Dry Food For 1.5 Year Old Toyger

Catlover9845

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Hi,

I just got my toyger a couple weeks ago. She was on Royal Canin dry previously, and I've been switching her over to Blue Wilderness Adult Indoor food - chicken flavor. I also feed her wet food 2 or 3 times a week, but that's not what this is about. I'd like to look into other options, and here are the points I'm looking to address:

1) Even though my vet cleared this type of food, he's now saying I should really have one that helps teeth.

2) I also need one that's not too smelly - my wife HATES the smell of this food, and I have to admit it's a much louder smell than I'm used to with cat food.

3) I also need one that does not have any grain or grain products.

Can anybody help find a dry food that fits all 3 of these criteria?

Thanks in advance!
 

Furballsmom

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Hi!
Would Dr elseys work? Wysong Epigen, or Young Again?
There is also hills science diet oral care.

You could do a rotation, for example buy a small bag (better anyway) of one brand, then next purchase a different one possibly if your kitty's tummy is ok with this.
 

cheesycats

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Kibble doesn’t clean teeth. It’s loaded with carbs that get turned into sugar that rot teeth out of their heads. If he’s worried about her dental health already I’d start brushing her teeth. I have to with one of mine. It isn’t the easiest thing but I just hold him down and do it or his gums bleed. Talk about a bad smell. Some cats tho don’t have good dental genetics and some have good genetics. It really depends on the cat.
I’d up the wet food feeding to at least once a day. Then leave out a bit of low carb dry like dr elseys, young again, etc.
 

mizzely

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Dry food doesn't REALLY help clean teeth ;) Just like chewing captain crunch or crackers doesn't remove plaque from ours.

6 Reasons why dry food does not clean your cat’s teeth - Anita Kelsey - Cat Behaviourist

If you look at the "dental" formulas on Chewy, there are none that are grain free.

There are supplements that are supposed to help clean teeth by way of being secreted in the saliva, and some dental treats that mimic the chewing motion that a lion would do on a hunk of meat. Of course brushing is the best!

Dr. Elsey's does free samples if you email them, and Wysong sends a bunch of samples for $2.50. Wysong Sample Pack | Wysong
 

Richard2121

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Advise #1:

Please take your vet's nutritional advisement with a grain of salt. They also recommended I take all 4 of my cats off wet food and feed dry instead since it has "more protein". They literally did not know the difference between dry analysis and actual protein content in wet food. Now I know not all vets are alike, but I feel like most of them generally get a fairly minimal amount of nutritional training and most of their bias comes from Royal Canin or Hills Science reps who preach marketing at them while they are still in school. Now I am not here to bash vets or say anything negative, I just think in the area of nutrition I would be a little weary of your vet's opinion, because they usually do not have the time to stay updated on the food market.

Advise #2:

Dry food does not clean teeth. This has been proven to be a myth no matter what marketing ploys try to tell you. This information coming from your vet tells me that my Advise #1 from above might indeed pertain to you! :)

Advise #3:

Try Dr. Elseys Clean Protein or Instinct brands for dry food rotation. I would also encourage a higher amount of wet food rather than just 2 or 3 times per day, but that's seriously all up to you!!
 
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Catlover9845

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Advise #1:

Advise #3:

Try Dr. Elseys Clean Protein or Instinct brands for dry food rotation. I would also encourage a higher amount of wet food rather than just 2 or 3 times per day, but that's seriously all up to you!!
Thank you and everybody for the suggestions so far. I do have a toothbrush and paste - I'm holding off on forcing the issue - last time I met with a lot of resistance, and I have to give her eye drops for something temporarily. I don't want 2 fights at a time.

For the Instinct, is the original one sufficient? The Ultimate Protein is much more costly.
 

war&wisdom

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Thank you and everybody for the suggestions so far. I do have a toothbrush and paste - I'm holding off on forcing the issue - last time I met with a lot of resistance, and I have to give her eye drops for something temporarily. I don't want 2 fights at a time.

For the Instinct, is the original one sufficient? The Ultimate Protein is much more costly.
For toothbrushing: start slow. I let my kittens just lick the toothpaste for a couple weeks (it's enzymatic, so it should break down some plaque/tartar even without brushing) and chew on the brush if they wanted to. Some start with paste on the finger, but mine were happy licking it off the brush. I've been slowly brushing more and more of their mouths as the months have gone on. My girl is super good about it now, but my boy is taking a bit longer. Still, progress! And they think the toothpaste is a treat.
 

catapault

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One of my two cats had red gums. I started giving him one raw chicken gizzard once a day. Nom, nom, gnaw, nom - he loves it and it does wonders for his gums. The other cat refuses to eat gizzards, so I'm fortunate his gums are in good shape.

I buy a package of gizzards at the supermarket, about one pound weight. Repack 5 gizzard portions into plastic snack pac size bags, then fit the packages into a freezer bag. Keep one in the refrigerator and the rest in the refrigerator's freezer. When the last refrigerated gizzard is consumed I take another pac out of the freezer and place in refrigerator. By the time the next gizzard-with-meal comes around in 24 hours the gizzards have nicely thawed out.

Works for us.
 

kitkatgurl

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One of my two cats had red gums. I started giving him one raw chicken gizzard once a day. Nom, nom, gnaw, nom - he loves it and it does wonders for his gums. The other cat refuses to eat gizzards, so I'm fortunate his gums are in good shape.
I've heard that chicken necks do a fabulous job of giving a meal and brushing the teeth at the same time. I haven't ventured there yet. I do like the gizzards idea though. I'm sure Maisie would be sweet on that offering :)
 

kittyluv387

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I've heard that chicken necks do a fabulous job of giving a meal and brushing the teeth at the same time. I haven't ventured there yet. I do like the gizzards idea though. I'm sure Maisie would be sweet on that offering :)
I think gizzard would be better. Necks have too much bone.

When it comes to dental health you have to force the issue. Just like you would have to for a human toddler. It's up to the parent to do what's best for the cat. I brush my cat's teeth every other day and my vets get impressed by the condition of his death. Only downside is I can't do it while I'm on vacation. He gets a dental every 2 years as well. I don't brush my other cat's teeth because he's quite difficult about it. So he gets a dental every 1.5 years and all his teeth are intact so far. It sounds like your cat may need his first dental. My cat needed a dental before 1 year of age due to poor genetics. Our girl that we adopted 1.5 years ago is 6.5 years old and she still does not need a dental. She has really good teeth genetics obviously.
 
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