Should I Get Professional Dental Cleaning For My Cat?

When it comes to keeping feline pets healthy and happy, cat dental care is one of the essential things that needs to be taken care of. The oral health of a pet plays a vital role in keeping their overall health in check and improving the quality of the pet’s life. The oral health of a pet includes clean teeth, gums, and other parts of the mouth.

It is often wondered if pets don’t require professional dental care. However, this is not true. While some dental cat treats are available on the market that claim to provide proper oral care to pets, professional dental cleaning is also required for maintaining proper dental health. 

Are cat dental treats enough to maintain their oral health? How should one maintain cat dental care? Should one require professional dental cleaning for cats? Similar questions come from every pet parent when discussing cat dental care.

Why Cats Require Regular Dental Care?

Bad breath is one of the most common complaints that pet parents often worry about. Bad breath in pets is considered a big reason why regular professional dental cleaning and examining are required. It is found that some cats suffer from serious dental issues with growing age, like inflammation and bleeding gums, and sometimes that even results in tooth loss. One of the common reasons for these dental issues is plaque and tartar buildup in the cat’s mouth.

If these dental issues remain untreated, they may result in serious intricacies like tooth loss, mouth infection, bone decay near teeth, abscess, and even fractures of the jaw. Periodontal diseases have become very common in pets nowadays. It is found that 70% of cats suffer from periodontal disease around the age of 2. Due to stuck food particles in the jaws and teeth, plaque formation is seen in teeth. If it remains untreated, it results in inflammation of tissues in the teeth and gums.

Untreated plaque forms tartar, which causes serious mouth infections, damage to tissues, and even bad breath in pets. These serious periodontal diseases in cats may lead to severe pain that sometimes makes it impossible for cats to eat anything. This inflammation and bleeding gums become a pathway for bacteria to enter the heart or kidney through the bloodstream, which may lead to serious health issues. 

Thus, to protect pets from such severe health issues, maintaining proper oral health is crucial. This can easily be attained by regularly brushing your pet’s teeth and regular professional dental cleaning to make sure that your pet has a clean mouth to avoid dental health issues that may even lead to scary consequences affecting other parts of the body in pets. 

What are the stages of dental diseases in pets?

There are four stages of dental diseases in pets. Thus, it is recommended that cats regularly visit professionals for dental cleaning to protect them from any serious health issues that may result from poor dental care. 

Four stages of dental disease are found in cats:

Stage I: Gingivitis – This can be noticed as inflamed and swollen gums with mild plaque covering the cat’s teeth.

Stage II: Early periodontitis – In this, moderately inflamed and swollen gums are found with bad breath from the pet’s mouth. 

Stage III: Moderate periodontitis – If your pet is suffering from this, you may notice infection and calculus dominating the gum by not only bad breath but a painful mouth due to which pets might even avoid eating. 

Stage IV: Advanced periodontitis – In this, chronic bacteria are found to destroy gum and spread throughout the body, which may even lead to serious health issues.

How To Promote Dental Health At Home?

There is no alternative to regular brushing for maintaining proper cat dental care. However, when it comes to brushing cats’ teeth, it becomes tough as cats don’t allow or even like to have their teeth brushed. Sometimes, it seems next to impossible to brush cats' teeth as per the cat’s mood, or they don’t allow me to brush their teeth even after treating or playing with them. In that case, dental chew treats for cats and cat teeth cleaning treats play a crucial role in keeping cats’ teeth clean and fresh.

Dental treats for cats are made with materials that create biting textures when cats chew them. These biting textures help remove tartar and plaque buildup from the cat’s teeth, thus helping to provide clean and healthy teeth. These cat dental treats are available in different flavors, materials, sizes, and textures that cats chase. These different flavourful treats help remove bad breath from cats’ mouths and provide them with fresh breath. 

However, while feeding these cats dental treats, one must consider the calories fed to pets, as cats have different calorie requirements than humans.

Read more: Wet Cat Food vs. Dry Cat Food: Which Is The Purrfect Choice?

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Are dental cleanings safe for cats? 

Proper dental hygiene is essential in cats. Regular professional dental cleaning is necessary to prevent dental diseases in cats, as these dental issues may lead to other serious health issues. 

2. Do cats require dental cleaning?

Dental cleaning is as essential for cats as it is for humans. Stuck food particles result in plaque and tartar buildup in a cat’s teeth, which may even lead to bleeding gums or tooth loss. Thus, it is vital to clean a cat’s teeth regularly to maintain proper dental hygiene, which will help keep overall health in check.

3. Do cat dental treats help maintain dental hygiene?

Cat Dental Treats are made with crunchy and biting textures that remove plaque and tartar buildup from the cat’s teeth when chewed. They are available in different flavors that provide a fresh and clean breath and remove bad breath from the pet’s mouth.

Read more: How Long to Wait Before Bathing Your Cat After Applying Flea Medication?