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Brushing my cat's teeth

Groogrux

Groogrux

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My 14ish year old cat has awful breath. I have a feeling it's due to her diabetes. However, the most common advice with a quick Google search is to brush your cat's teeth. I'm not sure what kind of alternate universe people live in where they can do this, but if I try to brush her teeth, one of us isn't coming out alive. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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Groogrux said:
My 14ish year old cat has awful breath. I have a feeling it's due to her diabetes. However, the most common advice with a quick Google search is to brush your cat's teeth. I'm not sure what kind of alternate universe people live in where they can do this, but if I try to brush her teeth, one of us isn't coming out alive. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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A little. I'm training my cat into it too. She's very prone to tartar build-up and gingivitis.

Fortunately, with her, I'm starting from a place where she's reasonably ok about me handling her mouth. She lets me lift up her lips or whatever. I can pretty much just do a little, give her a treat, and I expect we'll make quick progress to me being able to do her whole mouth.

With a more guarded cat, start slower. You may want to try clicker training. Yes, it works with cats. Action, click, treat. For actions, start slow. Just stroking her lip for a second. Then try lifting her lips a little. Then touching her teeth. Then let her lick some of the cat toothpaste (only use toothpaste specifically for cats!). Then try touching her teeth with one of those little finger brush thingies. Eventually you can progress to an actual little brush, which will make it easier to reach her back teeth.

Don't rush her. Once she's afraid, it'll be much harder to train her to accept it. You don't want each step to be more than a little weird for her, not scary.
 
It helps to work up to it over time.

 
Groogrux said:
My 14ish year old cat has awful breath. I have a feeling it's due to her diabetes. However, the most common advice with a quick Google search is to brush your cat's teeth. I'm not sure what kind of alternate universe people live in where they can do this, but if I try to brush her teeth, one of us isn't coming out alive. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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Yes, take it slow. First, put one of these on

attack.JPG
 
Lol, glad two people spoke right up and said it's not impossible. I'll get some cat toothpaste and a baby toothbrush today.

Sorry for the double post, having trouble with Tapatalk.


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Groogrux said:
My 14ish year old cat has awful breath. I have a feeling it's due to her diabetes. However, the most common advice with a quick Google search is to brush your cat's teeth. I'm not sure what kind of alternate universe people live in where they can do this, but if I try to brush her teeth, one of us isn't coming out alive. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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The very idea strikes terror into my heart.


We have five cats, all Toms. One is 22 pounds. Another is a hunter. Yet another is crazy. The only one I can see tolerating it is possibly the Persian, who is usually pretty passive.


Welder's gauntlets would be required equipment. That and Kevlar vests, and police riot helmets.
 
Goshin said:
The very idea strikes terror into my heart.


We have five cats, all Toms. One is 22 pounds. Another is a hunter. Yet another is crazy. The only one I can see tolerating it is possibly the Persian, who is usually pretty passive.


Welder's gauntlets would be required equipment. That and Kevlar vests, and police riot helmets.
Click to expand...

She definitely trusts me as she lets me clip her nails very easily. But getting in her mouth is a whole different ballgame, especially if her gums are sore. I have to give it a go though. I'd pretty sure it's feline diabetes halitosis, but I have to try something because it's so bad I can't tolerate picking her up or having her on my lap.
 
Groogrux said:
She definitely trusts me as she lets me clip her nails very easily. But getting in her mouth is a whole different ballgame, especially if her gums are sore. I have to give it a go though. I'd pretty sure it's feline diabetes halitosis, but I have to try something because it's so bad I can't tolerate picking her up or having her on my lap.
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Whew. That is some bad halitosis.
 
Goshin said:
Whew. That is some bad halitosis.
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Yeah it is. Plus with the way cats clean themselves her fur smells too. She's had diabetes for a couple of years. We chose to not treat her with insulin since she was 12ish years old when she was diagnosed. I didn't think she wanted to live out the last few years of her life getting pricked 4 times a day. This could be the start of her decline, but as long as she's eating, comfortable and happy, it's all good.
 
Only one of the vets we had mentioned it. (They even suggested charging $300 to put her under general anesthesia first - please). But every other vet said her teeth are just fine and there's no need to worry at the moment. The vet just scrapes her teeth briefly w/ gloved fingers.

She's also the most gentle cat on Earth, except for the one time when she had diarrhea and, because she is a very long-haired cat, got it matted all around her ass. That required her to be held and cleaned. My wife was running late and we had to go somewhere soon after her return, which meant I was cleaning this cat myself for the most part. She coated both of my arms in criss-cross scratches - the only time she's actually scratched me. But this involved pouring water on a cat's ass, which as you can imagine.....

We have had to give her liquid antibiotics by holding her mouth open, squirting it in, and then holding her mouth shut until she had to swallow, so I dunno. She might let us brush if we had to.
 
