Dental Care

Cats are obligate carnivores. They are intended to eat a diet of birds and small mammals and the structure of their teeth and jaws tells the tale.

All of the teeth, not just the incisors and canines, or cat-nines as we like to call them, are pointy. The molars, which are flat for grinding food in herbivores and omnivores, are even sharp and pointy. Also, the jaw has no ability for side to side grinding motions. In the wild, when a cat, whether domestic or Bengal eats prey, the function of the teeth and jaws is to tear the prey into bite sized pieces that are then swallowed. In this process, the muscle tissue, connective tissue, fur and feathers slides between the teeth, essentially cleaning and flossing the teeth as the cat consumes the meal which is incidentally, very low in carbohydrate.

Kibble/dry food does not keep a cat’s teeth clean. So many times, I open the mouth of a cat during routine examination to find a mouth full of gingivitis, tartar, resorptive lesions, exposed sensitive areas of the teeth, and sometimes dental abscesses. We know the tooth lesions are painful to the cat, because even under anesthesia, when we touch these spots, a cat will chatter his teeth indicating a pain response.

Dental disease also affect your cat’s overall health. Infections and inflammation arising from dental infections can cause inflammation in the blood vessels. These blood vessels fan out into fine little networks in internal organs such as the kidneys. The inflammation in these blood vessels can contribute to kidney disease as your cat ages. Syndromes such as Type 2 Diabetes can also be impossible to resolve until the diseased teeth are removed from the mouth. So many times has the cat owner said after diseased teeth have been extracted from their cat that they didn’t realize how much trouble the diseased teeth were causing until after they were removed, and they got their “old” cat back who was once again playful, responsive, and doing old habits and routines. Sometimes seemingly unrelated skin infections resolved as well. It appears that the diseased teeth place a burden upon the immune system.

And so many times the cat owner says , but I have only fed dry/kibble diet! How could this be? Well, kibble does not clean a cat’s teeth, and it is high in carbohydrate as well. Quality canned diet does not clean the cat’s teeth either, nor does mush raw diet, but at least these are low in carbohydrate. Dental diets designed to keep a cat’s teeth are high in carbohydrate and, since cats swallow approximately 85% of kibble whole, the cost of an improper diet outweighs the benefit. But there are ways to help your cat’s teeth.

If your cat will tear at a large piece of meat on a regular basis this can help. Take a large boneless chicken breast and cook it on the outside in the skillet or oven. Cook it ntil the outside is opaque white and cooked, but it is still pink on the inside. Your cat may not want to eat this if she has not been accustomed to eating such a thing since kittenhood, but if she will, it will help keep her teeth and gums healthy.

There are also dental treats. I like the large size treat made by by CET. Kitty has to chew it, keeping it in contact with the mouth longer and she cannot gulp it down whole, completely bypassing the teeth. There are also dental wipes that can be swiped on the outer surface of the teeth for oral hygiene. It is not necessary to get to the inside of the mouth. The tongue does a pretty good job on the inside, you just need to get the outside especially along the cheeks.

Oravet makes a good product that can be put on the outer teeth on a 2 week interval if you would like a less frequent regimen. And Plaque Away is tasteless and can be applied to the teeth as well.

The gold standard is for you to brush your cat’s teeth. But please reserve judgement until after you look at the dental video produced by Cornell University. It outlines steps to help your cat find tooth brushing acceptable or even a good thing. Regular tooth brushing alone and especially when used in a multimodal program with one or more other dental hygiene habit listed above, can greatly impact your cat’s oral health in overall health. Regual brushing can also increase the time between necessary scaling and polishing and prevent the need for surgical tooth extractions.

Dental scaling and polishing is still important even with home care. Scaling and polishing removes the plaque buildup on the tooth surface and with high quality dental instruments, below the gum line.80% of dental disease begins below the gumline. You cannot see this though there may be a clue in the form of gingivitis or a red line along the gumline. The examination of each tooth with the dental probe and digital dental X-Rays during the scaling and polishing procedure let you know if there is dental disease below the surface.

Dental homecare can lengthen the interval between necessary scaling and polishing. And the closer the diet replicates the diet found in nature, the less dental care your Bengal will need. While the idea seems harsh, one breeder I knew fed his cats frozen chicks, as the egg industry has little use for male chicks. He claimed longevity of 18 to 20 years without dental care.