Tips for removing tartar in cats

Content

• What is tartar and which cats are more prone to it?
• What consequences can tartar have for the cat?
• How can we prevent tartar in domestic cats?
• Advice to prevent and remove tartar from the cat's mouth

You may have ever seen dirt in your cat's mouth or even noticed bad breath. This is due to the accumulation of tartar on your teeth, as with them happens exactly the same thing as with us with regard to oral problems.

In this article by PeritoAnimal we will give you some tips for removing tartar in cats and, in addition, we'll let you know what tartar is and how to prevent it.

What is tartar and which cats are more prone to it?

As mentioned in the article with tips for taking tartar in dogs, tartar is composed of calculus formed by residues on teeth of our pets. These residues that accumulate form the calculus of tartar, are a mixture of bacterial plaque, food debris and mineral salts that accumulate throughout life in the mouth of our cats daily. Tartar is mainly created in the space between the teeth and the gums. If not treated in time, it spreads to the remaining oral structures, affecting them and even leading to infections and more serious secondary diseases.

Like any other disease, it is preferable to prevent tartar and its consequences that having to treat our furry friend with mouth problems, as they can only be fully resolved by submitting the feline to general anesthesia to perform a professional mouth cleaning performed by the veterinarian, in addition to the treatment with medications necessary in each case.

All cats can suffer from tartar and its consequences, but some, depending on their health or age, are more likely to:

• Cats from three years old usually accumulate tartar. This happens because at the age of three years of life they have been accumulating the aforementioned elements necessary for the production of tartar for a long time. If we don't help her eliminate these harmful elements accumulated in her mouth, in a short time we will notice symptoms and we can detect diseases and problems derived from accumulated tartar.
• Depending on the quality of the feline's teeth it may be that from a very young age you already have tartar. It's the same with people, because if the individual's teeth are genetically poor in the protective outer layer called enamel, the residue will easily adhere to the surface of the teeth and problems will quickly develop. The care of the mouth of animals that suffer from this genetic defect is very important, as they themselves cannot provide the necessary and constant cleaning, making it very difficult to keep their mouth healthy without proper monitoring.

What consequences can tartar have for the cat?

Poor oral hygiene and accumulation of tartar in our pets can bring many problems and illnesses. These are the most common:

• bad breath or halitosis: It is the first symptom that usually alerts us that an accumulation of tartar is being produced in our cat's mouth. It is a bad odor from the decomposition of food residues accumulated between the teeth and gums. It can be detected at a distance from our pet when the problem starts to progress. We should consult our veterinarian for an oral review of our cat and advise us on the best way to help him treat halitosis and prevent tartar formation, since if we don't, the problem will soon occur. will continue to get worse and may lead to other illnesses.
• Gingivitis: This disease starts to occur when the presence of tartar starts in the mouth of our domestic cats. The gums become inflamed, reddened and over the days they retract and, finally, the root of the affected tooth is uncovered. This can be quite painful for them and we should provide them with the treatment prescribed by our trusted veterinarian when we detect any symptoms. If we don't do it soon, the exposed tooth root will quickly deteriorate and resorb. When the union between the tooth piece and the jaw bone or jawbone weakens so much, it ends up with the total loss of the affected tooth piece and the exposure of the bone to secondary infections.
• Periodontal disease: This disease is part of the two previous ones and continues to deteriorate the animal's oral structures, so that the remaining tooth pieces continue to deteriorate, in addition to its roots, the maxilla, the mandible, etc. When the tooth pieces that have been affected are lost, secondary infections occur in the gums and in the bones of the jaw and jaw. What starts with tartar, halitosis and gingivitis turns out to be a very serious problem that can kill the animal. In addition, cats that suffer from this disease can easily stop eating, 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 fight this disease properly is to detect it as soon as possible, perform a professional mouth cleaning along with an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory treatment, in addition to proper follow-up. All this must be done by a veterinarian, as professional oral hygiene must be carried out under general anesthesia and with adequate instruments, and only a veterinarian will know exactly what the appropriate treatment will be.
• secondary infections: All the problems and illnesses described above, if not treated in time and properly, end up causing serious secondary infections in our furry friends. These infections are usually very serious, can result in heart, intestinal, liver and kidney problems, and therefore run a risk of death. Secondary infections that start in the gums or in the bones of the jaw or jaw, cause abscesses that continue to progress through the tissues of the mouth and that end up affecting our pet's snout, nose and eyes.

How can we prevent tartar in domestic cats?

As we mentioned before, it is better to prevent tartar and the diseases that come from it than to allow our feline to suffer from it and have to treat it. These problems in our furry friends can be prevented by following a few oral hygiene guidelines and keeping a good health. As we do with ourselves, a good toothbrushing, a mouthwash, checking what foods we eat among other things that can help us avoid tartar and all that that entails. As you can see, in oral health we are not as different as 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 great pain to our friend and we even avoid anesthesia and drug treatments.

