Dental Care for Cats

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Every purr-chase helps keep two very demanding cats in treats. Thank you for your support!

There’s something I rarely say out loud, but it’s true: we’re bad at brushing our cats’ teeth. There, I said it! And the thing is I feel so guilty about it, especially considering Louis, who’s all of three years old, needed a full professional cleaning at the vet last year. He’s three! Thelma, meanwhile, has the teeth of a much more responsible household’s cat. Same house, same food, same two humans skipping the same chore, and somehow Louis is the one who ended up with bad teeth.

If you’re the type who buys the toothbrush with really good intentions (like us!) and then finds it months later, still sealed in the package, this one is for you. Cat dental care matters way more than most of us treat it like it does, and the good part is that even small, sloppy efforts help.

What dental trouble looks like

Cats are very good at hiding pain, so most of the signs are subtle. The easiest one to catch is breath. A little fishy is normal, but breath that makes you pull back is worth paying attention to. Past that, watch for drooling, pawing at the mouth, chewing on one side or dropping food, red or bleeding gums, and a cat who suddenly seems less into eating. Any of those, especially a few together, is a reason to get their mouth checked.

Brushing: the gold standard nobody loves

Brushing is the thing vets want you doing, ideally every day. I know. Fewer than ten percent of pet owners pull off daily brushing, so if that sounds unrealistic, you’re in great company (hi, it’s us). But here’s the thing: even a few times a week helps a lot.

The how: use a cat-specific toothpaste, never human toothpaste, since the fluoride and sometimes xylitol in ours is toxic to cats. Pair it with a soft cat toothbrush or a little rubber finger brush. Then go slow. Let them lick the paste off your finger first so it reads as a treat instead of an ambush. Work up to lifting a lip and touching a couple of teeth, then a few more over the next several days. You aren’t going for a dramatic two-minute scrub. You’re after the outside surfaces of the back teeth, where the gunk piles up.

If your cat refuses the brush (a real possibility)

Plenty of cats want no part of it, and that’s where the VOHC seal helps. The Veterinary Oral Health Council tests products and only stamps the ones proven to cut down plaque or tartar, so you aren’t guessing your way through the marketing. Look for that seal on dental treats (Feline Greenies are a common pick), water additives you mix into the bowl, a powder you sprinkle on food, and dental wipes for cats who put up with a wipe better than a brush. None of these replace brushing, but for a household that isn’t brushing daily, they beat doing nothing by a lot.

The professional cleaning (a.k.a. how Louis ended up at the dentist at three)

This is where we ended up with Louis. At a checkup the vet flagged his teeth, and not long after he was in for a full cleaning under anesthesia. He bounced back fine, but it was the kind of bill, and the kind of worry, that makes you look at that unopened toothbrush differently. A cleaning usually means pre-anesthesia bloodwork, the scaling and cleaning itself, X-rays, and any extractions if they turn up resorption or a tooth too far gone. How often a cat needs one depends on the cat, but it’s rarely a one-and-done.

Where we go from here

I’d love to tell you we’re now flawless brushers who floss our cats nightly. We aren’t. But Louis’s cleaning moved us from we should do that someday to keeping cat toothpaste on the counter where we’ve to look at it, plus a water additive that asks nothing of us except remembering to pour it. If you’re starting from pretty much zero, like we were, that’s the move: pick the one thing you’ll keep up with, and do that one thing. Your cat’s gums aren’t asking for perfect. They’re asking for better than nothing.