Afraid to have my cats teeth cleaned

On 23 May, 10:29, Eddy Bentley
wrote:
Out of interest, how many people actually brush their cats' teeth
regularly?

I'll open by saying I don't. I did when they were kittens, to get them
used to it. I was advised that brushing just the outsides of all the
teeth was sufficient as that's where the tartar can build up. But then
things got busy in my life and that's one weeky cat-chore I decided to
drop. I also figured that as cats only live till they are 20 what's the
point of polishing their pearlies as if they were going to live as long
us? But maybe I shouldn't be so lazy. How many other people are being
as lazy or, perhaps, as rational as me? The kittens certainly never
enjoyed having their teeth cleaned though they did sit there and let me
perform the rather difficult operation.

Can we have some candid discussion on this?

Eddy.

when I got my old cat jasper a few years ago (he was 17 or so at the
time) i was told that he didn't eat dried crunchy food because his
previous mum (some old dear) had never given them to him and so he
didn't know what to do with them and it turned out that he wasn't
interested in them anyway.
anyway in the space of 18 months in which i had him before he had to
be PTS (bladder tumour) he had 2 dentals and after the first one the
vet gave me a special toothbrush and enzymatic toothpaste, verbac i
think, and told me to start brushing at least once a week, everyday if
I coudl manage it, since jasper was prone to build up of tartar and as
jasper was vehemently against eating dried kibble food to clean his
own teeth, I had to do it for him.

You woudl think that starting cleaning a cats teeth at the age of 16or
17 woudl be a nightmare but then i had to give him felimazole tablets
twice a day anyway, always straight down his throat, so he was quiet
used to me manhandling him and probaly worked out that after a short
period of this strange human slave manhandling him he would get a
plate of prawns or other treat, so it was worth the indignity of it.
he was fairly laid back cat anyway, only the first few times did I
have to have him wrapped in a towel and held by someone else.

i haven't had to do this with jessie since she has no teeth anymore
(nothing to do with me, they were in a really bad way when she was
handed into the rescue centre and they took them out, well a vet did)
so that is not a problem. Not really been there with terri yet but she
has only been with us 2 months now.

if a cat is eating crunchy food and able to clean it's own teeth i
would not bother cleaning their teeth for them personally, but jasper
woudl not eat dried food so i had to step in.btw 20 years may not be
long in your eyes but to a cat that is over 100years old and far
longer than a cat would live to in a the wild, maybe twice as long in
fact, so dental health is important to think about even if it is to
avoid paying costly vet bills for dentals all the time

bookie