Blasted tartar.

[JAT_gurl]

I took my cat to the vet the other day, and turns out she's starting to get tartar build-up.

I've been brushing her teeth daily, twice a day when I can, and I also wanted to know what kind of cat food is best for tartar build-up. The vet recommended Medi-Cal and Hill's t/d for dry cat food; I haven't heard much about t/d and all I've heard about Medi-Cal haven't been good.

Aside from brushing and feeding her raw bones to chew on, I'm not quite sure what else I can do. Any tips?

[~ Aki - Fairy ~]

A raw diet is definitely best for oral care. Some vets/groomers will clean pets' teeth (like a dentist does humans), but it may depend upon where you are and cost and everything (but if it's an option, it wouldn't hurt to give you that initial boost towards nicer kitty teeth).

Kibble and wet food will not help (does eating cookies or dry cereal clean your teeth? does stew/soup?)

Hills (Science Diet), like Medi-Cal, is just glorified Purina/Pedigree/Iams. Please don't feed either.

[JAT_gurl]

~ Aki - Fairy ~

A raw diet is definitely best for oral care. Some vets/groomers will clean pets' teeth (like a dentist does humans), but it may depend upon where you are and cost and everything (but if it's an option, it wouldn't hurt to give you that initial boost towards nicer kitty teeth).

Kibble and wet food will not help (does eating cookies or dry cereal clean your teeth? does stew/soup?)

Hills (Science Diet), like Medi-Cal, is just glorified Purina/Pedigree/Iams. Please don't feed either.

Problem is, I don't have the money for that as I'm still in school, my parents are helping me to look after her until I can afford to move out, so they pay for her food. I was just hoping to find a decent brand of dry food to give her that might help at least a little bit.

The vet said a cleaning would be about $500, and since it's just starting, he suggested trying to n** it in the bud before it gets worse.

[~ Aki - Fairy ~]

Dry is NOT going to help the problem. If anything, it will just add to it. Dry is the worst of the three options you can feed a cat period, anyhow.

Do some serious research into feeding raw. It is, ultimately, the cheapest and healthiest option.

If you really can't do raw, at least feed a high quality wet along with raw bones (like chicken wings) at least once a week.

[Mistress of Rain]

yeah I was going to suggest buying some chicken wings or chicken necks to give to her.

I can't do raw for my cat, so I'm going to try and get her eating/chewing on chicken wings/necks at least once if not twice a week.

[JAT_gurl]

I feed her wet along with her dry (sorry, should have specified this). She gets raw now and then, but we do not have the money to continually feed her raw. Meat is extremely expensive here. =/

I've looked at the feeding raw thread a couple weeks ago and since then I've been trying to warm my parents up to the idea. They let me feed it to her now and then, but it definitely isn't her regular diet at this point. When I move out, I'll be doing things my way, but that won't be for a while, unfortunately.

So please, can I just have a brand name that if it's not going to help, at least won't make things worse? Right now, she's getting "go! natural".

[Tenko72]

I heard it's possible to brush the teeth with a rag, but depending on the personality of the pet, this might take a while.

[Sae Insanity]

I get my cat special treats made especially for that, and they work well.
When I took her in for the first time, they were surprised at how little tarter she had, and they even said so!
(And my cat won't eat anything BUT dry food, I've tried so many wet foods and I can't afford raw)