Dog owners are accustomed to such a procedure as brushing their teeth "the best friend of a man." The owners of cats, for the most part, do not assume that the cat needs to care for the teeth no less than the person.
Do cats brush their teeth?
Yes. But not all, and not as often as a person.
In natural conditions, wild cats very often use their teeth when they remove the remains of meat from bones or cut tough pieces of meat with veins. Home pets, living on dry food, receive a kind of gum massage and teeth cleaning from the stone during the meal. Those who are fed soft food, as well as man-bred breeds, often devoid of resistance to mongrel to certain diseases, very often suffer from tartar.
How to brush your teeth?
Cleaning teeth in cats is not much different from cleaning a person's teeth. Used a special brush and toothpaste. Some masters prefer to use "human" toothbrushes and toothpastes for tooth cleaning. This is a big mistake: the surface area with bristles at the toothbrushes for a person is much larger than required, as a result, the bristles not only clean the teeth, but injure the gums of the animal.
Toothbrushes for cats are much smaller in size and bristles are of a completely different quality than brushes intended for cleaning people's teeth. There are toothbrushes for cats dressing on the finger: on the one hand, they are more convenient to brush the teeth of the animal, on the other - the cat can easily bite the finger if it is not accustomed to the procedure.
Toothpastes for cats are very different in composition from toothpastes for humans. In addition, they often smell of fish, meat or poultry, and the animal is much more willing to brush teeth with such paste.
Brushing your teeth needs to be done quickly. The brush tilts at an angle of 45 degrees to the surface of the teeth. Do not brush on the gums; this is a very sensitive place, it's easy to injure them!
Is it necessary for a cat to brush its teeth if the animal strongly resists?
The procedure for cleaning teeth is unpleasant to the animal, which has not been taught to hygiene of the oral cavity since childhood. Therefore, the cat can scratch, break out and do everything possible to resist brushing your teeth, but this does not mean that you need to stop brushing your pet's teeth. It will be much easier to brush your teeth if you accustom the animal to this procedure gradually:
- To start, the cat is put on her knees with her back to her (so she gets used to not seeing a person while brushing her teeth) and "fed" her toothpaste: just squeeze a small drop of the paste on her finger and let the cat slip it. A delicious smell will not leave the animal indifferent, and the cat will definitely try "delicacy". Better a few days just to "feed" the cat paste.
- The next stage: the animal is accustomed to touching the head during the "feeding" of the paste. If the cat calmly reacts
on this, you can proceed to the next stage. - "Feeding" the cat paste with a toothbrush. Let the cat lick the paste off his toothbrush. Already familiar delicious pasta will not let the animal get frightened of an unfamiliar object.
After the cat has got acquainted and with a tooth-paste, and with a brush, it is possible to start accurate cleaning of a teeth. If the animal still does not accept such a cleansing option, it is better to purchase a special cleansing paste or fodder with fibers that purify the teeth and prevent the formation of tartar in the cat.