How to Brush Your Cat's Teeth

Over 70% of cats have some level of periodontal disease by the age of three. Periodontal disease is something that is very common in cats and can easily be prevented with proper home care. Proper home care consists of the gold standard being brushing. Daily tooth brushing has been shown to help reduce the amount of plaque that develops on the tooths surface. When plaque develops on the tooths surface it begins to develop and accumulate on the tooth within hours of a professional dental cleaning. When you wake up in the morning and you have that nasty slimy film on your teeth, that is plaque and the biofilm that has developed overnight. If left undisturbed the plaque will begin to mineralize within about 24 to 48 hours and accumulate on the tooths surface. Going days weeks months or even years in some of our cats without brushing can can cause the tartar and the calculus to accumulate so much on the tooth surface that it begins to develop inflammation in the gingiva. Which then in turn can cause breakdown of the attachment structures of the tooth surface. Brushing is always going to be the gold standard and it's going to be a daunting task in in cat owners because a lot of times our patients are not very cooperative. And what what we are trying to do to help improve their quality of life. Even with kittens it's a good idea to try to get into the oral cavity and try to brush the teeth, just to allow ourselves to be able to be in the oral cavity and the kittens not to think of it as our fingers as being a toy. You always have to remember the temperament of your cat and to see if they would be willing and and accepting of trying something such as tooth brushing for the oral cavity. It is less important to brush the deciduous teeth as most of them will be lost by the time that the cat reaches five to seven months of age. But in an adult cat like Henry, it is important to to make sure that once those permanent teeth have erupted you can begin brushing the tooth surface. I think that the biggest thing that owners think that they need to do when they're brushing the teeth is to open the mouth really wide and try to brush all the surfaces of the oral cavity. So they would like to brush the the outside surface and then they pry the mouths open to try to brush the inside surface and most cats don't like that. The interesting thing with cats is if they are willing for you to brush the inside surface of the tooth that's a bonus but the rough Barb's on the tongue surface actually act as a self-cleansing mechanism to the inside tooth surface. So therefore the inside of the tooth surface is less important to have to brush. When choosing a tooth brush you can have a brush that is double headed. This side would be used for a bigger cat or a dog and this side would be more appropriate for using for a cat. But do you need to have a tooth brush that is manufactured for cats? You don't. You can use your old toothbrush or a toddler's toothbrush that you can get at a local convenience store. When you are trying to brush they do have finger brushes that are rubber that fit on your on your finger kind of like a thimble. And those are rubber, they have little rubber nubs on there. The rubber nubs are okay to start out with trying to teach tooth brushing. But you do need to graduate up to a bristle brush so that you can help to try to get those bristles above the the gingiva so that you can try to get plaque where it's starting to accumulate. When looking at toothpaste, toothpaste is definitely something that can be it can be used in caps, and there are specifically manufactured toothpaste, but honestly the toothpaste itself and obviously Henry here is already liking this toothbrush. The toothpaste that we use, the most important thing is to not have it be a human toothpaste. Human toothpaste contains some toxic ingredients that can actually be fatal to your cat or at the very least make them very very sick. So always using something that is specifically manufactured for cats or using something like low-sodium chicken broth. Dip the dip the treat dip the toothbrush into the treat and then that will help you to have your cat be more acceptable. Even a little bit of tuna juice may act that it is more like a treat rather than something that that poor Henri is just going to have to put up with. When we start to brush the teeth, you want to you can put a little bit of toothpaste or your chicken broth on the tooth surface. And you can begin with by just having the kitty lick at the the treat. Not sure if Henry is really interested in our in our poultry flavor toothpaste. A little bit there there he goes but have it be something that is a treat. If it's not something that it's a treat don't force it. So tooth brushing to be performed should be performed in a circular fashion. Trying to go about 45 degrees to the angle of the tooth surface. One of the biggest things as well is to try to cradle the kitty in you're - kind of the crook between your your waist in your in your hand. And then you can don't have to open the the oral cavity but if you just try to brush the tooth surface in a circular fashion. Good kitty Henry. It's okay and remember if your kitty is a little bit if he has all of his claws and you're struggling with him a little bit you can wrap them in a towel like a burrito. But to make sure that you try to brush the right side, oh I know, the front of the incisors and then the left side of the tooth surface. And again just kind of trying to hold the oral cavity. The purpose of the brushing is just to disrupt that smear layer that is on the tooth surface so it doesn't take a lot of time - doesn't take a lot of time. You don't have to spend a lot of time to do it. If you can brush brush brush on the right side brush brush brush on the left side and then brush on the front and brush on the bottom and then that should be done. Always try to incorporate it with something that your kitty loves so if your kitty loves catnip if your kitty loves playing with the laser pointer at night or if you food-motivated, those are the times that you should brush the teeth. And then provide them with the opportunity to experience the treat that they like. So always trying to incorporate it into something that they appreciate during the day and that they really live for. If you have a food motivated Kitty brushing the teeth right before you feed them that's going to be important forecast you know it's more important to just disrupt the smear layer. For people we brush our teeth so that we have good hygiene we don't have food in our teeth and and so that people want to talk to us so that we have good breath. For these guys, it is strictly just a matter of trying to get rid of that smear layer and plaque layer that is eventually going to develop into the tartar that is going to be on the tooth surface. I hope I have given you a few tips to show you at least with Henry who was a very novice in his in his tooth brushing experiences. I hope I've given you a few tips to try to make tooth brushing a little bit easier on you and your cat as well as trying to make it seem a little bit less daunting. For more information regarding products that are safe dental products and toothpastes for your cat you can visit the veterinary oral health Council at VOHC.Org for more information. 80% of dogs by the age of three have some level of periodontal disease so therefore it is important to know how to try to prevent or at least slow the progression of periodontal disease from developing in your dog.

Channel: UKNOW How-to Videos

Views: 46,012

Keywords: cat, teeth, brush, toothbrush, cat health, pet health, brushing, iowa state, isu, extension and outreach

Id: ElVtI_roRD4

Length: 8min 46sec (526 seconds)

Published: Thu May 25 2017