Just as it is necessary to keep your teeth, your children’s teeth and even your dog’s teeth clean, you need to make sure cat’s teeth get some love too. But it can be a little intimidating. After all, cats are known to be very opinionated about when and where they want to be touched; that is if they want to be touched at all. With a little practice and patience, however, cleaning your cat’s teeth can and should be accomplished fairly regularly. There are a few different ways to keep kitty’s pearly whites sparkling without the stress.
1. Brushing:
Do not use your toothpaste when brushing your cat’s teeth. Since they can’t spit, fluoride and other ingredients in our toothpaste can make them sick. Next, you can purchase a kitty toothbrush. Or you can just gauze wrapped around your finger to clean the teeth. You want to make sure to start slow and gentle, and the younger you start the better. Try to cuddle your cat on your lap from behind and gentle cup their face and lift their chin.
Do this a few times with something yummy on your finger, like tuna water or a dip they like (my cat’s love ranch dip). This will familiarize them with the brushing experience. Then slowly start cleaning the teeth, if at first, you can only get one side or even just one tooth, don’t be discouraged, and keep trying. With patience and practice, you will soon be able to get all those teeth clean for kitty!
2. Non –Brushing Techniques:
If your feline is very standoffish and you know they will bloodshed if you try to brush their teeth, don’t worry there is more than one way to skin a cat, err I mean, clean their teeth. Your local pet store should have a gel that you can put on kitty’s gums and they also have a water additive that will help clean teeth as they drink. Just make sure that these don’t affect their eating and drinking habits, which is sometimes can happen if they don’t like the taste or smell of the product. One other thing you can try dental chews and food, similar to the dog treats you see, they have them for cats as well. The chewing will loosen the plaque and help keep teeth sparkling.
3. Dental Cleaning:
Worried that your cat already has a lot of plaque build-up? Contact your vet to see if they need to get their teeth professionally cleaned. It’s much like when you go to the dentist for a cleaning, they will scrap the teeth and remove all the tartar and plaque that has made a home on kitty’s teeth. You will want to read up on if you want to go with anaesthesia or non-anaesthesia cleaning.
However, you choose to do it making sure your pet has good oral care is what matters most. Just remember to start slow and keep up the good work, your kitty will thank you in the end!
