Cats get Cavities too

Dental disease is very common in cats. More than half of cats over the age of three have feline oral resorptive lesions (FORL), colloquially known as ‘cat cavities’. FORL is a painful condition where holes form in our friendly feline’s teeth, eventually leading to the entire tooth becoming diseased and lost.

Signs that your cat may have FORLs include drooling, difficulty eating and bleeding from the mouth. Most of the time they don’t show any obvious signs of pain and need a full oral exam by your vet to be diagnosed. Therefore, regular dental check-ups are essential for keeping your cat’s mouth healthy and pain-free. Treatment includes dental x-rays under general anaesthesia to assess the number of teeth affected, and then extraction of the affected teeth to make your cat feel a lot better.

Another common dental problem in cats is periodontal disease. This occurs when bacteria accumulate on teeth next to the gums forming plaque. If plaque is not removed daily, it hardens over time and leads to solid yellow tartar build up and infection in their mouth. In response to this, the gums become inflamed and teeth erode, causing pain when your cat eats. The infection also poses a serious risk of bacterial spread around the body leading to disease in the liver, kidneys and heart.

Formation of tartar and periodontal disease can be prevented by removing the plaque daily. This can be achieved through a combination of efforts:

Prozym Solution – put this poultry flavoured liquid treat in your cat’s drinking bowl and it will reduce daily plaque build-up & bad breath

Dental diet – the size and shape of the dry biscuits have a tooth brushing effect to clean plaque off teeth daily

Feline Greenies feline dental treats – will help reduce mild tartar build up. anaesthesia. In addition, it is strongly recommended that any animal having anaesthesia gets a pre-anaesthetic blood test performed. This gives information about kidney and liver function (the organs that process anaesthetic drugs) to plan the safest possible anaesthesia for your pet. Regular dental scaling and polishing treatments to remove tartar from teeth is essential to reduce pain in your cat’s mouth, decrease likelihood of teeth needing to be removed, and decrease risk of serious organ infections as mentioned above.

Other oral health problems in cats include tooth fractures, immune-mediated disease leading to sore inflamed gums, and a type of cancer called squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore, it is essential that your cat has regular health checks so that these problems can be detected. You can also look for signs of dental problems described above at home monthly. Opening your pet’s mouth and smelling bad breath is the most obvious sign that your cat requires veterinary care.

Article sourced from from https://veterinarypartner.vin.com

BAD BREATH MEANS BAD TEETH

Once a significant amount of yellow tartar builds up, it cannot be effectively removed without having a scale and polish under anaesthesia. Anaesthesia for cats is very safe. The risk of fatality is significantly less than the risk of any person being involved in a car crash. Vets minimise the risk as much as possible by close monitoring during