Thread: Worried

Hi Goskip. No they are not swollen and no purple bits. It's a pink/red line along the top of his teeth and a couple of darker red patches at the back.

I've just tried him on applaws tuna and anchovy wet and he's eaten it all! But it's not complete so i'm guessing I can't feed it everyday?

I've also moved his food bowls out of the kitchen to the spare room (they used to be there until about 5 weeks ago when I moved them). I'm now wondering if that's the problem, but surely a cat wouldn't almost starve itself because it doesn't approve of where the food bowl is kept?!

Hi Sketches

We also had problems with both the boys - their gums were very red - exactly as you describe. They were sort of eating most wet food, but hardly any biscuits. When we took them to the vet he said brush their teeth everyday - not easy! However I do manage to put some toothpaste onto the tip of my ring finger and rub it into their gums ... it's made a huge difference ... within a couple of weeks their gums were much healthier looking, nowhere near so red and they were both eating more.
Perhaps it's worth getting some of the toothpaste and doing his teeth whilst waiting for the blood results ... I don't think that it would do any harm ...

Poor Casco. I would say that if you've found something that he will eat even if it's not ideal, I'd encourage him to eat it. Once everything is sorted and his appetite is back, then you can introduce things that perhaps provide more complete nutrition. At the moment I'd suggest that anything is better than nothing - and Applaws is high quality stuff. Mine actually do get Applaws every day, supplemented with various bits and pieces. And my experience is that some cats will starve themselves rather than eat something they don't like.

I seem to be making some progress, I left hills natures best down this morning and he has eaten a lot of it, yippe. Applaws Chicken and Cheese for dinner...

I have to confess that I’ve never brushed Casco’s teeth, I didn’t realise it was necessary. They sell a toothpaste at Pets at Home which is apparently for dogs and cats. Would this be any good or do I need some special stuff from the vet?

Excellent! Definitely progress

This is the first time we've had to brush any of our cats teeth

We get a toothpaste from our vet .. it's called Buccogel, but I don't know whether it's available outside of France. I would suggest that it's probably better to get it from your vet initially to see what he recommends? You probably need an anti-bacterial one that cleans as well as helping the gums ... I also use a very very tiny bit of a toothpaste with Aloe Vera in it (which is supposed to be good for humans and animals, although they really don't like the taste) - however I did ask our vet before I used it. Aloe Vera has great healing qualities so he thought that it was a good idea ...

Well I’m a very happy cat mummy today The blood test has come back normal and he has eaten a reasonable amount of hills this morning. I just hope he can keep it up. He’s back on kitten food while we try and get some meat on him.

The vet basically doesn’t know what the problem is/has been. I suggested maybe he was just not growing at the moment, but she says for a 6.5kg cat to be only eating half a pouch some days is odd. They don’t think it’s his gums because they see animals with far worse mouths that still manage to eat. Anyway, I’m to keep an eye on him and take him back in 2 weeks for another weigh in.

Thanks so much for the toothpaste advice Puzzles. I’ve mentioned it to the Vet and she is going to brief me on teeth brushing next time. I bet it will be a challenge to say the least! I like your idea of just using fingers, sounds like a more realistic method.

Here’s a recent picture of my darling ‘bone bags’ as I’ve been calling him:

Awww! He is super cute! I'm glad he's eating and that all his bloodwork was normal. As a former vet tech I am obligated to say that yes, you should absolutely brush your cats teeth, but as a cat owner I know that it's easier said than done I will honestly admit that I don't brush Pikachu's teeth. I tried to when he was younger and for a while I faithfully battled it out with him once a week. But eventually it got to the point where I just didn't feel the benefits for his teeth were worth the stress on his heart (he has HCM/CHF)

As for his food, I would definitely keep him on kitten food until he is at least a year old and I agree with wivelspiker: let him eat whatever he is willing to and sort out the balanced nutrition and such later.

Luckily Pikachu only likes kibble (dry food) which does help reduce tartar build up and he LOVES his feline greenies dental treats, so his teeth are pretty healthy. I'm not sure how much the dental treats really help but he loves them and they're probably not making things worse.

It sounds like a lot of you are in Europe so I'm not sure if it is common there, but here in the vet clinic I used to work at we did yearly dental prophylaxis on cats and dogs. That is a full dental cleaning just like we get at the dentist, but it is done under anesthesia for pets. That might be something to look into for anyone whose kitty has dental issues.

He cleans his teeth by eating a certain kind of grass that he found himself, he chews for minutes and enjoys it.

Originally Posted by BunnyBoo

Luckily Pikachu only likes kibble (dry food) which does help reduce tartar build up and he LOVES his feline greenies dental treats, so his teeth are pretty healthy. I'm not sure how much the dental treats really help but he loves them and they're probably not making things worse.

Sorry, will have to disagree with you here.

Dry food / kibble does not help reduce tartar build up nor is it good for their teeth in any way.
It is an all too common misconception encouraged by the dry food manufacturers, and - unfortunately - a lot of vets who sell these products in their surgeries. Think about what happens when we eat dry biscuits. They turn to wet mush in the mouth. If we ate nothing but dry biscuits and never cleaned our teeth we would be pretty unhealthy. Some cats don't even chew dry food.

I suspect the dental treats are doing more to keep his teeth clean than the dry food. Perhaps he also has youth and good health on his side.

The best way to look after a cat's teeth in the long term is to feed them a good diet including regular raw chicken wings or whole prey, or to clean their teeth for them with pet toothpaste, as you say.

Also, kitten food is a gimmick. A kitten has the same nutritional requirements as an adult cat: they just need to eat more, little and often. The difficulty is finding a good quality meat protein that your cat will eat.

Originally Posted by Sketches

Well I’m a very happy cat mummy today The blood test has come back normal and he has eaten a reasonable amount of hills this morning. I just hope he can keep it up. He’s back on kitten food while we try and get some meat on him.

The vet basically doesn’t know what the problem is/has been. I suggested maybe he was just not growing at the moment, but she says for a 6.5kg cat to be only eating half a pouch some days is odd. They don’t think it’s his gums because they see animals with far worse mouths that still manage to eat. Anyway, I’m to keep an eye on him and take him back in 2 weeks for another weigh in.

Thanks so much for the toothpaste advice Puzzles. I’ve mentioned it to the Vet and she is going to brief me on teeth brushing next time. I bet it will be a challenge to say the least! I like your idea of just using fingers, sounds like a more realistic method.

Here’s a recent picture of my darling ‘bone bags’ as I’ve been calling him:

He is a beauty. He doesn't look too skinny to me either. Glad appetite has improved.