Have you ever recoiled from your cat’s bad breath?
If your cat suffers from fish-breath, it could be their dental hygiene leaves a lot to be desired. Indeed, bad breath can be an indication your pet has dirty teeth or gum disease. Worse still, inflamed gum tissue harbours bacteria (which causes the bad smell) and can lead to dental discomfort, wobbly teeth, and difficulty eating.
February is Pet Dental Health Month in the United States, so let’s take this opportunity to understand more about the importance of good dental health for our feline friends.
Why Do Cats Get Dental Problems?
The short answer is they don’t brush their teeth.
Most cat foods, especially the canned or moist varieties, leave a sticky residue on the teeth after eating. This sticky sludge is called “plaque” and it’s the ideal environment for bacteria to breed and create a gum infection. When plaque becomes mineralized, the solid deposit is called “tartar” and this pushes on the gums to cause recession, which in turn weakens the tooth’s attachment to the socket.
In addition, bacteria can irritate the gums and cause a red, angry border where the gum meets the tooth; this is known as “gingivitis”. Now there are several reasons why some cats get gingivitis (including certain viral infections or kidney problems) but a dirty mouth is a big risk factor in an otherwise healthy pet.
Be it wobbly teeth or sore gums, the chances are a cat with a dirty mouth has pain or discomfort in one form or another. It might be they have a constant nagging toothache that they learn to live with. Or alternatively they might feel shooting pains when they chew, clues to which include becoming a messy eater or losing their appetite.
Worse still, there is a chance bacterium from a dirty mouth get access to the blood stream. If blood-borne bacteria travel to the heart or kidneys, this can cause potentially life-threatening infections which are something nobody wants.
What are the Signs of Dental Problems?
Bad breath is one clue (although it may just be that tuna supper!) To be sure, you need to look inside your cat’s mouth. Try lifting your cat’s lip to check out what their teeth look like. A healthy mouth should have pink gums, just like ours, with no angry red rim where the teeth meet the gum. A cat’s teeth are a different shape to ours but the idea is the same, they should have clean white enamel without a yellow-brown coating of tartar. Also, check for broken or missing teeth, which could cause pain.
As to the signs of a sore mouth, watch your cat eating. Do they seem to have difficulty chewing, drop food on the floor, or take ages to eat their supper? These are all signs that it hurts when they chew. In extreme cases, the cat’s fur may smell unpleasant, because their saliva is contaminated with a bad odour which is spread over their coat as they wash.
If you suspect your cat has a problem, get their mouth checked by your vet. If tartar is present then it’s advisable to first get the teeth cleaned under anaesthesia and then look at ways of keeping them pearly-white afterwards.
Options for Clean Teeth
Dry kibble is less sticky and leaves fewer deposits on teeth than canned food, meaning it takes longer for tartar to build up. There are special dry diets that have a teeth cleaning action (Hills TD or oral care) as certified by the VOHC (Veterinary Oral Health Council). To have the maximum tooth-cleaning benefit these diets need to be the cat’s main food, and the law of diminishing returns clicks in when you add in other foods.
How to Brush Your Cat’s Teeth
However, the gold standard for the best dental health has to be tooth brushing. Think how unpleasant your mouth feels when your skip brushing your teeth and you get some idea of the difference brushing makes. Now think what it would be like if you never brushed your teeth and you enter the world most of our pets inhabit.
It is possible to teach your cat to enjoy the one-on-one attention tooth-brushing offers, the trick is to take it slowly and make sure your cat is happy with each step before moving onto the next.
To teach your cat to accept having their teeth brushed; first choose a soft-bristled brush for pets, or a finger brush. You can also use a piece of gauze wrapped around your finger. In terms of toothpaste, make sure you use a product designed for pets: not only do these taste better to the cat, but the fluoride in human toothpaste if swallowed will upset their stomach. It also helps to leave the toothpaste and brush out around the home, and allow your cat to lick the toothpaste from your finger, so they realize it’s nothing to be wary of.
Take it a step at a time, starting with lifting the cat’s lip. Release the lip after a few seconds and tell your cat how clever they are and give an awesome chin rub. Repeat this a couple of times or more a day, and once they’re comfortable with you lifting their lip, move on to the next stage.
The full steps are:
- Lift the lip
- Use a finger to rub toothpaste onto a couple of teeth (let the cat lick it off)
- Use a toothbrush to apply toothpaste
- Try gently brushing with the tooth brush
- Tackle more of the teeth
Build this regime up over time and soon you’ll be a teeth-cleaning ninja. Your cat will have a healthy mouth, which means banishing fish-breath and receiving sweet kisses instead – definitely an important reason to help your cat to good dental health.
Do you have a cat with stinky breath? Have you ever tried brushing your cat’s teeth? Please share your experiences below.
