Teeth cleaning how do you do it?

[EachandEveryone]

And what do you use. My vet mentioned Daphne should start to go in to get her teeth cleaned. She’s two. Should I be doing it at home?

Not if you value your life. I once managed to do it with the most laid back cat in the world, but I've never even dared to try it with any other (normal) cat.

I have never cleaned a cats teeth! Nor do I intend to try! Even with our old girl who was the most calm cat although all the vets she met commented on her good teeth. I remember taking our previous boy for a dental which the vet did under GA.
Am hoping young lad has good teeth. We avoid food in jelly or gravy-he has mix of wet and dry and about once a week I give him some chunks of boiled chicken or turkey to chomp on so hoping that helps......

I've never attempted to clean a cat's teeth. I value my fingers too much to even try.

The vet noticed that ours needed a dental check up in between annual jabs etc. We got this from Amazon (they sell it at the vets but it was cheaper from Amazon) and apparently the teeth are now in better condition. It depends on what’s going on with the teeth though, obviously if they need any removed, the gel won’t help

Meant to say, I put a blob of it on my finger and it gets licked off. No way I’m going in with a toothbrush or a thimble like toothbrush thing to administer it - like a PP I value my fingers too much!

Never tried. I prefer my arms unshredded.

I buy the silicon finger brushes but I have a laidback Persian...

@juneybean I have two very laid back Persians and I still wouldn't dare. Waves to fellow Persian slave!

My cat's teeth only needed attention when he was on wet food. Now that he's on all dry food we don't go near them, they get checked every year and are grand. Not sure I'd attempt to clean a cats teeth. I'd prob pay the vet an extra few visits to give them a proper go a few times a year. I'm just too attached to my fingers.

Funnily it’s the girl who eats mainly wet. I wouldn’t have the heart to put her on a dry diet.

It’s a myth that dry food keeps cats’ teeth clean. They often swallow it whole and even if they crunch it, it’s not abrasive enough. Plus an entirely dry diet can knacker their kidneys as they don’t drink enough and have chronic dehydration (cats naturally get fluid from eating their prey and have a low sense of thirst, so they only drink from a bowl when mega-thirsty).

Prevention is best: feed a decent food with no sugar. Most commercial cat foods are absolutely full of sugars. Feed a more expensive brand and you’ll save money on dental treatment in the long run. I feed mine Nature’s Menu wet food and leave a bowl of Applaws dry down for them to snack on. They have perfect teeth and I never clean them.

www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/dog-dental-gel-100g

Smurfcat gets this twice a day, no toofy problems at all

basically I squirt it in her mouth when giving her a cuddle all I have to do is aim nozzle roughly at teeth, she licks it off but as soon as mixes with cat saliva it turns gunky and bitty and the licking action to get rid of if spreads it everywhere and she licks it all away cleaning her teeth in the process and leaves me still with fingers

I started off as soon as i got her at 6 weeks, she will let anyone do it now. She is 3 in March. It's as normal as looking for a treat

I've started many friends off with this an also got them into a routine with treatments - we all do it the same day, worm, flea, feed, cat outside for the day in early morning and back in after 6 to allow plenty of time for fleas to disperse, straight in and into shower for cat (bathroom sink with shower head), I give her a good hot shower above 37c and rinse well. Dry with loads of towels and feed in her crate where she is near radiator.

Then 1 by 1 each friend calls to me with cat in crate, who is next for beauty treatments first thing is nails tipped (I take the tiniest tip I can off each one) and then bath, dry and hand back, friends stick their towels in dryer to warm up and cat gets wrapped up and taken home till next time I do 7 in a row now and means we all know the cats are clean and treated.

The visiting cats don't see my cat at all and the 1 cat at a times means they don't get too upset. Towels save everything and i manage not to get shredded or scratched.

Why do you shower your cats?

It’s a myth that dry food keeps cats’ teeth clean. They often swallow it whole and even if they crunch it, it’s not abrasive enough. Plus an entirely dry diet can knacker their kidneys as they don’t drink enough and have chronic dehydration (cats naturally get fluid from eating their prey and have a low sense of thirst, so they only drink from a bowl when mega-thirsty).

I very much agree with that. I adopted my cat Mia two years ago and for the first year, she was a fussy eater. She would only eat dry food or wet food that contains sugar. When I took her to the vet, he removed a piece of tartar from her teeth - with his fingers (not a pretty sight)! He said that this prevented my cat from receiving general anaesthetics. He also said that dry food is bad for the kidneys because of its high phosphorous content.

Mia has now been on sugar-free wet food and recently had to go to the vet again who also checked her teeth. They are in great shape.

We brush our cat’s teeth with a cat dental kit from amazon. DH holds him like a baby, and I put the toothpaste on the brush for him. Cat seems to enjoy the fish flavour toothpaste! He’s very good and has never once tried to bite.

I just brush them with pet toothpaste and a pet toothbrush.
He's remarkably compliant for a cat. Old girl would have slaughtered me!
I think all the rodents he crunches through probably have an abrasive effect too.

Sorry only seeing the question about why I shower the cats now. I wrote a reply this morning and lost it

Cats are showered in the evening after they have been fleaed / wormed, the stuff has been given time to work and it gets rid of any remains.

It also keeps them acquainted with the shower so they don't totally freak when some of them need it more often. Cats around here often end up very oily (I'm not talking about headbutting underneath cars type).

The area I live in it has a lot of illegal fuel laundering in the general area but not aware of exactly where and the remains of it are also bad for cats and the cats seem to get in oil a lot, not good for them to try and clean themselves off with kerosene so when they aren't totally scared of the shower it helps as it's not their only experience. It seems to be they roll in it and then go straight home where they or mine is boxed and got ready for a shower.

I try with the oily cat to only do the exact bits needed and no more but sometimes it needs to be all.

For example in the past week alone, there have been 3 arrests in the area for fuel laundering and its effects in recent weeks and I have seen on local news website there are more awaiting court dates.

The other option is to keep cats inside all the time but as soon as a door or window is opened, they are heading out and the last resort is to shave them to get oily fur off, thankfully I have never had to do that.

Its an ongoing problem in this area, all can do is protect them and sort them out. None of them has got sick in recent years despite some very oil covered cats, so it's doing the best for them in the only way possible. They can't be kept in voluntarily despite how many toys or attention etc and we all as owners hate them wailing all the time to get out and very distressed.

Police have been working on the fuel laundering over the years but it seems to be more prevalent as Brexit nears as where I live borders with the Republic of Ireland closely