Groogrux said:
My 14ish year old cat has awful breath. I have a feeling it's due to her diabetes. However, the most common advice with a quick Google search is to brush your cat's teeth. I'm not sure what kind of alternate universe people live in where they can do this, but if I try to brush her teeth, one of us isn't coming out alive. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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Some of the others in this thread are saying it can be done, so I'm very happy for them...but in my experience, cats are like women - try to force them to do something they don't want to do, and it will not end well. So if you really want to try, go ahead - just make sure that your health insurance is paid up and current....
 
Groogrux said:
Lol, glad two people spoke right up and said it's not impossible. I'll get some cat toothpaste and a baby toothbrush today.

Sorry for the double post, having trouble with Tapatalk.


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Good luck!
 
Groogrux said:
My 14ish year old cat has awful breath. I have a feeling it's due to her diabetes. However, the most common advice with a quick Google search is to brush your cat's teeth. I'm not sure what kind of alternate universe people live in where they can do this, but if I try to brush her teeth, one of us isn't coming out alive. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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Get a pillow case and put the cat in that. Then you can let just the cats head out of the case and apply medicine or brush their teeth or what have you. If they get fussy just put their head back into the case for a couple moments and it will calm them down.
 
Glen Contrarian said:
Some of the others in this thread are saying it can be done, so I'm very happy for them...but in my experience, cats are like women - try to force them to do something they don't want to do, and it will not end well. So if you really want to try, go ahead - just make sure that your health insurance is paid up and current....
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That's why you train them to expect good things. Many cats will put up with a painless annoyance if it means they get a nom at the end.

The trick with cats is to take what they don't want, and give them some kind of reason to want it.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
That's why you train them to expect good things. Many cats will put up with a painless annoyance if it means they get a nom at the end.

The trick with cats is to take what they don't want, and give them some kind of reason to want it.
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You just got my vote for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president!
 
Groogrux said:
My 14ish year old cat has awful breath. I have a feeling it's due to her diabetes. However, the most common advice with a quick Google search is to brush your cat's teeth. I'm not sure what kind of alternate universe people live in where they can do this, but if I try to brush her teeth, one of us isn't coming out alive. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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It takes two people to pull this off. I'm the one who keeps the mouth open, the wife brushes. Find the cat treat that Captain Whiskers goes absolutely nuts over for an award and in a couple weeks Pavlov takes over.
 
Groogrux said:
My 14ish year old cat has awful breath. I have a feeling it's due to her diabetes. However, the most common advice with a quick Google search is to brush your cat's teeth. I'm not sure what kind of alternate universe people live in where they can do this, but if I try to brush her teeth, one of us isn't coming out alive. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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If you grab her from the back of the head and squeze the back of her jaw she will be forced to open her mouth. This also means she wont be able to scratch you, providing some degree of agility is maintained:mrgreen:
 
Red_Dave said:
If you grab her from the back of the head and squeze the back of her jaw she will be forced to open her mouth. This also means she wont be able to scratch you, providing some degree of agility is maintained:mrgreen:
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Recommend sleeping lightly for the first few nights after......
Canines are different, our GSD will let me brush and also scrape the canine teeth with a thumbnail. Get the tart at off. We also use tooth designed treats (help keep the tartar down.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
That's why you train them to expect good things. Many cats will put up with a painless annoyance if it means they get a nom at the end.

The trick with cats is to take what they don't want, and give them some kind of reason to want it.
Click to expand...

Good advice. I had a dog who didn't like getting her nails cut. Her previous owner said he to build a device to lock her head in to trim them *gasp*. I always gave her a treat when I was done and never had any problems with her. I could tell she didn't like it and if she was super edgy, I'd only do two feet and the other two at another time. Eventually, she started barking if I was not fast enough getting her treat!
 
I suggest taking her to the vet for a mouth check. She could have an abscess. If it's from the diabetes, it could be from high ketones, which can be life threatening. You really should be giving her insulin. She probably feels like crap having high blood sugar all the time. I'm diabetic and I know from experience!
 
I just use baking soda to brush the dog's teeth. It's safe and we always have it around. I've never tried to brush the cat's teeth, and my old cat does have bad breath. I do know it's dangerous for older animals to under anesthesia. They make Greenies for cats now, and I give them those occasionally. That helps the bad breath.
 
Scrabaholic said:
I suggest taking her to the vet for a mouth check. She could have an abscess. If it's from the diabetes, it could be from high ketones, which can be life threatening. You really should be giving her insulin. She probably feels like crap having high blood sugar all the time. I'm diabetic and I know from experience!
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We decided not to as she's 14.5 years old. I don't want her living out her last year or so being stuck four times a day. We only give her high protein wet food so I hope that keeps it in check for the most part.
 
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