Dental Disease

This frequently stated (among veterinarians and lay people) myth continues to harm cats by perpetuating the idea that their food bowls need to be filled up with an unhealthy diet in order to keep their teeth clean. The idea that dry food promotes dental health makes about as much sense as the idea that crunchy cookies would promote dental health in a human. First, dry food is hard, but brittle, and merely shatters with little to no abrasive effect on the teeth. Second, a cat's jaws and teeth are designed for shearing and tearing meat - not biting down on dry kibble. Third, many cats swallow the majority of their dry food whole. There are many factors – known and unknown - that contribute to dental disease in the cat such as genetics, viruses, diet, and the fact that cats do not brush their teeth like humans do. There remain many unanswered questions concerning the fact that cats often suffer from poor dental health but one very obvious answer lies in the fact that Man feeds the cat a diet that does not even come close to what they would eat in their natural state. When cats consume their prey in the wild, they are tearing at flesh, hide, bones, tendons, and ligaments. This is a far cry from the consistency of dry or canned food. Neither dry kibble nor canned food comes close to mimicking a cat’s normal diet of mice, birds, rabbits, etc. Given what a cat does eat in nature, it makes much more sense to be feeding part of the diet in the form of large chunks of meat (as large as you can get your cat to chew on) or gizzards (tough and fibrous) which a cat’s teeth are designed to chew. Raw meat is ‘tougher’ to chew than cooked meat so I prefer to use raw meat – or lightly baked to kill the surface bacteria - to promote dental health. See Making Cat Food - Dental Health. Notice the phrase “part of the diet” in the above sentence. It is very important to understand that plain meat (ie - without bones or another source of calcium) is very unbalanced since there is minimal calcium in meat. Remember that when a cat eats his normal prey, he is consuming the bones along with the meat. When fed as a supplement to most commercial canned foods, it is safe to feed ~15 - 20% of the daily calories in the form of plain meat. For example, if a cat is eating 6 ounces of canned food per day, you could feed him 5 ounces of canned food plus 1 ounce of chunked muscle meat per day. When people ask me “how often should my cats be fed chunks of meat?”, I reply “how often do you brush your own teeth?” And speaking of brushing teeth, this is, by far, the best way to promote your cat's dental health. See this video for more information. Please pay close attention to the statement in the video regarding a thorough dental exam by your veterinarian before starting a brushing program. Many cats have very painful mouths but show no outward signs of this pain. If you try to brush your cat's teeth in the face of a painful mouth, you will end up with a cat that is scared - along with developing a strong aversion to toothbrushes. If this aversion occurs, you may never get him to accept tooth brushing once you have addressed the painful mouth with your vet. With regard to frequency, once-daily is optimal. By the time 72 hours have passed, the film on the teeth becomes permanent so shoot for at least every other day. Please understand that I am not saying that canned food is necessarily better for teeth than dry food. For optimal dental health, a cat should not be eating either canned or dry food since neither food type promotes a healthy oral cavity but we have to work with what is practical in a typical home setting and feeding a cat a 'whole carcass prey' diet is not terribly practical - even if it would be great for their teeth. The compromise is to give them some muscle meat to chew on, in addition to brushing their teeth, and to stop fooling ourselves into thinking that dry food is enough.