Some ways to prevent the appearance of tartar are:

• daily brushing: We should brush our partner's teeth daily just as we do with ourselves. It's better to get them used to them from an early age so that they adapt and the process is simpler. You should choose a suitable toothbrush and a special toothpaste for cats. But later on, we will tell you in detail how you should carry out this toothbrushing on your pet.
• Toys and special prizes: There are special toys, biscuits, bones and rations that simply by playing or chewing, our cats clean their mouths themselves and in a very simple way while satisfying for them. These prizes and toys are made of abrasive elements for the plaque that forms on the surface of our cat's teeth. This way we manage to avoid the formation of tartar, and when we already have it, we help to soften it and eliminate it. Some of these materials are rubber or rope toys, bars, strips, biscuits, oral care feed and bones, which we can find for sale at pet stores and veterinary centers.
• Maintaining good physical health: It is essential that our friend is always in good health and if we experience symptoms of anything we take him to the vet. To maintain good health, it is essential that we offer our cat a diet that is adequate to its characteristics, healthy and balanced. In addition, we should try to get you to exercise enough to stay agile, active and healthy. All of this will help us to keep many illnesses and problems away from our four-legged companion.
• Symptoms observation: As a prevention of more serious problems and illnesses, it is essential that whenever you detect any symptoms that may indicate problems in our cat's mouth, go to the veterinarian immediately. Some of the most common symptoms and behaviors are:

1. Excessive bad breath. Halitosis is not just caused by accumulated tartar, gingivitis or periodontal disease. Therefore, it is very important to go to the vet when you detect halitosis in your cat. There are other diseases, such as those of the digestive system that can cause bad breath. Besides diabetes, kidney problems and parasites are other problems that can cause this bad breath in our pet.
2. Abundant salivation.
3. Scratching your face or mouth frequently with your paws and against objects such as sofas, walls, furniture, etc., without it seems to us that there is something that might be bothering you.
4. Depression (lack of desire to eat, play, move, etc.).
5. Stop eating or change the way you do it.
6. Missing teeth that we know relatively recently were there.
7. Tartar between gums and teeth.
8. Loss of quality of teeth with discoloration, broken teeth, etc.
9. Gums inflamed, bleeding and reddened.
10. Nodules, polyps or abscesses in our cat's mouth.
11. In advanced cases of periodontal disease we observe nodules and abscesses under the eyes.

Advice to prevent and remove tartar from the cat's mouth

At PeritoAnimal we want to give you useful advice so you can help your faithful companion to prevent disease in the mouth and to fight them if they have appeared:

• Get him used to brushing his teeth. It's much better if we can do it every day, but if not, an average of three times a week is enough to keep the tartar away. The easiest process to get our feline to get used to brushing his teeth daily is starting to teach him from an early age. When we are still a puppy, we should pass a sterile gauze wet with water and wrapped around our finger gently over the surface of our teeth every day. Later on, when he is used to it, we should start teaching him how to brush his teeth and how to use the special toothpaste for cats so that he becomes familiar with them. Then we should use the brush instead of gauze and toothpaste instead of water. We must do the same, gently rub the surface of the teeth every day. In the beginning, you can make brushing harder and little by little, make them longer as your partner gets used to it. As cats swallow toothpaste instead of spitting it out like we do, we should use a special cat toothpaste that is sold in pet stores and veterinary centers. It is a toothpaste that does not contain fluorine, which is highly toxic to them and that is why we should never use a toothpaste for humans. In addition, there are different flavors designed to make the paste pleasant for domestic cats. If we prefer not to use toothpaste, we can use chlorhexidine, which is sold as a spray in veterinary centers and specialized stores. This product is like our mouthwash that cleans, disinfects, softens calculus and improves breath. We should think about which brush is the most suitable for our cat, it can be one for children or you can go to pet stores and buy one that suits our furry friend the best.
• Teach your feline friend to have good eating habits. We know that many cats like to eat pâtés, mousses and other cans of soft food, which are therefore delicious but not the best for dental health. It should be noted that moist and soft food accumulates very easily in the corners of a cat's mouth and it is difficult to eliminate these remains. Therefore, it is better to get our pet used to eat dry food that will help to clean the teeth by scratching the surface of these. From time to time, as a prize, we can offer you cans of soft food, but never as a staple or unique food.
• Toys and special prizes. As mentioned before, these are balls, ropes and other toys, bars, bones, strips and feed, among others, with some abrasive components for the bacteria in dental plaque. You can buy them or you can make them yourself at home.These types of toys and prizes are usually liked by our pets, so they become ideal for their complete function of fun, food and oral dental care. Rope toys are very useful, since when chewing them our cat will be doing the same as us with the dental floss, but we must watch it in the meantime to make sure it does not accidentally swallow the threads, so if you see that the toy rope is already in bad condition, you should replace it with a new toy.
• professional mouth cleaning: In case tartar accumulates a lot and we see that we can no longer eliminate it, not even with a regular brush, toothpaste or chlorhexidine, a diet or toys, etc., we just have to consult a veterinarian, because their intervention becomes necessary to stop the process in time for other more serious secondary diseases to develop, as mentioned earlier in this article. If it is already a periodontal disease we should also start treatment to cure it with good professional dental hygiene. The veterinarian should always clean the mouth of our cat under general anesthesia, with the help of an anesthesiologist and a veterinary assistant. With this process, tartar, food residues, bacterial plaque and mineral salts will be eliminated, with specific instruments for them, such as ultrasound, which are used to break up tartar plaque without damaging the enamel of the tooth piece. During the process, if there are some very damaged dental parts, they can get lost because they are unrecoverable. These teeth are still in the mouth because they were adhered to the tartar, but for some time now they have ceased to be functional and if we leave them there they will end up producing nodules and abscesses followed by infections.
• Enjoy general anesthesia to which you have to submit your cat out of obligation. It may be that due to other health issues or a simple sterilization, we are forced to submit our animal to general anesthesia. As we already know, it is not healthy to be under general anesthesia, so if you think your partner needs oral hygiene performed by the specialist, you will be responsible for commenting this with your veterinarian to find out if a mouth cleaning can be performed in the same operation. professional.