Dental treats

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Gwen and Morris

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I know it has been discussed here before, but I was just wanting a reminder of which dental treats are best for our FD friends. I think I remember something about CET dental treats. I just purchased some of the Temptation dental treats & Morris seems to REALLY like those!
 
IMO, dental treats don't work well, if at all. If dry food doesn't keep teeth clean, why are hard "dental" treats any different? Most cats just crunch the hard kibble/treat once and swallow the pieces whole. Just my thought :smile: and I'm sure someone out there will disagree.

Many dental treats contain high carb/unhealthyingredients but one or two pieces *shouldn't* cause too much of a spike in bgs. But ECID so monitor your cat's bgs. I know there are some FD cats here who eat Temptations and there isn't a spike in bgs.

For dental health, try brushing your cat's teeth with pet toothpaste or giving a raw poultry neck bone or raw gizzards to gnaw on.
 
Great question and one I'm struggling w/myself.

I posed the same question to my Vet. In our discussion when Curry was first diagnosed I asked if the canned wet food could cause more dental problems as I had heard the dry was better for their teeth. He said not necessary so anymore. In the past, most of the research was done w/dogs who are easier to study as a kitty's system is much more difficult to assess. They had found that cats chew differently than do dogs so the canned food isn't worse in terms of dental care.

I did ask him about "greenies". They have an enzyme in them that helps reduce tartar buildup. Of course, the greenies package says to give more, but I never did. I would only give one in the AM and one in the PM before Curry's dx after her Flovent tx for her asthma. He said that small amount would be OK for her and not change her BG much. However, since I'm so new to this and Curry is slowly adjusting to the canned food and insulin, I'm still leery of giving them to her. I might give her one a day w/her food every other day. As her BG levels become a little more regular, I will revisit my old practice of 1 greenie per pre-shot meal and see if I notice any difference w/her BG levels.
 
we do give mocha dental treats and I want to say they are the CET brand. We got them from the vet after mochas dental and I posted the ingredients on here and several people said they would be fine for her. They are not hard like kibble, but more like foam? They come wrapped up in almost a skin, and they are long, about two or three inches long. We cut them in half for mocha and then we cut those up into small pieces (she lost 9 teeth) she really seems to enjoy them and as far as we ever noticed, they do not effect her BG's. We do also let her lick toothpaste off the toothbrush at night. She hasn't quite got the hang of letting us brush her teeth but we figure the toothpaste can't hurt. I believe that is also CET brand. It came "free" :lol: with her dental visit.
 
The CET dental treats are not hard. They are freeze-dried fish with enzymes added and a mesh, abrasive wrapper. They have fewer carbs than the hard, grain based treats. I have been giving them to Minou for four years (except for a brief break for a "novel protein" diet trial). She needed dentals every other year before I started feeding them. She has not needed a dental since we started the treats. Minou will not chew on raw meat, so these are ideal for her.
 
The CET treats are better in terms of the nutritional content.

The greenies have corn meal as the 2nd item listed in nutritional content. Ugh.

My kitties didn't use to like the CET treats....maybe I can soak them in something fishy....tuna or sardine water...so that they will eat those instead of the greenies.

Great information here y'all.

Thanks.
 
CET Treats may work, otherwise there are enzymatic gels....after years of dentals we are buckling down and using the gel on Squeak every night in the hopes of avoiding more anaesthesia
 
ok, I do have to correct myself. I just checked our treats and they are not CET brand, they are called Vet Enzadent? But they are exactly how karen described them.
 
Do you give the Vet Enzadent just once a day?

PeterDevonMocha said:
ok, I do have to correct myself. I just checked our treats and they are not CET brand, they are called Vet Enzadent? But they are exactly how karen described them.
 
Thanks everyone for the great info! I did mention the CET dental treats to my vet last week...they have the CET toothpaste & all the dog treats, but no cat treats! My vet said that since they carry other CET products, it probably wouldn't be difficult to get the cat treats in as well. When I go to the vets office on Thurs to get Morris' labwork done, I will ask more about the CET products & the Vet Enzadent as well.
 
I can't say we give her a treat every day, but I would say about 3 to 4 times a week she gets a treat, and we let her lick the toothpaste off her brush every night. She really does enjoy those treats though!
 
I give Minou one CET treat per day. You don't have to get them from your vet - petfooddirect, 1800petmeds, and many other on-line stores carry them. They carry the Enazadent and Petrodex brands too. I would start with a small bag and see if your cats like them. If not, you can always try another brand.
 
PeterDevonMocha said:
I can't say we give her a treat every day, but I would say about 3 to 4 times a week she gets a treat, and we let her lick the toothpaste off her brush every night. She really does enjoy those treats though!

I just bought toothpaste and the finger brushes for both my cats. My question is about the toothpaste. How safe is it for diabetic cats since they will injest some?

Linda
Nutter and Boo's Mom
 
[quote="nutterbutter
I just bought toothpaste and the finger brushes for both my cats. My question is about the toothpaste. How safe is it for diabetic cats since they will injest some?[/quote]

It depends on the brand of toothpaste. Some of the toothpaste sold in pet stores contain sugar so watch out for that. CET toothpaste is fine for diabetic cats, maybe not the malt flavored one because malt is a type of sugar. My cat loved the poultry flavored one. There is a seafood/salmon flavored one, too.
 
There is also a dental rinse you can use that doesn't have sugars. You can use this like toothpaste or squirt it between teeth and gums

I forget the name of it, needs to be kept in fridge and it starts off pretty bueand slowly turns greenish then orangey. Pnce it is no longer greenish its bad. The vets sell it and I am sure online places do too.

It comes with an enzyme powder that mixes into the blue liquid to get it going. Unmixed the stuff has shelf life. Once mixed watch for color changes.
 
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