Dental Visits - how often?

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Ginny & Alex

Ginny & Alex

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I see lots of people talking about taking their cats for a dental visit.
When I was seeing the vet in a traditional office, Alex did have his teeth cleaned a couple of times. This is prior to him being a fesity cat.

Now that we have the vet that visits our house, I did ask him back in the winter about cleaning Alex's teeth, but he said they didn't need it.

How often does your cat have his teeth cleaned?
 
Questions to answer your question:

Do you brush his teeth at least every 3 days? Gook hardens after day 3 and requires veterinary scaling to remove. Do not attempt this unless he has a clean dental bill of health (no pain from infection, abscess, resorption, etc.) per Cat Info

Do you feed raw meat in a somewhat chunky consistency, so the cat has to tear off bits to eat it? My understanding is that helps keep the teeth from building up tartar.

If the answer to both of these is "No", I'd vote for a yearly or every 2 years preventative cleaning, with x-rays to ID any problems. If necessary, obtain a sedative in order to get him there safely.

Diabetics are prone to infections and in cats, dental and bladder infections are 2 which are very, very common.
 
Hey!

I can't help but, laugh....I am picturing Alex with the calming collar on and you asking the vet does his teeth look like they need cleaning?

What did you expect him to say????!!!! :lol:

Hope all is well. I see Sir Alex has been bouncing.....but, he seems to be doing well.
 
That vet was probably thinking he wasn't gonna stick his fingers too close to Alex's mouth! :lol:

Poor Alex, it will be awful for him if he does have to have his teeth cleaned. Good luck!

Thumper has never had hers cleaned. I asked them when she was diagnosed but she said they were ok. I'm starting to think they are getting worse though, I can see they are turning a darker color. I have never cleaned my cats teeth. I tried it with my dogs & it was a disaster.
 
I just cleaned Kitty's for the first time (she is 16) last May. They were in bad shape and she had one abscess, but that was the first time.
 
I probably should have Thumper's checked. You know I just hate to take her to the vet! I hope they don't try to shoot her with anymore Lasics! :roll:
 
Kim, we miss you. You do make me laugh. You are right. Henry's vet is probably going to think twice about suggesting dentals. Big Hen would make that an exciting visit! :mrgreen:

We get a dental every 2-3 years. (civie, not diabetic)
 
Hey Sue, You must mean Alex :lol: Big Hen had his last dental in mid July, hes a good boy at the vet, he hates to go, but they always remark what a good boy he is and docile.
Henry's had his teeth cleaned several times. Usually every 2 1/2 - 3 years. I think if they eat all canned food they probably need them cleaned more often.
And I was expecting a miraculous drop in BGs after the dental which didn't happen, I've seen several peeps on PZI say the same thing but yet others say it brought their kitties BGs down right afterwards.
And no I don't brush any of my cats teeth. Henry would be the easiest of the three to try to brush, tried it before in previous years, he was not having any of that, I think he didn't like the yummy chicken flavored toothpaste, tried it with the soft finger brush and the soft bristle brush. I would greatly fear for my life if I tried brushing the others teeth, I think I would be shredded to ribbons! :shock:
 
Thanks, Kim, for answering my questions about Alex. There's know way in you know where that he's going to allow me to brush his teeth.
Like I said, most recently the visiting vet said he didn't need his teeth cleaned, so I'll go with that. He's doing really well right now (except for the bouncing), but the next time we need a vet, I'm thinking about seeing the internist that we met while he was in the ER. He and his staff were definitely not afraid of Alex and I like them.

Sue, that's ok, we all have CRS now and again! :oops:
 
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