Thank you for explaining how to check for problems with your cat’s teeth. I’ve been a bit worried about my cat’s teeth recently because of bad breath but wasn’t sure about how to approach fixing it. I’ll be sure to check this out as well as talk to our vet about how we can move forward if there are problems.
Mommy tried brushing our teeth, and let’s just say it didn’t go well. Luckily out vet said our teeth are in good shape!
Loved that photo of a cat’s tongue — wow! Yes, teeth are so important to keep clean and I would hope there are chewy things specifically for cats that assist in that task, like I use for Tashi and Kiki. I have a finger brush and dog toothpaste with no zylitol in it (yes, unfortunately there are brands found to have that ingredient in them, though I would hope they are all off the market by now). Thanks for the post — it’s interesting to see the strides in cat care, as I haven’t had cats since I was a teenager!
I know I need to brush the girls’ teeth, but I’ve never taken the time to do it. I’m thankful the vet checks their teeth every time they go in.
Meowza – we always talk about our dog’s oral health, but our felines need it too. Great read.
Dental health month is super important and cats and dogs are both stoic when it comes to their attitudes even when they have a fractured tooth so this is a great post to educate folks.
I have been very blessed and my cats have not had any serious dental problems. Cinco did crack one of his canine teeth, but it never seemed to bother him at all (whew). He does get the sneezes once in a while, though, which may be related to the cracked tooth. Other than that, there hasn’t been anything that regular care couldn’t fix.
My cat is getting pretty old, we think he is 14 or 15, and our vet said we should consider getting his teeth cleaned. I am a little concerned about anesthesia at his age since he hasn’t had needed it since he was two. His breath isn’t bad at all, so I think he’s been lucky in the dental department.
Great information, thank you. I’m pinning!
Wowza, what an awesome image – it helps us understand that the need to brush kitty’s teeth is very important! Great tips – I’m sure they will help a lot of cat parents. For our pups we actually use children’s tooth brushes – we found the bristles much better than pet tooth brushes.
We are trying to get Rosie used to teeth brushing. She’s very stubborn and gets mad, but we are not giving up!
I brush my dogs teeth and also give them a chewy once a day to naturally clean their teeth. I know very little about cats- do they chew on treats too? This was a really informative post!
I brush my dogs’ teeth and they have healthy mouths. Good oral hygiene is so important for our pets. Thanks for sharing this information. ☺
great post! I had an older cat and I had no idea the first thing about cleaning cats teeth other then going to the vet.
We brush Mr. N’s teeth every night. He had a bit of tartar on his canines but he had a dental so now he has white sparkling teeth
Dental health is so important in both cats and dogs. We leave it to the vet to check our cat’s teeth! lol
Dental health is so very important! The vet checks my gang’s teeth every time they go to the vet, and so far no issues reported. I am going to make more of an effort to check for myself at home and start brushing their teeth. Another great thing that is good for reducing plaque and tartar is eating chunks of raw meat and uncooked bones.
I’ve tried brushing my cats teeth but they would have nothing to do with it! I think if I had started when they were kittens it would be much easier and of course better for their health.
Callie the Cat would not like us brushing her teeth but we do feed her dry kibble! 🙂
That’s an awesome photo of the cat’s tongue. I never tried to brush my cat’s teeth when I had a cat, but I do brush my dog’s teeth.
Awesome, and oh-so-important post! Our girls get their teeth checked every time they visit the vet.
Mum doesn’t brush our teeth, but she checks regularly our mouth. It’s so important : Angel Isis had very bad teeth (and the Stinky Breath of Doom) and gingivitis, and lost or had almost all her teeth removed before she was 5 years old. It saved her gums, and she was able to eat normally all her life long. Purrs
Great post! The mom makes sure the vet checks our teefs every time we see her. She knows the importance of good dental health for us.
Thanks for the fantastic advice! Dental disease is so very common in kitties – the more prevention we can do the better 🙂
Cosmo goes in for dental cleaning and a tooth extraction at the end of the month. I’m so glad that I’m getting him in. He’s enjoying life as a solo cat and I’ve been spending one on one time with him – just quiet talk and long staring sessions. It’s peaceful. So I want him to be with me forever. After losing Jaffrey so unexpectedly, I’m getting Cosmo back on track. He had a check up this weekend – healthy – and the teeth will be done soon.
I’d love to read a post about vaccinations for indoor cats. I got real pressure to have him vaccinated. I would only allow the rabies, because I worried that they’d report me if I didn’t do it (Seattle is trying to get vets to report pet owners who don’t vaccinate). I turned down the other vaccinations, because I don’t believe they’re necessary.
Thank you for this important reminder! I’ve started to check their mouth some weeks ago, and I try to get closer every week. I was just googling gingivitis, and I’m not sure if they may have it. The red line looks different than on the Google pictures., it’s even, horizontal and about 0,5 cm below the gum
We’ll see the vet in March for an annual check-up and vaccinations, and I think I’ll wait until then. They don’t have a bad breath, and they don’t seem to have any pain.