I am not home today... which means I spend every mealtime staring at my cats over the security cameras, trying to see if there's anything that looks wrong with them.
One of the earliest items I bought for my cats was kitty toothbrushes with kitty toothpaste. I had heard that teeth cleaning can be so severe on cats that they have to be put under in order for it to happen, so I wanted to start out with good dental hygiene from the beginning.
Neither one of them was having it.
They would happily lick the toothpaste off of the brush (I'm guessing it tastes like fish or chicken or some other food cats love)... but the minute I start to brush with it? Nope.
Which is why I was really excited to see that Arm & Hammer had a baking-soda-infused water additive that can help to keep a cat's teeth healthy. It wasn't terribly expensive, so I snapped it right up and started using it last weekend.
Fast-forward to yesterday morning when I was doing one of my twice-weekly cleanings of Jake and Jenny's water fountain and... "OH MY GAWD!!! IS THIS MOLD GROWING INSIDE THE WATER PUMP AND FILTER?!? GAAAAAHHH!!!!" Needless to say, I was freaked out. I immediately threw the pre-filter and the filter in the garbage. Then I scrubbed every piece of the fountain with vinegar. Then with soap. Then rinsed with hot water. Then cleaned it again! I was taking no chances that my cats were ingesting mold.
Then after getting the fountain put back together with fresh pre-filter and filter parts and rinsing it yet again with hot water... I filled it up and reached for the bottle of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Additive and...
Oh.
Apparently my fountain's filtration system works so amazingly well it is able to filter out an invisible quantity of baking soda from the water supply. Which is a good thing, I guess?
Oh well. I tried.
I really, really hope that my cats never have to be put under for a teeth cleaning. But it's not like I didn't try to help them avoid it.
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I have to admit that I’ve never heard of a feline dental cleaning that didn’t require sedation! Unfortunately, due to financial circumstances I had not been able to get my girls’ teeth cleaned in years. Recently I attempted to rescue a feral boy who had domesticated himself to me in short order. I was able to get his “feral package” sponsored by a rescue group and consequently found out that the sweet boy has leukemia. I forged on, got more donations and had the girls vaccinated, only to find out that I still couldn’t risk bringing the boy inside. Meantime, I also found out that all 3 of the girls were in serious need of dental work. Around $3,500* later (which was money I saved to use as continued unemployment income), Minnie had 3 extractions, Katsia had 1 canine removed, and Pippin had to have TEN – all of her back teeth taken out.
*and that was with a 10% discount and my vet not charging me for multiple services. When can we move into your spare room?
Oooh. I’m so sorry to hear this. I keep hoping that I can delay any dental cleanings by giving them both wet and dry food. Hoping the wet keeps them properly hydrated… and the crunchy keeps them a little cleaned… both of which is supposed to be important to dental health. Fingers crossed.