You may have seen dirt in your cat's mouth or even noticed bad breath. This is due to the accumulation of tartar on their teeth, because it happens to them exactly the same as us with oral problems.
In this article on our site we are going to give you some tips for removing tartar from cats and, in addition, we are going to inform you about what tartar is and how to prevent it.
What is tartar and which cats are more prone to it?
As we told in the article on tips for removing tartar in dogs, tartar is made up of stones formed by debris on the teethof our pets. These residues that accumulate to form tartar calculations, are a mixture of bacterial plaque, food remains and mineral s alts that accumulate throughout life in the mouth of our cats on a daily basis. Tartar is created mainly in the space between the teeth and the gums. If not treated in time, it spreads to the rest of the oral structures, affecting them and even leading to infections and more serious secondary diseases.
As with any disease, preventing tartar and its consequences is preferable to having to treat our furry friend with mouth problems, because they can only be completely solved by subjecting the feline to general anesthesia to perform a professional cleaning of the mouth by the veterinarian, in addition to the necessary drug treatment in each case.
All cats can suffer from tartar and its consequences, but some, depending on their he alth or age, are more prone:
- Cats from the age of three tend to accumulate tartar This is because after three years of life they have been around for a long time accumulating the aforementioned elements necessary for the production of tartar. If we do not help them eliminate these harmful elements accumulated in their mouth, in a short time we will notice symptoms and detect diseases and problems derived from accumulated tartar.
- Depending on the quality of the cat's teeth it may already have tartar from a very young age. The same thing happens with people, because if the individual's teeth are genetically poor in the outer and protective layer called enamel, residues will easily adhere to the surface of the teeth and problems will quickly develop. Taking care of the mouth of animals suffering from this genetic defect is very important, since they cannot provide themselves with the constant and necessary cleaning, making it very difficult to keep their mouth he althy without proper follow-up.
What consequences can tartar have for my cat?
Poor oral hygiene and the accumulation of tartar in our pets can cause many problems and diseases. These are the most common:
- Bad breath or halitosis: It is the first symptom that usually alerts us that tartar accumulation is taking place in the mouth of our pets. It is a bad smell that comes from the decomposition of food residues accumulated between the teeth and gums. It can be detected at a certain distance from our pet when the problem is already beginning to be advanced. We should consult our veterinarian so that they can do a dental checkup for our cat and advise us on the best way to help stop halitosis and prevent tartar from forming, because if we don't, it will continue in a short time. complicating the problem and other illnesses will follow.
- Gingivitis: This disease begins to occur when the presence of tartar begins in the mouth of our domestic cats. The gums become inflamed, redden and with the passing of days they recede and finally the root of the affected tooth is discovered. This ends up being very painful for them and we must provide the treatment prescribed by our trusted veterinarian as soon as we detect any symptoms. If we don't do it soon, the exposed tooth root rapidly deteriorates and resorbs. When the union between the tooth and the bone of the mandible or maxilla becomes so weak, it ends up causing the total loss of the affected tooth and the exposure of the bone to secondary infections.
- Periodontal disease: This disease fits the two previous ones and continues to progress in the deterioration of the oral structures of the animal that suffers from it, so the remaining teeth, their roots, the maxilla, the mandible, the palate, etc. continue to deteriorate. When the loss of the teeth that have been affected occurs, secondary infections occur in the gums and in the bones of the jaw and maxilla. What begins with tartar, halitosis and gingivitis ends up being a very serious problem that can cause the death of the animal. It also causes cats that suffer from it enormous pain that can lead them to stop eating very easily, in fact it is one of the symptoms that most alert us in the behavior of an animal affected by periodontal disease. The only way to combat this disease properly is to detect it as soon as possible, perform a professional mouth cleaning together with antibiotic and anti-inflammatory treatment, as well as adequate follow-up. All this must be done by a veterinarian, since professional oral hygiene must be performed under general anesthesia and with adequate instruments, and only a veterinarian will know exactly what the appropriate treatment will be and will prescribe it for us.
- Secondary infections: All the problems and diseases described above, if not treated promptly and properly, end up causing serious secondary infections in our friends furry. These infections are usually very serious, and can lead to heart, intestinal, liver and kidney problems, which is why they carry a risk of death. Secondary infections that begin in the gums or in the bones of the jaw or maxilla, produce abscesses that continue to progress through the tissues of the mouth and end up affecting the muzzle, nose and eyes of our pet.
How can we prevent tartar in domestic cats?
As we mentioned before, it is better to prevent tartar and the diseases that derive from it than to allow our feline to suffer from it and have to treat it. We can prevent these problems in our cat friends with some oral hygiene guidelines and maintaining good he alth Just as we do with ourselves, a good dental brushing, a rinse oral hygiene, watching what foods we eat, among other things, can help us avoid tartar and all that it entails. Really, as we will see, in oral he alth we are not so different from our four-legged friends.
Preventing the appearance of tartar will not only eliminate the possibility of a series of derived diseases and their consequences, but we will also avoid enormous pain for our friend and we will even avoid anesthesia and drug treatments.
Some ways to prevent the appearance of tartar are:
- Daily brushing: We must brush our cat companion's teeth daily just like we do our own. It is better to get used to them from a young age so that they adapt and the process is facilitated. You have to choose a suitable toothbrush and a special toothpaste for cats. Later we will discuss in more detail how to carry out this dental brushing in our pets.
- Special toys and prizes: There are toys, cookies, bones and special feed that simply by playing or chewing our cats they clean their mouths themselves and in a very simple and rewarding way for them. These prizes and toys are composed of abrasive elements for the bacterial plaque found on the surface of our pet's teeth. This way we will avoid the formation of tartar and, if there is already one, we will help to soften it and eliminate it. Some of these materials are rubber or rope toys, bars, strips, biscuits, feed with oral care action and bones, which we will find in pet stores and veterinary centers.
