets, and one of them has been having some dental problems. I'm intend to look into the food you mentioned! Hopefully it'll help remedy some problems, or prevent further damage.

 

Reading the original posters post about what the vet prescribed. I personally stay away from dry foods. They are bad for our cats. Seeing cats are carnivores. Secondly I took a look at the list of ingredients in this food (Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Powdered Cellulose, Whole Grain Corn,). These are the first 5 ingredients. I won't feed my animals anything that has by-products in them or corn. And there is corn gluten meal as well as whole grain corn in this and within the first five ingredients. That's indicative of what's mainly in this food.

 

In the wild, cats teeth are naturally cleaned by eating large chunks of meat and bone. So, a good raw diet can keep your cats teeth clean but it's *much* better for them than any dry food.

 

Thanks everyone for all your different opinions. I'm glad that there is still so much for me to learn and discuss here.
My cats are pretty healthy and happy with this food so I am not really thinking of changing any time fast. I am planning on feeding more food (first boiled and perhaps later on also raw), but I am not sure if I will ever make the change completely. They do eat a lot more canned food now (daily) that has a lot more natural ingredients, and I feed them cooked chicken every once in a while. I'll see how it goes. This seems to work fine for now ;-)

 

I will have to look into this brand. My eldest cat can only chew on the right side and we have been giving her a lot of wet food, but you know how that goes. She has been having bad bathroom issues because of it. Thanks for suggesting this! Her teeth are pretty bad, but she's still tinkering around and we love her so much.

 

I hope it will work for he, steph!

 

I never thought of that, I am going to have to try this. My cats love the dry food, and the wet food to. But this is a geat tip, thanks!

 

You're very welcome. I have found out that my cats like the bigger bits a lot better than the smaller once. I give them wet food more frequently now as well because I know wet food is good for them but because they have little to chew on they can get dental decay. This seems like a great combo so far. Hope you will find it as good as I have

 

Green Seven has practically weaned himself of any kind of cat food. What he only wants is what I eat. Even carrots.