The idea of keeping an animal at home causes many doubts. On the one hand, this is due to the enormous amount of positive emotions that pets can deliver to their owners. As a rule, a person experiences the pleasure of taking care of someone. Especially when he feels gratitude from the animal. Such a unity with the natural world can bring a lot of joy to a resident of a metropolis. However, this is also associated with some difficulties. For example, keeping an animal invariably entails considerable financial costs: nutrition, treatment (if necessary), regular mandatory medical procedures (cleaning the body of parasites, both internal and external), the acquisition of necessary accessories and toys. Among other things, many important decisions will have to be made. For example, what to choose: natural cat food or dry? How much time to spend on caring for a pet? Will the decisions made hurt him? After all, the health and well-being of this animal will now be in your hands. Therefore, it is simply impossible to ignore the necessary hygiene procedures. Due to the fact that some allow such negligence, pets get a number of unpleasant health problems. One of them can be tartar. What it is? Is it dangerous for a cat? How to get rid of it? Details will be discussed later in this article.
Do cats brush their teeth in nature?
Many people believe that cats that live in the wild, up to a very old age, have excellent strong teeth. This means that animals do not need special care for them. Indeed, in nature, no one offers them dry food or special food for old cats. However, this opinion is erroneous. In cats that do not live with humans, their teeth deteriorate no less, and perhaps even more. Another important factor that is often overlooked is the life expectancy of stray animals. And she, as you know, is extremely small. This means that a significant part of them simply does not live up to the moment when diseases reach a serious stage of development.
So it must be remembered that the gums and teeth of cats are subject to the same diseases as humans. Namely: often they are diagnosed with gingivitis, stomatitis, caries and other similar diseases. Moreover, some breeds of cats, depending on heredity, as well as other factors inherent only to them, are more prone to certain diseases than representatives of other breeds. This is true for Siamese, British, Persian and Scottish fold cats, which are more likely to suffer from gum problems. And their cause, as a rule, is precisely tartar - an extremely common problem among animals that are kept at home.
What is tartar?
What is this disease? It all starts with the formation of plaque - small crystalline particles that are incredibly tight against the smooth surface of tooth enamel. What is included in their composition? A complex of complex components, among which are mineral salts, bacteria, semi-decomposed food debris that were previously partially dissolved by saliva.
If the owner of the animal regularly ignores the need to carefully care for the condition of the teeth of his pet, then the mixture of the described substances is eaten into the surface of the tooth, thus forming a plaque. It can be easily distinguished (noticeable dark growths). Tartar not only significantly spoils the appearance of the oral cavity, but also provokes the occurrence of bad breath of a pet.
Causes of occurrence
Why do such formations form on the teeth of cats? If you know the causes of the problem, they are much easier to avoid. So, what provokes the formation of tartar in the oral cavity of cats. The following reasons are distinguished:
- Diseases of the teeth.
- Significant disturbances in mineral metabolism, which provokes a change in the concentration of calcium and phosphorus in the blood. Thus, the amount of dissolved salts in saliva increases in saliva, which subsequently settles on the teeth, like plaque.
- The absence of any antagonist tooth.
- Inflamed gums in the area of the base of the teeth.
What is the key reason causing all the others? As research and practice show, the main predisposing factor in this context is malnutrition. In the diet of a pet, solid food, which cleanses the teeth, must be included. If it is absent, then plaque builds up and causes certain health problems.
Risk group
Which animals are at particular risk in this regard? As a rule, we are talking about adult cats (always older than three to five years). However, due to certain factors (in particular, nutritional characteristics), the problem began to affect more and more young individuals. Today, more and more often you can observe young kittens (sometimes up to a year) with a dangerous green plaque on their teeth.
Where exactly is the stone formed?
It is important to know where to look for the developing tartar in a cat. It is logical that plaque accumulates most intensively precisely in those areas that are washed as much as possible by saliva, namely from the inside of the lower incisors and from the outside of the indigenous ones. It should be noted that such processes always affect a whole group of teeth.
