Why is dental care important for my cat?
Just like us, our cat's teeth are the beginning of all of our organs, the beginning of everything with digestion. Keeping those teeth healthy keeps the rest of the body healthy. Bacteria in the mouth can easily go into the bloodstream and can affect all of the organs—the heart, the kidneys, liver, you know, everything that kind of runs our body. So it's really important to make sure that your cat has the healthiest mouth that he or she can have.
How often should you brush your cat's teeth?
Cats aren't always the biggest fan of toothbrushing, but if you can do it, great. The best time to start this is when they are young—get them used to it and then set up a habit. I always tell people the more that you can brush your cat's teeth, the better. Ideally, I mean, again, they're very much like us; they really need their teeth brushed daily to be the most effective. If you can get two or three times a week, great. You're honestly doing better than I am with my own cat. So anything that you can do as far as toothbrushing is going to be beneficial. Just set up those habits at a young age and try to be consistent.
What type of toothbrush and toothpaste do you use in cats? Can you use human types?
The answer to that is simple. As far as toothpaste, no, you need to use something that is made specifically for cats and dogs. Cats will swallow the toothpaste typically, and human toothpaste is not meant to be swallowed in large quantities; that can make these guys sick. They also don't typically like mint flavors, so get a good tuna flavor, chicken flavor, something that is for a cat. I also like the toothbrush kits that come with several different options, and they come with a little finger brush because some cats will let you get in their mouths a little bit better with that finger brush. Those toothbrush kits also have dual heads—they have a larger brush on one side and a smaller cat brush on the other. Again, most cats are going to be more willing to let you in their mouth with that smaller brush made specifically for them.
What are signs of dental problems in cats?
I'll be honest, a lot of cats give you no signs. You know, you got to think these animals way back in the day were meant to live in the wild. If they show signs of a toothache, they might get eaten, and so cats are really good at hiding tooth pain. I do have a lot of cats that come in with horrible dental disease in their mouth, and they still eat dry food, so that is not a good way to tell if your cat has dental disease. Bad breath, redness, or bleeding of the gums, certainly if your cat does seem to be gingerly crunching on dry food, maybe they have a preference for wet food all of a sudden when they've normally eaten dry food—those can all be signs of dental disease in your cat.
How can I tell if a cat has a toothache?
I think I just said it—you know, a lot of times you can't. But cats will often show very vague signs when something is bothering them, so they are not using the litter box appropriately, maybe they're urinating in different places in the house, or they're not eating as well, or they're just grumpy. You know, some cats just kind of become less social, they hide more, and they're just overall grumpy.
What are the most common cat tooth infection symptoms?
Again, cats are really great at hiding these things. But, you know, if you see, if you look at your cat's gums and they're super super red or even bleeding, that is a really good indicator that your cat has a problem. Occasionally we will see like a swelling under the eye; we see that more with dogs than with cats when they have a tooth root infection, but that is something to look out for in a cat as well.
What are the most common dental diseases in cats?
Probably the most common dental issue in cats is the accumulation of tartar and calculus. Calculus is the really, really thick layers and layers and layers of tartar. That's what starts problems in a cat or a dog's mouth or our own mouths. And when we get those thick accumulations, it starts to maybe eat away at some of the bony attachment of the tooth or cause some erosion of the gingival tissue, and then problems progress from there. Cats really love to have issues where they basically can see their body can see some of that tartar as foreign, and they almost have an allergic reaction to it. And so they can get something called stomatitis, where those gums get beet red, and they get painful and really, really uncomfortable. And you may not even see anything on the teeth themselves—the teeth may look normal, but even the tiniest amount of tartar accumulation can set some of these cats off, and that can become a real problem. The other thing that cats love to do is that their bodies love to try to take care of problems for them, and so they will have tooth root or crown resorption. So their body is actually trying to dissolve the tooth itself. It will eat into the enamel and into the bone to try to get rid of that tooth. As you can imagine, that's a very painful process. Sometimes it happens under the gum line where you can't see it, and sometimes that's why we see that redness. Sometimes it happens in the crown of the tooth, and we can see it. But again, that is a painful process, and it can be a lengthy process. Sometimes it takes years for a cat's body to absorb one individual tooth.
How often should a cat have a professional dental cleaning?
I always tell people, anytime you're coming in with your cat for an exam, whether it's a yearly exam, wellness, or a sick exam, we are going to look at the teeth. We try to keep you very up to date and aware of the health of your cat's mouth. Some cats need annual dental cleanings; you know, we typically have them twice a year, but it's rare that cats need them that often. But I would say, you know, a lot of cats need them once a year or maybe every other year. Most cats don't need them super early in life unless they have, you know, an individual disease that maybe progresses, and we have to start them earlier. Again, anytime that you bring your cat in, we're going to check that, and we're going to make recommendations based on your individual cat.
What can you do at home to prevent dental disease in your cat?
I tell people, once we have dental disease, we've got to get in here and get a dental cleaning because there are things that you can do at home to help slow down progression, but it's not going to get rid of that thick tartar, that calculus that's on those teeth. I like to give you a fresh, clean slate to start with, and then there are water additives, there are toothbrushing, there are dental treats, and dental foods. There's some prescription dental foods that work wonders at preventing tartar and plaque accumulation in your cat's mouth. None of those are going to do a very good job if there's already disease there, so we need to get you a clean slate, and then we can make those recommendations for your cat based on what your cat might tolerate at home.
