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Methods for the Prevention of Feline Dental Problems

Tess Thompson

It is common to develop strong bonds with a cat you care for. You groom them, feed them the best foods, and give them medical aid whenever needed. Then suddenly months later, you are confronted with offensive cat breath --and you do not know where you went wrong.

Bad cat breath is caused mostly by dental disease. If your cat’s teeth are not cleaned, the plaque is liable to solidify as tartar, which irritates the gums. Ultimately, this causes inflammation and infection in the gums, and the bacterial growth can lead to gingivitis and periodontitis, two of the most common causes of bad breath in cats.

Preventing dental disease revolves around caring for the cat’s teeth, and any dental care program should include the following:

At Home:

You need to brush your cat’s teeth on a regular basis. Brushing an animal’s teeth requires a little bit of expertise, and the process has to be handled in the same manner as training is handled. You first will need to coax our cat to accept the toothbrush. Try to part the cat’s lips to see how she responds, and then gradually massage the gums. The toothbrush and toothpaste (use a flavored one meant for cats) should be introduced after that. If you go about it the right way, it is an activity that your cat will start liking and actually look forward to.

Check with your veterinarian about the diet that you should give her. Soft foods and canned foods are prone to leave behind particles that stick between teeth and decay over time. If you see any of these when you are brushing the cat’s teeth, try to remove them.

Professional care:

As a responsible pet owner, you should be taking your cat to the veterinarian for an annual checkup. Make sure that the veterinarian evaluates dental health, as well. This will require a proper examination of the teeth, gums and mucosa of the mouth. Some cat breeds need a thorough professional cleaning and polishing of teeth annually because they are more prone to tartar build up despite home care. Other breeds may only require it for once or twice in a lifetime.

Scraping of teeth is a temporary measure to bide over time until proper cleaning can be done. Total cleaning can be done only with the aid of an ultrasonic scaling machine, the type used for cleaning human teeth. This requires anesthetizing the cat, as it cannot be performed while the animal is awake. If tartar has already formed, home care can be of help only after professional cleaning of teeth.

Sources
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/howto4.html