Do you brush your cat's teeth?

[ginnyinWI]

I'm getting the hang of it with two of mine. (The third doesn't seem to get tartar or need it.) It's become a bedtime ritual along with locking the door and turning out the lights and doesn't take very long.

I hold them by their scruff (they are sitting on the floor) and work the cat-sized brush between lips and teeth until I hear it make contact with teeth. I use cat toothpaste, and I try to brush uppers and lowers each several times, then the front fangs. By then the cat is fed up and glad to get away. But after three weeks they're not afraid anymore, and don't try to scratch as much. The key is to hold the scruff though--otherwise they can keep those lips clamped tightly shut! The first few times their gums bled a little, but that went away quickly as the gums got in better condition from the brushing.

[david13]

1. I would like to, and he most definitely wants me too. And to floss,

but he won't let me. He goes after the brush and floss when he sees me, but then when I move the brush toward the teeth, he wont let it touch him.
Some of the cats chew the brush, which is probably good.
I think my cat, near 20 has a little tooth sensitivity.
But he always tries to run his teeth over my fingernails.
Be careful you don't over brush them. Make their gums recede too much. But if you are monitoring tartar you seem to have a good measure to go by.
Mine likes the floss, but he just bites it, into 2 pieces. How he has a cutting edge like that, I don't know.
Let me know if you have other suggestions for me. I will try holding the neck, and see, but.
dc

[Arugula Latte]

2. The vets always tell me to, but I just don't think it will happen.

I can't imagine my kitties letting me do that regularly.

[charlie and algernon]

3. I don't want to come into work with fresh bandages every day

my cat would either rip me to shreds, or being the sensitive soul that she is, would become so traumatized that she'd never look at me again.

[Seedersandleechers]

4. I don't think you need to brush your cats teeth

if you feed them a carb-less diet.

[bluethruandthru]

5. I wish I would have started brushing early with one of my cats.

He's refused to eat dry food - even dry treats - from the day he was born. He's had to have his teeth professionally cleaned at the vet several times to the tune of several hundred dollars each time.
I didn't get them cleaned for 3 or 4 years and his teeth got so bad he couldn't eat and lost alot of weight.
If you have cats who never eat dry food...regular brushing or yearly cleanings is a must.

[ginnyinWI]

7. I have read that dry food doesn't clean teeth.

And in fact, it has a sticky residue on the surface of the kibble which sticks to teeth and makes them worse. My cats get mostly canned and some dry (mostly when we are gone overnight), and one has teeth as clean as a whistle while the other two have tartar. Go figure. I think it's genetic. The one with clean teeth is a long-hair, and the other two are a tabby and a calico. I've heard that cats with orange fur are particularly prone. Our calico is white, black and orange.

[bluethruandthru]

8. Interesting. I always thought it was because he didn't eat dry food.

Maybe not...
He has orange fur too! :)

[Warpy]

6. I wanted to do it to my designer tomcat

who was a big, gorgeous Himalayan with the rotten teeth that go with the breed.

Unfortunately, he had other ideas. He was all muscle, and even with the scruff of his neck held firmly, would manage to whip his head back and forth away from that brush. I couldn't even manage to smear the tartar control stuff onto his teeth with a friendly finger. The funny part is that he actually liked the taste of it.

I gave up. Both my cats lived on dry food and that cut down on a lot of problems. He needed two tartar scrapings in his life and died at the ripe old age of 17, so it must've worked out well for him.

[emilyg]

9. No. I want to live.

[Kookaburra]

10. Nah -- I like my blood exactly where it is

On the INSIDE of my skin.

I give them tartar control treats and let the vet handle the rest.