Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dear Dr. Tobin, I would welcome your expert advice on our two kitties who were diagnosed with advanced periodontal disease several weeks ago at the very young age of 4 years old. Our vets think their gum disease is most probably congenital (our kitties are brothers). Both cats underwent dental surgery 3 weeks ago where all of their molars and pre-molars were extracted and their remaining canines and small front teeth were thoroughly scaled and polished. We now are on a strict dental regime of weekly applications of OraVet (plaque prevention gel) and daily brushings with Virbac C.E.T. cat toothpaste and dental chews. We are concerned as to the long term use of the ingredients in all these gels, toothpastes and chews, but also know that prevention is better than cure and want to save the few teeth the kitties have left. We are also slowly starting our kitties on a raw food diet in the hopes that this will also help with their oral health. We are using the Nature's Variety brand which they are loving. However, one of the main ingredients in a lot of these raw diets is raw ground bone, which can be up to 1/4" in size and we worry that because our cats now have no back teeth they may not be able to digest this ground bone properly. Please advise us on the best thing to do for our kitties. Thank you, DandYCats

The small pieces of bone in the food should not cause any problems. Feline periodontitis can be a tough problem There are numerous theories but nothing proven. One theory is that the cat develops an autoimmune reaction to the ligament that attaches the tooth to the bone, and by removing the tooth, with the ligament, the inflammation stops. This is rather drastic, and doesn't always work. Another theory is that this reaction is due to an infection, often of Bartonella, which is hard to diagnose and hard to treat. Feline leukemia infections have also been implicated in cats with inflamed gums. I would suggest having your cats seen by a holistic vet if there is still a problem.