Young cat - bad teeth - confused MNer. Diet advice needed please!

[Haffdonga]

Just taken dcat (only 4 years old) to the vet for his annual jabs and his teeth are a mess with 2 needing to come out. Pretty shocking for a relatively young, very healthy, outdoor boy. Up to now he's been on a diet of grain free dry, supplemented by a daily posh pouch .

Vet tells me he needs to go on a dry food only diet (preferably a specialist dental variety).

MN has told me that as a neutered boy he should be on a wet food diet to prevent urinary tract infections.

Google tells me that there is no scientific evidence that dry food is better for a cat's teeth and that bad teeth can be as much to do with genetics as diet. Ideally a raw food diet might be marginally better for dental health.

Dcat tells me he cannot eat real meat. He disdains carefully hand prepared dishes of chicken or beef (raw or cooked) but he is prepared to consider fish. He likes the idea of hunting but with little success. He has also informed me that he can't eat tinned cat food, only the most expensive pouches.

My bank balance tells me dcat is not going to spend the rest of his life on a diet of caviar and fresh fish.

So, what should he be eating that will prevent future tartar build up and keep his mouth in better order? Help!

Dcat tells me he cannot eat real meat. He disdains carefully hand prepared dishes of chicken or beef (raw or cooked) but he is prepared to consider fish. He likes the idea of hunting but with little success. He has also informed me that he can't eat tinned cat food, only the most expensive pouches.

No advice but that is hilarious!

I would be asking why his teeth are like that as it's a decent diet. My vets does some stuff you can add to water - plaque aid I think?
But as a male, yes wet food is better. It's a conundrum. Mine also agrees pouches are better than tins, and he doesn't hunt as spiders/mice/birds are scary and he would much rather hug his momma. Also he wants to live off a diet of fudge yoghurt, cheese, ham and pork scratchings

Fudge yoghurt

Thanks Olivander. I don't think the Plaque aid water additive stuff would be much help because our manky garden pond water tastes so much better than dcat's bowl of clean tap water.

It's so confusing because nearly every website or vet seems to be plugging a dry food diet for profit and the only other advice is that apparently I should have been training dcat to use a toothbrush from kittenhood.

At the moment I think I'll ignore the vet. Her advice seems quite out-dated.

Mine came with tartar ( rescue), I don't want it to get worse so have been brushing his teeth with an enzyme toothpaste.
He is a remarkably amenable specimen though, so not sure it's a possibility for many cats.
I would have been shredded if I'd pulled this stunt with previous cats....

Several studies showed that cats with the stomatitis- gingivitis complex caused by calicivirus which it is most likely your young cat has did best on classic cat food which is wet.

Put plaque off in with his daily pouch. It's a tiny amount needed for a cat so he shouldn't notice it's there.

My cat has poor teeth as well even though she is very well looked after with 6 monthly vet check ups (she's nearly 3).

She was put on specialist dental food but she also eats wet food as I have two cats and I cannot separate their food. She has access to plenty of water (away from the food bowls) and her teeth are now under control and doing well.

The dental food is ex[pensive here (£30 a large bag) but I find it lasts ages and we use Royal Canin so they have a scheme where when you buy six bags you get a bag free which helps the old purse

Give them a handful of dental biscuits after their wet food, you can also use plaque off.

One of my boys started to get tartar build up and the dental biscuits seem to have improved it. I still use wet food pouches.

Avoid wet food with jelly or gravy as that is bad for the teeth.

Oh thanks everyone for the answers!

The plaque off in his wet food sounds a good plan. Thanks Bananarama .

But Vinorosso I'm a bit confused by your advice not to give wet food with jelly or gravy. Don't they all have either jelly or gravy? . Sorry if I'm being dim.

Thanks again everyone. The advice out there is so conflicting and the scientific research that isn't funded by a pet food manufacturer seems a bit inconclusive.

Definitely don’t put him on a dry only diet. It won’t improve his teeth and greatly increases his chances of other more serious conditions.

My vet says plaque off is a waste of money and the best thing you can do is use a child’s/ baby toothbrush on them.

I had two cats fed on the same diet, one had bad teeth and the other had teeth like a one year old until the day she died aged 13. A lot is down to genetics and things like calcivirus as mentioned by PPs.

No, not all wet food is in jelly or gravy. Check the label carefully, the better quality foods won't contain either. Look at some of the foods on Zooplus as a guide-our lad has Thrive wet which contains neither.

I changed our cat to cat food without sugar as an ingredient. No further teeth pulls since I did it a couple of years ago - but cats due a check up soon (hoping I haven't just guaranteed a problem by saying that!)