Wet food, terrible breath. Also a question about carbs in kitten food + supplements...

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Ryn & Grayson

Ryn & Grayson

Member Since 2015
Hi all, been a while since I've posted here (which is probably a good thing?) but Grayson has been doing great. He loves his Fancy Feast chicken/liver Patés, but they give him horrible breath. Are there some low carb, kitty breath-freshener treats that are okay for diabetics? If anyone has any suggestions that would be great. I am in southern Ontario.

Also, can someone look up the % carb in canned Royal Canin Kitten Instinctive? I'm thinking about mixing some kitten stuff in with Grayson's food as he is still a bit underweight and I think he would benefit from it. And lastly, what are the best supplements to give an aging cat? Is there even a point to it, even if he's strictly on wet food?

Thanks.

-Ryn & Grayson
 
So glad to hear Grayson is doing well. I joined the forum shortly after you and had read all about your journey. Sorry I don't know the answer to your questions, but I'm sure someone will come along that does.
 
You might want to take Grayson to the vet to have his teeth looked at. I have been feeding FF to my geriatric guy all his life (17yrs.) and he's never had bad breath from it and has never needed a dental cleaning. My young guy however, did have a problem with his teeth with bad breath and needed dental extractions and a cleaning. At 13 yrs. old, Grayson may just need a good tooth cleaning!
Not sure what type of supplements you are referring to? Is there another medical issue you are dealing with?

I'm not familiar with RC Kitten Instinctive but do have some RC Babycat here (a periodic treat for my geriatric guy) and it's about 4% carb. While not exact, adding the protein, moisture, fibre, ash, and fat from the label and subtracting the total of those from 100 should give you a pretty good estimate of the carb load.
 
Bad breath can be due to gingivitis or sinus or oral infection.

If the breath smells like urine, however, you'll want to rule out renal disease. When the kidneys don't work well, the urea builds up in the blood to the point that you can smell it on the breath.
 
His breath smells fishy. It seems to get worse after he has just eaten. Is it possible to do some teeth cleaning at home?
 
So long as there is no actively painful areas, it is possible to do some home dental care.
If, however, the mouth is painful, a dental cleaning under anesthesia at the vet is best.
 
I never feed the seafood varieties so I have no idea how bad they smell. I feed Turkey and Giblets and while it doesn't smell appealing to me, it's not terrible and I really don't notice it on my guy's breath at all.

There is pet toothpaste available as well as pet toothbrushes (never use human toothpaste on our pets!). Some friends of mine use the pet toothpaste with their finger only. I have personally had no luck trying to clean my kittie's teeth. They hate me messing around their mouths at all! There are also water additives which may help freshen his breath but sometimes cats start avoiding the water dish if they don't like the additive.

Try to have a look along his gum line especially on the molars behind his canine teeth. If there is any redness on his gums, that would suggest some mouth care is in order.
 
That's why I stopped with the seafood as well - it was unbearable in my little apartment! I find the chicken & liver to be pretty good, but he still has fishy breath. I'll look into the toothpaste... he's going to hate me :rolleyes:
 
Ryn & Grayson said:
what are the best supplements to give an aging cat? Is there even a point to it, even if he's strictly on wet food?
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Don't have much to say on the dental stuff, but aging cats can benefit from supplements depending on their issues (if any) and feeding wet food makes them easier to administer sometimes (if it's something than can be crushed up and added to the food, like Zobaline for example). For neuropathy or CKD, you can methyl-B12 and/or a B complex (Zobaline and/or Jarrow's B-Right are commonly used). For arthritis (and anecdotally for bladder inflammation in the absence of a UTI), you can do Cosequin (glucosamine supplement). For geriatric kitty "dementia", there's Chlorodin-Fel. Is there something specific, other than the bad breath, you were concerned about?
 
There's a product called plaque off that I started giving to Vyktor a few months back. His breath has never been sweeter. It's fine for diabetics. Hyperthyroid kitties should not have it.

A lot of older kitties can benefit from B12 (I give Vyktor a monthly injection) but I would not give Zobaline except for neuropathy as it is very high dose B12. The old school of thought is that any excess is just peed out but these days there are concerns that it aids in the multiplying of cancer cells if they are present. I had Vyktors levels checked before I started giving any b12 - he was low. He is 19.
 
I'm having the same issue with Jones - he's had bad, fishy breath ever since he came off dry food a few weeks ago. It started while he was still just on the wet WD, and has gotten worse now that he's mostly switched over to FF chicken. It's not unbearable, I just definitely noticed the change. He's great about ear pricks, but I don't think he'll be such a willing participant in tooth brushing. I'm under the assumption that one of the few benefits of dry is that it helps to keep their teeth clean, so I was wondering if other people started to see dental issues after switching to wet? I'll look into that Plaque Off product.
 
It is a myth that dry food cleans teeth. The kibble shatters and is swallowed; there is no scrubbing action.
Eating fibrous, not crunchy food, such as chicken gizzards and raw unground meat and bones is much more likely to scrape off some plaque.
 
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