Smelly cat breath. how to cure it?

Question

hi i have a 1 yr old and a 6 month old cat and knitten

and they both get realy bad breath

how can i clean there teeth, i tried holding them down andc brushing it but they just run away

how can i prevent it over a period of time

Answer 1

As long as you are sure they are healthy, I would get them dental treats and also check what kind of food you are feeding them.  Is it super stinky?  They also make cat breath mints which are avaliable at the pet store.

Answer 2

wrap your cat up in a towel tightly. clean teeth using a cat tooth brush and paste. available from vets and some pet shops. take to vets to see if cats have plaque buildup. feed them cat biscuits to prevent plaque buildup

Answer 3

Change pet food. Dry food causes less smelly breath than wet food or real meet. Try Hills Science formula. My kitten's breath got much, um, sweeter after changing to that.

Answer 4

get a big dog and he ll sort out the cat.

Answer 5

You can get treats that they eat that are like toothbrushes but they may be hard to find. They have big bones for dogs that are like toothbrushes too. But for cats they have a little bag or treats. I don't see them to often but look for them. They are the best.

Answer 6

Cats like toothpaste. Have you tried tempting them with it?

Mine has fish breath too but he seems happy enough and I don't kiss his lips so it don't matter.

Vet says he needs a scale and polish but not at £250 ! He's purrfectly content with his fish breath.

Answer 7

Smelly caaaat, smelly caaaat

What are they feeding you?

Answer 8

I'm amazed you have fingers left!, You can get some dental type foods which is supposed to clean their teeth a bit. You could ask the vet about a descale but theyre too young to go through that stress. Failing that just dont sniff their breath.

Answer 9

i heard you can get these little cats nips that taste nice to your cat and make there breath smell better like minty, i think. You could probably get them from a vet store.  

Answer 10

Yes cat breath stinks!

You can get spray breath fresheners for cats and dogs (see below), this is not a cure but at least masks some of the odour whilst they are near you.

Could be worth a try?

http://www.animalmedicationdirect.co.uk/...

Answer 11

Cats normally have a bit of odor to the breath because as carnivores, their food releases some molecules in their breath. Particularly if they eat fish-based food!

Really really bad breath can be a sign of:

Kidney disease : Slowly progressive kidney disease often leads to ulceration of the mouth membranes. This allows infectious organisms to set up in the mouth and produce nasty odor. This is not a condition to be left untreated. Though it is not a curable one, we can slow progression, and help to keep the cat comfortable by treating the kidney malfunction and its associated complications include oral ulceration. An acidic smell may also be present if advanced kidney disease is present.

Diabetes : High levels of sugar weaken the cat’s immune system and allow colonization of tissues that normally resist infection. Poor dental health, and acetone breath which occurs if the cat develops ketoacidosis complication can lead to truly scary breath. The breath is only the tip of the iceburg though, and these cats need professional care to stop the destructive cycle of diabetes right away.

Dental and oral cavity disease : Cats spend a lot of time using their mouth! Grooming takes about a third of their waking hours alone. Eating, drinking and hunting may also take up a little bit of time—or a bit more. Diet, genetic constitution for tooth and oral cavity health, and general care (tooth brushing, professional cleaning) can affect the cat’s propensity to problems in this department.  My can had a hereditaty degenerative tood problem and I had to get all his teeth pulled.  When they do, they use some sort of laser afterwards to harden the gums so that he is perfectly fine eating hard kibble food.

Gingivitis, stomatitis, periodontal disease, and advanced periodontitis may all affect normal breath. Tooth infections or loss, cat cavities (feline odontoclastic resorptive lesions), and spread of bacteria via the bloodstream to distant sites may affect the general cat health as well as cause bad breath, pain, appetite loss, and hiding. An annual evaluation by your veterinarian and prophylactic cleaning (scaling just like your dentist does!) will help to control infections of the gums and control tartar.

Cancers of the mouth, or lodged foreign material may also lead to bad odors.

Cats with nausea from kidney disease or from local mouth irritation may also drool a lot, and fuss when eating, perhaps throwing the food out the side of the mouth or showing exaggerated chewing motions with the head. They may also resist being petted along the whisker pad area near the sore teeth.

The bottom line is that the presence of bad breath is often more than just a simple nuisance! If you smell abnormal smells, get it checked out! Apart from fish diets, the cat breath should not deeply offend….

Answer 12

There is normally an underlying cause for bad breath in cats, so I would get them checked out..

Answer 13

All cats have bad breath - if you ate dirty rotten meat everyday and didnt clean your teeth it would give u bad breath....

One way to hold them down whilst you brush their teeth is wrap them in a massive towel so that only their head is poking out.... wrap them gently tho.... not to tight!  Hold them on your lap and then brush their teeth...

Or

If you really cant do that then get the cat toothpaste on the tip of a finger and quickly stick it their mouth so it touches and attaches to the roof of their mouths... they then start lapping their tongue which will somewhat move the paste around their mouth and slightly cleaning it...

Answer 14

Cats have bad breath due to their high protien diets. A process called keytosis happens when you eat high levels of protien, creating super stinky bad breath. This is why cats, dogs and people on the Atkins diet ofter suffer from bad breath!

Make sure the cat has clean teeth and other than that, it's perfectly normal!