Saturday, September 19, 2015

Teeth .... I'm afraid of the dentist!


Dear George, 
Please do take a look at my photo (attached) and tell me what do you see?I bet ….you’ll say: “a lazy cat” as everybody else does, but let me tell you that what you see is a “worried cat”. Why I’m worried? I’m worried because my humans decided that I need a “teeth cleaning” and I heard them ….debating anesthesia.  
Well, I don’t like the idea at all; neither teeth cleaning nor anesthesia. What if I’ll never wake up from it? I never heard my grandparents or great-grandparents to have their teeth cleaned. I never heard of any cat brushing its teeth. Are my humans crazy? George, how can I get my teeth cleaned….in a simple and easy way?
SOS - in a haste
Vegas

Dear Vegas,
The easiest way to keep your teeth clean, is to get your human to buy special dental dry food and mix it with your ordinary kibble. Special dental food has larger than normal bits of kibble and crunching each bit of kibble up helps keep teeth clean. Chews and dental treats are delicious too. 
Other possibilities are Vet Aquadent Anti Plaque Solution which can be added to your water, or Logic oral hygeine gel put directly into your mouth. It tastes quite pleasant  Some humans use a toothbrush with special feline toothpaste to clean our teeth but I personally won't stand for this invasion of my mouth. A couple of sharp bites put a stop to Celia trying it on!
I rarely consult my human, as she has nothing much of interest to say. But lately she told me she had spent a total of about 10 hours in the dentist's chair (spread over 3 months) for some complicated dental work. She would have preferred anesthesia so that she didn't have to sit there waiting for the dentist to drill down. So if painkillers or anaesthetic is on offer, embrace them with all four paws!
Believe me, Vegas, drifting off into an anaesthetic sleep is better than being present. And when you wake up, all the nasty stuff will be over.
Yours earnestly
George
PS. If you do have to have anaesthetic, get your humans to ask the vet if anything else needs checking while you are under. It might be a good time to make sure you don't have any arthritis.

5 comments:

  1. George, what about a "proper species" raw diet? My humans combine in certain % dark meat, organs and bones (tips of a young chicken wings or neck) - they add certain vitamins and supplements and some baked pumpkin and I never had to go to the dentist. Nor did I ever suffer from constipation :-)
    In health to all
    Thea

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Vegas, please go ahead with what the vet says - hopefully you have a good one. I was afraid of vets, dentists, etc. and I think .....my mummy tried too much to accommodate my fears and dislike of vets and I got to one when it was too late. I had most of my teeth pulled out. Better go through a "teeth cleaning" than to have your teeth removed.
    Love
    Shumba

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amigo....you look like you are already under anesthesia!
    Or....are you praying? Definitely .....a lazy cat (not a worried one)
    Vegas you just pull another one, ha? :-)))
    Diego

    ReplyDelete
  4. Princess PenelopeSeptember 22, 2015

    Excellent advice George! I'm on teeth cleaning kibbles and I have no problems.
    Princess Penelope

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  5. A very creative post. My husband and I also have an older cat who has had some teeth issues in the past. We have just given him some specific food that the vet said would clean the teeth while he ate. Just thankful we did not have to go to the vet for a longer procedure. Creative post, thank you.

    Justene Doan @ A+ Family Dentistry

    ReplyDelete

Help for cats whose humans show behaviour problems.

This blog is devoted to the study of human behaviour. We cats, who live with this sometimes unpredictable and always feeble minded species, can benefit from seeing their behaviour in its proper scientific context. The study of feline dilemmas, training problems, and difficulties with humans, can only benefit all of us. All of us train our humans - to buy the right food, for instance, but many of us do not have knowledge of how to improve our training methods. The human species is obviously not as intelligent as the cat, but nevertheless can learn quite a lot - if properly managed. Topics of interest include the use of claw and order, purring as a human reward, rubbing your human up the right way, when to bite, spraying as a method of making our wishes known, ignoring the human, human harassment, human inattention and sheer human stupidity. I welcome your questions. Photos can be sent via my secretary's website, www.celiahaddon.com This blog has been chosen as one of the top 50 feline blogs by Online VetTechprogramms.org