Dental Issues in Cats - A very common and misunderstood problem!
Authored by James Horner
How do I know if my cat has bad teeth/gums?
Did you know dental disease is estimated to affect 80% of our domestic pets, and yet it remains one of the lowest treated conditions we see in our practice.
Below we give you the full low-down on what to look out for and how to prevent dental issues with your cat.
Key Points:
Continuing to eat is no indication of dental health in a cat
Bad breath (Halitosis) is a certain sign of gum disease and needs to be treated
Prevention is best with brushing teeth, but can be supported with mouth washes and supplements
Eating any wet food increases the risk for dental disease to develop quickly
Cats can have two very painful mouth conditions in addition to more conventional gingivitis; FORLs and Viral Stomatitis where surgery is the most likely treatment required.
How do I know my cat has poor dental health?
The best way to know is to look. It can be done by your Vet, Veterinary Nurse, or yourself at home.
Looking however, is easier said than done… Here’s a good guide by “Devoted Vets”.
It is important to check all of your cat’s mouth, especially the back molars, as the condition of the front teeth is no indication of the condition of the back teeth.
Signs of poor dental health
Slower eating
“Fussy” eater
Preferring Wet food suddenly
Bad breath
Does dental disease cause my cat pain?
As humans, we are notoriously bad at visually identifying pain in cats. Hollie wrote a great blog last month highlighting how to spot pain in our cats.
In teeth, this is compounded by our belief that a painful mouth will preclude eating. We can easily look to our own experiences with dental health to see that this is not true. If you have a sore tooth, or mouth ulcer, you don’t stop eating, you merely chew on the other side of your mouth and eat slower. If you have lots of ulcers, you tend to eat soft food. If you have a broken tooth you complain and go the dentist for it to be treated.
So simply put, any evidence of gum inflammation will be painful and we ought to try and prevent this… but how?
How do I improve my Cat’s Dental Health?
My cat will let me brush their teeth
This is the best case scenario…! Despite this, I think I can count on my hand the number of cats we treat that will allow a human to repeatedly poke a stick into their mouth and shake it around… my cats don’t feature on my little list!
The best time to start this behaviour is when they are young. Many cats come to us in older age with poor dental health, at which point, brushing teeth is not practical advice because they will just fight your efforts…
How to brush your cat’s teeth is covered in our kitten program and tutored by our qualified nurses and a YouTube video can be seen here:
I really can’t brush my cats teeth, what are my options?
90% of owners will be in this camp. It is important to know that, even if you cannot brush your cat’s teeth, this doesn’t mean nothing can be done. What it will mean is that, at some point in your cat’s life we will need to remove all the plaque and tartar with a potential need for tooth extractions. So what can be done?
Oral Supplements: There are many supplements available to dental hygiene and we stock Nutraplaque. The principle is that an enzyme is secreted in your pet’s saliva, and in doing so reduces the build-up of plaque, thus tartar and gingivitis.
o A challenge is some cats are inherently suspicious of anything added to food….
Mouth Washes: Mouth washes are popular in humans, and so why not cats (and dogs and horses as it turns out!). Through regular exposure to an antiseptic, the bacteria in your pets mouth reduces and thus helps maintain a health oral cavity. At James Horner Vets we use Hexarinse.
o The same challenge… some cats don’t like things in their water!
Diet: The choice of diet can make a huge difference to the progression of gum disease. Wet food speeds up the progression of plaque development. Sadly the converse is not guaranteed, and by only feeding dry food will not ensure good oral hygiene (that is brushing daily…!). This being said, if you can keep a cat on kibble, you are less likely to have an early surgical intervention.
o Prescription diets: Hills have a great product called T/D (Teeth/Diet), in which the structure of the kibble encourages the breakdown of tartar on the teeth.
Professional Cleaning and Extractions: Often seen as a last resort, I believe it is underutilised in an early dental health plan. In cats who are reluctant to play the game and have their teeth brushed, eat the right supplements or food, a regular descaling of teeth, removal of plaque and mapping of the condition of all teeth can help enormously. Waiting until teeth are falling out, the mouth is enormously inflamed and infected, is not great medicine and leads to a more challenging recovery after any surgery.
o You can book an appointment with us for professional cleaning and extractions and see our prices for these services.
Does MY cat have bad teeth?
If you are unsure, book in to see our team. All our nurses and vets are able to advise on dental health so do not hesitate to come in for advice.
The diseases to look out for
Much of the article has been focused on the preventable version of dental disease, bacteria related gingivitis. There are two conditions that are seen frequently enough that need special mention, and sadly, no amount of good dental maintenance can prevent their development. Treatment is through surgical extraction of the teeth early.
Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions (FORLs)
o In this disease the body erodes and dissolves the tooth’s normal enamel. This can occur below the gum line and be advanced long before it is visible with a conventional oral examination.
o When visible above the gum line it is often seen as a red protraction of the gum covering the side of a tooth.
o The exposed root under the dissolved enamel is painful. This being said, it rarely puts a cat off their food – see earlier
o Treatment is to extract all affected teeth. There is currently no known prevention but it is an area of active research in many universities.
Gingivitis and Stomatitis
o Gingivitis and stomatitis are a severe inflammatory condition affecting all of the cats mouth. It is believed to be the body “over-reacting” to the normal bacteria in the mouth of a cat, but why this should be occurring is not understood yet.
o Sometimes it is only diagnosed after a dental intervention (extractions or a descaling) and the recovery is not in line with what is expected.
o Treatment: Because the “Why” is not understood, prevention is impossible. Treatment falls into two categories:
Complete surgical extraction of all teeth (60% of cats with this treatment need no further medication and recover really well)
Immunosuppression using medication such as the steroid prednisolone. Long term use of steroids is focused on keeping the poor cat in question free from pain caused by the immune response. Regular scale and polishing, good use of supplements and an appropriate diet all help, but the long-term outcome for these cats is never as satisfactory as we would hope.
Conclusion
Dental health in cats is frequently neglected until it is so advanced multiple extractions are needed to cure the disease and return the mouth to as health as possible. Continuing to eat is not an indication of the teeth being fine, rather how amazing our cats are at surviving despite having bad teeth!
Bushing your cats teeth is the best preventative measure, and to do this it should be started young. If you have an older cat, all is not lost, and interventions include oral supplements, mouth washes and diet manipulation.
If your cat refuses all of these supportive means, then a professional clean on a regular basis is advised. This is a good intervention if performed regularly!
There are 2 conditions seen regularly that are impossible to prevent: FORLs and Gingivitis/Stomatitis. In these instances, extractions, or long-term medication, are the only way forward to the sooner they are identified the sooner they can be resolved.
If you have any questions then book in with us for a consultation and we can help guide you on the best course for your individual pet.