Do you brush your cats teeth?

I believe that the secret to a pets long and healthy life is for them to have a healthy mouth and teeth so I brush their teeth. I try to do them all at least once a day with toothpaste I get from the local pet store. Does anyone else here brush your pets teeth?

 

I don't brush my cats teeth as I see no reason why I should do it. And I mean i am not so sure that it will give her a long and healthy life but i might try it and see how it works out

 

I have never brushed my cats teeth. I know some people feel that dental health is important. But my cat is an indoor/outdoor cat I know he is catching mice and birds while outside and him catching those things is good because I am sure he is eating most of the animal which includes the bones. And I feel that him doing that and eating the bones will keep his mouth healthy enough.

 

Well, in my opinion this can't be healthy and if you think about it people who have good dental hygiene have a better quality of life so I think the same would be of animals.

 

Ugh that looks terrible... I will surely consider your advice now its really really bad looking and I don't want my cat to end up so. I usually take care a lot about my cats health , and I will go another step forward to do so now.

 

Poor cat! That’s definitely a good reason to brush your cat’s teeth. I regularly brush my cats teeth with pet toothpaste. Sometimes our veterinarian cleans their teeth during their annual veterinary exam.

 

I agree with them having healthy mouth and teeth it will help increase their overall health and life span. I however never brushed my cat's teeth, they lived to be 16 and 18, but I think due to proper diet, treats that help, and normal checkups there teeth stay pretty clean on their own. Either way it would be good to due so because even if their diet, and themselves are good at keeping them clean, the longer they last the better, and when they get older they can't just get dentures in order to chew their food.

 

Wait, what do feral cats do to take care of their teeth? Surely they don't brush their teeth. They don't have the thumbs to do it, right? So there must be some natural way of keeping a cat's teeth clean. Brushing is so, well, human-like. Human-like as in not natural for a cat.

 

How on earth do you catch a cat to brush it's teeth? I think feeding your cat too much soft food is bad for it's teeth. Feed them soft food only once in a while, hard food should be their main diet it cleans their teeth as they eat. There are treats that help with that too. How much exercise from running do you get in trying to catch your cat to brush it's teeth?

 

I give them tartar control treats and pay to have their teeth cleaned when they go to the groomers. I can hardly get them to let me put flea medication on them. There is no way they are going to give me access to their teeth so I have to pay to have it done. It's an extra $8 a visit, but worth it.

 

A thought just struck me. Maybe it's the fish bones which keep a cat's teeth clean. I mean, when a cat eats fish bones, there must be some degree of scraping and scrubbing going on inside the mouth. Perhaps that cleans the teeth.

 

Feral cats and outdoor cats can have gum disease and dental caries too. They have found centuries old cat skulls with gum disease and caries, even FORL. Any kind of food eaten by cats or humans, soft or hard, results in bacteria build up on the teeth that causes plaque buildup and gum disease. To say chewing on bones and hard cat treats keep a cat's teeth clean, is like saying eating hard pretzels would clean my teeth, and I've been wasting my time and money at the dentist. The bones cats eat in their raw prey are soft, not hard.

Some cats are just more prone to gum disease than others, like people, it's hereditary, as is their life span. Cats use their teeth to tear their prey open, not to chew, then they swallow the food whole. Indoor cats don't use their teeth.

There's only 1 breed of cats in the world that eat fish, somewhere in Africa I think, otherwise most cats don't. Too much fish in a cat's diet can be toxic and harmful. Most cats in the wild live on mice. You don't see gum disease and dental caries in outdoor cats as often because they have a shorter life span, average is about 2 years.

I do agree that it's better to keep your cat's teeth and gums as clean as possible as it is better for their health..

 

I've never brushed my cats teeth before, but after seeing that picture, I'm definitely starting to think about it. That poor kitty, it looks absolutely terrible.

 

I do not and have not ever brushed my cat's teeth. If I recall, the treats that we buy claim to have some type of dental benefit. One symptom to watch for is bad breath. This can suggest oral disease.

 

I do buy my cats treats that are suppose to help with tartar control. Once one of my cats had to have a surgery to take tartar off of a certain tooth, that had gave him a mouth ulcer. Now, I'm doing whatever I can to help with his tartar control.

 

I never did (I didn't think he would let me), but it's great that you do. My older cat had many rotting teeth, and I regret that I didn't help him take better care of them. Rotting teeth can cause many other health problems.

 

I definitely don't. I do think they take care of it themselves for the most part. I know having various cat foods instead of something crunchy or natural is going to cause some issues here or there, but I've never seen a cat have that many dental issues either.

 

I haven't brushed their teeth, however I do give my two cats each two Dentabites each day. Dentabites are cat treats that help with oral hygiene. I know that I have been using them since my cats reached adult age and they both still have healthy teeth and gums.

 

I do not brush my cats teeth, I tried that once and he absolutely did not like it. What I try to do to help him having relatively clean teeth is the variation in food. He gets dry and wet food. If he would only get wet food he would certainly not use his teeth enough and not using teeth means bone loss and ultimately he would lose his teeth, its the same in humans by the way, that's why he gets the dry food, that also helps cleaning the teeth and so far I have to say, his teeth and gum are looking just fine. Every time he has a checkup at a vet he gets his teeth cleaned professionally too.