She is a regular tabby, has early signs of dental disease, and weighs 8 pounds 12 oz.
I keep reading cats shouldn't eat any type of dry food....but my vet said 2 cans a day would totally rot her teeth. She's kind of a vicious cat at times...so I can't brush her teeth.
Answer
Jack:
Canned. All canned. Dry food does NOT clean the teeth any more than eating hard pretzels clean ours. New research actually shows that dry food causes plaque and gingivitis - those dry food crumbs stick to the gumline and actually cause the dental disease they are supposed to prevent. Vets that are just out of school or have actually continued their education actually recommend an all canned diet for their feline patients. Read about feeding your little carnivore here, it was written by a vet who has actually researched feline nutrition: http://www.catinfo.com/. Pay special attention to the section titled "but my cat does just fine on dry food".
Jessica:
My kitty had the same issue with his teeth. Here is what my vet recommended for me. I changed his food to Science Diet which actually upped the energy in all my cats which surprised me. She gave me some other options but I don't remember what they were. I just knew Science Diet was the cheapest and had the best health benefits that all my cats needed.
She told me to give him a little wet food, like a half a can, each day. She also said to start brushing his teeth or getting him dental treats. My cat also doesn't like treats so I started adding dental drops to his water. I also do brush his teeth since he is very mild tempered.
Hope this helps. I pretty much just sat at the cat dental section of petsmart for a good 20 minutes with my roommate trying to figure out the best dental care for my cat since our older one has teeth problems too.
Rae:
You're vet, like most, knows nothing about nutrition. Dry food cleaning teeth is a total myth, and it's been debunked. Your vet must be old school like mine. I think dry food is actually worse for teeth, because it dehydrates cats. Dehydrated cats have dry sticky gums, which would make the perfect surface for dry food particles to stick.
Try eating a bunch of pretzels then see how your teeth feel. Wet food is much better than dry, and won't rot their teeth anymore than dry food. The only diet that will keep their teeth cleaner is a raw one, and raw is best. High quality wet is second best.
Anonymous:
Saying dry food cleans teeth is like saying pretzels will clean my teeth. That's just not how it works. Canned is no worse for teeth. If you feed either, you should be brushing the cats teeth. The only food that cleans teeth is raw and whole prey.
Canned is far healthier. Kibble can lead to diabetes, obesity, kidney disease, crystals etc.
Whenever something is confusing, just use some common sense. It can often go a long way. Cats are carnivores. They are not meant to eat dry, carb filled food. They are meant to eat fresh meat. Pick a diet that is closest to that. Raw (it needs to be balanced) and whole prey is best. Canned is second best. Pick better quality canned like wellness core, blue wilderness, halo etc if you can.
Randy:
We feed our cats 9 lives dry food throughout the day and 9 lives canned food at night for supper. The dry food is necessary for the fiber and to keep their teeth clean. The canned food is for a filling meal and helps with settling their craving for meat.
My wife is better at this one...don't feed table scraps to the cats. Also, I don't recommend brushing a cat's teeth. They don't understand that you're trying to help them and would be a move that would reduce bonding with your pet.
Laura:
We are not vets, so we have no right to say what your cat should or should not eat.
My vet has said that my cat has early signs of dental issues, and recommended that I only feed her wet food as a treat.
She is very picky about her wet food, so it wasn't a difficult switch. Because I was worried about her hydration, I got a water fountain, and she really likes it. The vet said that her teeth are doing better, and that she doesn't show any signs of being dehydrated.
