How to Care for your Cat's Teeth - It's Brush Up February

February is the National Pet Dental Care Month and from experience, I can assure you that cats don't like having their teeth inspected, but paying attention to your cat’s teeth can help prevent disease.  As a breed, Himalayans and Siamese and I assume Tonkinese suffer increased rates of dental disease so I am always trying to find new and easy ways to keep their teeth clean. The most common dental problem is called odontoclastic  resorptive lesions or FORL. This causes decay on the gum line where the tooth meets the gum. Usually the gum line of the infected tooth is bright red and the cat has bad breath.  It is also very painful for cats with the end result usually being that the tooth has to be pulled.  Once the tooth is pulled, the gum recovers and the cat is no longer in any pain.

The "experts" have three basic suggestions in terms of dental care for your cat.   The first is brushing your cat's teeth with special cat toothpaste.  Good luck with that!  Experts suggest that you wrap a strip of gauze around your finger and rub one or two teeth and increase the number of teeth touched until the cat becomes use to it.  Sadly, mine never have gotten use to it.

Another suggestion for good dental health is to feed your cat dry food with the theory being as the cat chews, particles from the dry food rub against the teeth and act like a toothbrush of sorts helping to remove plaque.  My eight year old Himalayan, theMaxx will only eat dry food and he is now minus 4 teeth as a result of FORL, so this doesn't seem to have really worked for him -- on the other hand, perhaps it has because if he only ate wet food he might very well have less teeth.

My current new favorite way to deal with the inevitable cat tooth problems in addition to scheduling an annual cleaning with my vet is to give my cats a tooth friendly treat by the name of Perio Plus Feline Bites by Vermont based Verti Science Laboratories, a division of FoodScience. These are available from www.chewy.com. The way this works is the chewy inside contains minerals, probiotics, and CoQ10 to help control plaque and support healthy gums. The outside is designed with spirulina and pumice to remove bacteria and freshen breath. My one year old Tonkinese have taken a liking to them, but the kittens just sniff them...they are just getting their adult teeth so I think it will be some time before they try them.

The active ingredients include: spirulina, parsley, natural zeolites, cinnamon powder, champignon mushroom extract, Coenzyme Q10, Yucca Schidigera extract, cranberry extract, taurine, zinc, lactobacillus acidophilus and enterococcus faecium.  The package comes with sixty tasty bites with directions for up to 4 bites a day between meals for cats over ten pounds.

In the Tiki Mood with Tiki Catfood

In honor of the fire spewing volcano's and the crashing waves of the South Pacific Ocean, the ancient Hawaiians filled their Eden like island with the amazing lore of the Tiki gods.  These ancient oracles of Hawaiian kahunas were perched on volcanic cliffs, carved tiki gods were scattered through the rainforest and hidden in mystic caves and worshipped in many ways.  I have always been fascinated by the lore of the American Tiki Culture and was just delighted to see that www.chewy.com is featuring Tiki Cat Food at 20% off this month!

 Tiki Cat Food by Gourmet Carnivore is a new brand to me. I decided to try it because they use better than quality ingredients as it is "human grade" food.  In addition, it is hormone and antibiotic free and, the food is grain free, carb free and has a zero glycemic index.  The Tiki Cat Food is 55% protein and 35% fat with no carbs and truly replicates a wild prey diet.

My cats all seem to love fish so today I tried the Flaked Tilapia that is mixed with wild caught Mackerel loins.  Tiki Cat simmers this sustainable seafood combination in a consommé broth that is made with bones, heads, and unused portions of the fish in a traditional stock method that produces a healthy and flavorful setting for the big flakes of fish.  Oil, vitamins and minerals finish off this healthy dish.

The actual ingredients are: Flaked Tilapia 56%, Tilapia Consommé 25%, Flaked Mackerel 14%, Olive Oil 4%. Contains less than 1% of the following: Tricalcium phosphate, Taurine, Choline chloride, Magnesium sulfate, Potassium chloride, Ascorbic acid, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Niacin, Vitamin E supplement, Vitamin A acetate, Thiamine mononitrate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Calcium pantothenate, Riboflavin supplement, Pyridoxine hydrochloride, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, Biotin, Cholecalciferol (Source of Vitamin D3), Vitamin B12 supplement.  

Tiki Cat Food comes in lots of flavors including: chicken with duck, beef liver & lamb, chicken & liver, bonito tuna, chicken with turkey,beef liver and chicken, chicken with turkey, seabass and tilapia. Maybe for Valentine's Day, we'll have chicken and duck followed by seabass...a surf and turf.  If you would like to try this food for your cats go to www.chewy.com and order a sampler - it's 20% off.

Tiki culture made the jump to the mainland of the United States in the 20th century with Polynesian styled restaurants and clubs inspired by Tiki carvings and mythology. The first restaurant to open in the US began in 1934 with the opening of Don the Beachcomber, a Polynesian themed bar and restaurant in Hollywood that served Cantonese cuisine and exotic rum punches.  

Les Baxter, Arthur Lyman and Martin Denny integrated the Tiki idea with jazz music with  "tropical" themes creating the "Exotica" genre. This music combines South Pacific and the Orient and what a lot of people imagined the islands were like...it's pure fantasy but fun.  The term "exotica was coined after the album of the same name by Martin Denny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2dQ3WbcF44.  The cats seem to like Tiki music and Tiki Cat Food!