Thread: Worried

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.