Varieties of stones
To select the correct treatment, it is important to know exactly which tartar in the cat formed. They are distinguished by two species that differ in their location. So, stones are supragingival and subgingival. The first are formed directly near the base of the tooth. They are easy to notice when viewed even without special equipment. Subgingival stones are located at the root of the tooth. Finding it yourself is extremely difficult. In this case, experience and skills that only professionals have are required.
Symptoms
How to understand that your pet has tartar? In a cat, due to mechanical irritation of the mucous membranes in the mouth, the gums begin to bleed, which provokes their chronic inflammation. The most noticeable symptom of stone formation is the unpleasant odor coming from the cat’s jaws. An animal may be disturbed by an obsessive itch.
In cases where the necessary treatment is not carried out, the manifestation of symptoms may worsen, and new ones will also appear. Among them, the following are distinguished: a cat has noticeable injuries to the cheeks and tongue; it becomes difficult or almost impossible for her to chew, as a result of which the animal completely refuses food; a huge amount of pathogenic microorganisms develop in the oral cavity, which provoke loosening and subsequent loss of individual teeth; salivation is significantly enhanced in a cat.
How to make a diagnosis?
Finding out if your pet has tartar is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. And for this it is completely optional to be a specialist. It is enough to carefully examine the teeth in cats. If a plaque is visible on them (usually a dark greenish-brown shade), this suggests that the development of certain pathological processes in the oral cavity of the animal. Soon tartar may form. In this case, the cat has direct indications for medical treatment.
Treatment
So the cat has tartar. What to do? Most professional veterinarians who work in large cities have innovative methods to eliminate this problem, and also have the necessary devices designed for this. Such specialists can perform tartar removal in cats using ultrasound. The main disadvantage of this procedure is its high cost. Moreover, it must be performed exclusively under general anesthesia or when the animal is in a state of “drug sleep”.
In veterinary clinics that do not have such a technique, they propose to carry out this procedure using a more archaic technique. Its essence lies in the mechanical removal of stone using surgical instruments. The animal is tied to the table, and sometimes it is recommended to use anesthesia, since the procedure is extremely unpleasant. Moreover, due to the peculiarities of the method, a cat's teeth are cleaned quite painfully. However, it is not always possible to choose a more acceptable technique for carrying out the procedure.
Tartar prophylaxis in cats
In order to avoid serious problems, it is recommended to practice a number of preventive measures designed to prevent the formation of a dangerous raid.
The first thing you need is a cat toothbrush. Yes, you will have to regularly remove the coating yourself. How to brush your cat’s teeth? It is important to understand that this must be done at least once a week (even better - every day). It would be correct to use solutions specially designed for this. You can cook them yourself. Just a recipe: dissolve a couple of tablespoons of soda in one liter of water. In the resulting solution, add five percent alcoholic infusion of iodine. This will effectively help destroy mineral formations.
How to brush a cat’s teeth if it doesn’t allow it? It is important to teach a pet to this from early childhood. Then this procedure will become normal for him.
In the event that the moment is missed, and the plaque has already formed, the teeth in cats should be treated with three percent hydrogen peroxide. It is important not to get on the mucous membranes, so as not to burn them. How does peroxide work? It removes the oxidizing film, to which the stone is attached. At the end of the procedure, rinse thoroughly with a cat's mouth. This can be done no more than once every four weeks.
An important method of prevention is proper nutrition. For older animals, it would be appropriate to use food for old cats. Dry feeds often effectively solve the problem, so you should pay attention to them. You can also use solid natural cat food. All this will help to get rid of plaque naturally.
Total
It must be remembered that the health of your pet is completely in your hands. Therefore, if you can pay enough attention to caring for him, the pet will be able to please you for a long time, and there is simply no need to spend time and money on treatment. It is important to accustom a kitten to the necessary hygienic procedures from early childhood and to get used to allocating strength and time to them. It will bring many good fruits in the future. Your care and perseverance will help the cat live a happy, serene life with your family. And her love and gratitude will be able to become the best reward for her efforts.