- Maintaining good physical he alth: It is vital that our friend is in good he alth at all times and that if we detect symptoms of anything we take him To veterinary. To maintain good he alth, it is essential that we offer our cat a diet that is appropriate to its characteristics, he althy and balanced. We must also ensure that you exercise enough to stay agile, active and he althy. All this will help us keep many diseases and problems away from our four-legged companion.
- Observation of symptoms: As prevention of more serious problems and diseases, it is vital that whenever we detect any symptom that may indicate problems in our pet's mouth we go to the vet immediately. Some of the most common symptoms and behaviors are:
- Excessive bad breath. Halitosis is not only caused by accumulated tartar, gingivitis or periodontal disease. For this reason, it is very important that we go to our trusted veterinarian when we detect halitosis in our kitten. There are other diseases, such as those of the digestive system, that can cause bad breath. In addition, diabetes, kidney problems and parasites are other problems that can cause bad breath in our pets.
- Profuse salivation.
- Frequently scratching his face or mouth with his paws and against objects such as sofas, walls, furniture, etc., without it seeming at first glance that he has something that could bother him.
- Depression (lack of desire to eat, play, move, etc.)
- Stop eating or change the way you eat.
- Missing teeth that we know were still there relatively recently.
- Tartar between the gums and teeth.
- Loss of quality of teeth with discoloration, splitting or breakage of teeth, etc.
- Red, bleeding, swollen gums.
- Lumps, polyps or abscesses in our cat's mouth.
- In advanced cases of periodontal disease we will see lumps and abscesses under the eyes, where our furry friend's pout begins.
Tips to prevent and remove tartar from the mouth of our pets
From our site we want to give you useful tips so you can help your faithful companion to prevent oral diseases and combat them if they occur appeared:
- Get him used to brushing his teeth. It is much better if we can do it every day but if not, with an average of three times a week should be enough to keep the tartar at bay. The easiest process to get our feline used to brushing its teeth daily is to start teaching it from a young age. When it is still a small kitten, we will pass a sterile gauze moistened with water and gently rolled on our finger over the surface of the teeth every day. Later, when he is used to it, we must start teaching him the toothbrush and the special toothpaste for cats so that he becomes familiar with them. Then we will use the brush instead of the gauze and the specific paste instead of water. We will do the same, we will gently pass it over the surface of the teeth every day. At first you can make the brushings shorter and little by little make them longer as your partner gets used to it. Since cats swallow toothpaste instead of spitting it out like us, we must use a special paste for cats that is sold in specialized pet stores and veterinary centers. It is a toothpaste that does not contain fluoride, which is highly toxic for them and therefore, we will never use a human toothpaste. It also comes in different flavors designed to make the paste pleasant for domestic cats. If we prefer not to use these toothpastes, we can use Chlorhexidine, which is sold as a spray in veterinary centers and specialized stores. This product is like our mouthwash that helps us clean, disinfect, soften tartar stones and improves our breath. We must think about which brush is the most suitable for our cat, one for small children may already work for us or we can search in pet stores for a model that better fits both our furry and us to make it more comfortable.
- Teach your feline friend to have good eating habits. We know that many kittens only like to eat pate, muses and other cans bland foods, which of course are delicious but are not the best for dental he alth. We must think that wet and soft food accumulates very easily in the recesses of the cat's mouth and it is difficult to eliminate these remains. Therefore, it is better that we get our pets used to eating dry feed which will help them clean their teeth by scratching their surface. From time to time we can offer them cans of soft food as a reward, but never as a basic or only food.
- Toys and special prizes. These are, as we mentioned before, balls, ropes and other toys, bars, bones, strips and feed among others, with some abrasive components for the bacteria of dental plaque. You can buy them or you can make them yourself at home. These types of toys and prizes usually delight our pets, which makes them ideal for their complete function of fun, food and oral care. String toys are very useful because when chewing them our cat will be doing the same as us with the dental floss, but we must be careful that they do not come undone too much and swallow the threads by accident, so if we see that the string toy rope is already very battered we will remove it offering you a new one.
- Professional mouth cleaning: In case the tartar accumulates a lot and we see that we can no longer remove it even with brushing normal, with toothpaste or Chlorhexidine, with a diet or with toys, etc., we will only have to go to our veterinary specialist since his intervention becomes necessary to stop the process in time for other secondary diseases to develop. serious as the ones we have discussed earlier in this article. Even if it is already a periodontal disease, we must also start the treatment to cure it with good professional dental hygiene. The veterinarian should always clean our cat's mouth under general anesthesia, with the help of an anesthesiologist and a veterinary assistant. With this process, tartar, food residues, bacterial plaque and mineral s alts will be eliminated, with specific instruments for them such as ultrasounds that serve to fractionate plaques without damaging the enamel of the tooth. During the process, if there are some badly damaged teeth, they can be lost because they are unrecoverable. These teeth are still in the mouth because they have been stuck to tartar, but they have long since ceased to be functional and if they are left there they will end up producing lumps and abscesses followed by infections.
- Take advantage of the general anesthetics to which you must subject your cat by obligation. It may be that due to other he alth issues or due to a simple sterilization, we are forced to put our furry friend under general anesthesia. As we already know, it is not he althy to be under general anesthesia very often, so if we believe that our partner needs oral hygiene performed by a specialist, it will be our responsibility to discuss with our veterinarian if in the same operation under general anesthesia for which he should pass the cat for whatever important reason, you can perform a professional mouth cleaning.
