Friday, May 3, 2013

Brushing Hermes Teeth

During Hermes' annual exam last June, we found out that he had mild gingivitis. Like any fanatic cat mom, I wanted to do whatever it took to make sure his teeth didn't get any worse. My vet recommended dry food for dental health and brushing my cats teeth. I was a bit shocked to find out that people actually do this. It has been almost a year, and Hermes gets his pearly whites brushed about 4x a week (though some vets recommend every day). He is also on T/D Science Diet for cats.

You don't get a cat to brush overnight. It takes a proper introduction. The best cat toothpaste I have seen thus far is this one:

Something chicken flavored is your best bet. Hermes took to this one really well. I started out just introducing the toothpaste to see if he liked it. I let him lick it off my finger. After that, I introduced him to the brush. I let him come up to it and investigate.

He then starts to lick at it. If I don't move the brush a little, he will mostly lick the toothpaste right off without actually brushing. However, I can usually gently coax him into chomping down on the toothbrush. While he chomps, I guide the brush around his mouth.

Once he has had enough, I give him a treat of licking it clean. I then throughly rinse the brush before putting it away.

Dental health is very underrated and often overlooked. Dental disease left untreated can lead to serious health concerns like tooth loss to bacterial infections. If teeth are not properly cared for, it can lead to expensive dental procedures since cats would need to be sedated for teeth cleaning and extractions. It is cheaper and safer to do preventatives!

It doesn't have to be all work and no play! There are toys dedicated to dental health as well. Hermes has these ones:

Here are some signs to watch out for. If you notice any of these, contact your vet!

-Dark red line along the gums
-Red and swollen gums
-Ulcers on gums or tongue
-Loose teeth
-Pus
-Difficulty chewing food
-Excessive drooling
-Excessive pawing at the mouth area

But, if you own reptiles, fish, birds, or amphibians, you don't have to worry about any of this. :)

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