Hi all,
My cat Tiggy is 7 years old who last had a dental cleaning when she was 2. Since that time she has been eating the Hills Prescription dental food which the vet told me to use after her last cleaning. I also used the Healthy Mouth additive for a couple of years but recently stopped the food and the dental water for various reasons but generally I just felt neither were good for my cats. I have since switched to wet food with a bit of top quality grain free dry food mixed in. I have also started using PlaqueOff. Over the last couple of months I noticed her upper back right of her teeth (probably only the back two teeth on the one side) are quite yellow and a small amount of inflammation. It has been weighing on my mind as to what to do. Normally I wouldn't hesitate but to take her to the vet for a check up but she is the most DIFFICULT cat to take to the vet. She is extremely clever - if she hears the noise of the carrier coming out the cupboard, she will run and hide and you will never get her out. If she sees the thing left out for a few days prior to going to the vet, she will still hide. If by chance you manage to get her and try to put her in the carrier, she will scratch your eyes out, wrestle to get away, run and hide and the issue is even worse. She just gets soooooo stressed. I even had a mobile vet over and she still ran and hid because she isn't fond of new people. It makes her seem like a horrible cat but she really isn't. She is so sweet its just that cat carriers/vets/unknown people really stress her out.
So I am in a quandary. And I am debating with myself if this tooth is even bad enough to have to go through all of this stress. I wish I had a picture to show you but it is also really hard to look at her teeth as it is. I have googled extensively and it doesn't look terrible. At worst stage 2 I would say. The rest of her teeth look great apart from the two upper back right ones. But I am still worrying.
I have bought a cat toothbrush and tried brushing but she absolutely won't tolerate it
The PlaqueOff is working but it has only been 5 weeks so maybe if I leave it longer, it will work even better
Shall I do whatever it takes to get her to the vet (God help me)? Or shall I watch and wait?
My cats are my babies and I don't know what to do.
My cat Tiggy is 7 years old who last had a dental cleaning when she was 2. Since that time she has been eating the Hills Prescription dental food which the vet told me to use after her last cleaning. I also used the Healthy Mouth additive for a couple of years but recently stopped the food and the dental water for various reasons but generally I just felt neither were good for my cats. I have since switched to wet food with a bit of top quality grain free dry food mixed in. I have also started using PlaqueOff. Over the last couple of months I noticed her upper back right of her teeth (probably only the back two teeth on the one side) are quite yellow and a small amount of inflammation. It has been weighing on my mind as to what to do. Normally I wouldn't hesitate but to take her to the vet for a check up but she is the most DIFFICULT cat to take to the vet. She is extremely clever - if she hears the noise of the carrier coming out the cupboard, she will run and hide and you will never get her out. If she sees the thing left out for a few days prior to going to the vet, she will still hide. If by chance you manage to get her and try to put her in the carrier, she will scratch your eyes out, wrestle to get away, run and hide and the issue is even worse. She just gets soooooo stressed. I even had a mobile vet over and she still ran and hid because she isn't fond of new people. It makes her seem like a horrible cat but she really isn't. She is so sweet its just that cat carriers/vets/unknown people really stress her out.
So I am in a quandary. And I am debating with myself if this tooth is even bad enough to have to go through all of this stress. I wish I had a picture to show you but it is also really hard to look at her teeth as it is. I have googled extensively and it doesn't look terrible. At worst stage 2 I would say. The rest of her teeth look great apart from the two upper back right ones. But I am still worrying.
I have bought a cat toothbrush and tried brushing but she absolutely won't tolerate it
The PlaqueOff is working but it has only been 5 weeks so maybe if I leave it longer, it will work even better
Shall I do whatever it takes to get her to the vet (God help me)? Or shall I watch and wait?
My cats are my babies and I don't know what to do.