Is bad breath in cats always a sign of dental disease?
No, more often than not, it is; however, there are other diseases, such as diabetes and kidney disease, especially, that will also cause off-putting or bad breath in your cat. So it's something that if you notice it at home, it typically does mean that there's something going on with your cat, but I would recommend always that you bring your cat in and let us evaluate that and see if we think it is dental disease or maybe something a little deeper that, you know, we need diagnostics to figure out.
Can my cat's diet affect their dental health?
Absolutely, it can. Dry kibble has historically been said to be a little bit better at, you know, getting rid of some of that bacteria and that plaque off of your cat's teeth. But there are specifically, you know, some prescription foods and some special treats that go kind of a step beyond that, help even more.
What are the risks of not treating dental disease in cats?
Unfortunately, there's a lot of risk. Number one and the one that I think we focus most heavily on, these cats are painful. And you know, a lot of times it goes unseen at home because they're so good at hiding it, but they hurt. You know, a lot of these cats we get under anesthesia, and we find the lesion in a tooth while these cats are under anesthesia, they are reacting—there's nerves exposed, they hurt. More often than not, I find owners say their cats show them zero signs of pain, and you know, we can get in there, and we can find a lot of problematic teeth, and we fix those. And once they're healed and recovered, those owners tell me how much of a difference it made in their cat's life, how much better they feel, how much more they're playing, you know, things like that. So left untreated, dental disease can be very painful and uncomfortable for your cat. Not to mention, again, we're talking about all this bacteria in there, it's going to affect their liver, their kidneys, their heart, you know, it's going to affect everything in time. So it's something that we really don't want to let go untreated. And eventually, they're going to start to lose those teeth. Again, you know, it might be a lot of pain involved with that, so it's something that we want to nip in the bud as quickly as we can when we see that it's present.
How can I make brushing my cat's teeth easier?
Depends on the cat. You know, again, the earlier you can start this habit, the better. You know, when they're younger, they are much better at letting you do these things. The other thing that I tell owners is to be patient. It's not going to happen overnight, and it's probably not going to happen without some motivation. Use that toothpaste to your advantage. A lot of cats love the taste of it, and that's the only way some cats are going to let you get in there with a toothbrush. Use the toothpaste, find the flavor that they like, and be patient. You know, it may be that you do zero brushing for the first four weeks that you are at it; it's more about getting them used to the toothpaste and the toothbrush being around their mouth, but each time you try a little bit more, you get a little bit further.
Are there any dental treats or toys that can keep my cat's teeth clean?
Again, yes, there are. We can absolutely make those recommendations based on your individual cat.
What can I expect during a professional dental cleaning for my cat?
Okay, first of all, think about it—it's a cat. They are not going to let us do this without anesthetic, so they do go under anesthesia. We place an IV catheter in their little leg, so you can expect a shaved leg, sometimes two. We place an IV catheter, we give anesthesia, we try to keep the stress as low as possible. Here at Haywood Road Animal Hospital, all of our dental procedures get full-mouth radiographs. It is our philosophy that that is basic, you know, standard of care because you really cannot evaluate a tooth without seeing under the gum line, and that's what those X-rays will show us. So we take full-mouth radiographs, we assess the roots, the crowns, you know, every part of the tooth, the throat, under the tongue, the gingiva, you know, the entire mouth. We use an ultrasonic scaler to get all that tartar and that thick calculus off, give those teeth sparkling white, and then we fill in all the little scrapes and holes that that scaling causes in the layers around the tooth with, we polish, we polish the teeth, we make them nice and smooth and nice and healthy, and then your pet recovers from anesthesia. Usually, a few hours later, they go home.
Can cats get cavities, and how are they treated?
Not really. You know, I mentioned before that they can get those resorptive lesions—that's a different mechanism of action that the body creates. Cavities are typically created by bacteria. Cats can get them; it's just really, really rare. So typically, you know, again, when we're seeing these resorptive lesions, most of the time we are recommending to pull that tooth. Now we do have veterinary dentists, and they can do more advanced veterinary care, but most of those, because of the pain involved, the recommendation is to extract those teeth.
Why is my cat losing teeth?
I've kind of touched on this already as well. But, you know, if dental disease is left untreated, the decay is going to erode at that tooth, at the attachment, at the roots, and eventually, those teeth are going to fall out. Again, we know that this is a painful process, and what our hope is, is to number one, if we can prevent that from happening by keeping their teeth clean in the first place, that's our number one goal. Number two, if we see that that is happening, we can hasten the process, get rid of that tooth, and they don't have to go through the pain.
Why would my cat need to have teeth pulled?
Fractured teeth sometimes we'll see in cats. You know, if we fracture a tooth, it may not look terrible, but what we can see by doing X-rays is if there is nerve and vessel exposure causing pain in your cat. So sometimes we pull because we fractured a tooth; sometimes we find a resorptive lesion; sometimes we find a cat who, as I mentioned before, has that kind of reaction to tartar, and we have to pull their teeth so that they don't continue to do that throughout their life. X-rays are our number one tool in helping us determine if a tooth needs to be extracted, so that is one of the most important parts of our dental cleanings here at Haywood Road Animal Hospital.
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