Tatar in a cat: causes, treatment, prevention

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

The thought of keeping an animal at home causes mixed feelings for many. On the one hand, this is due to the enormous amount of positive emotions that pets can deliver to their owners. As a rule, a person feels pleasure from the fact that someone cares. Especially when he feels gratitude from the animal. Such unity with the natural world can bring a lot of joy to a resident of a metropolis. However, this is also associated with some difficulties. For example, keeping an animal invariably entails considerable financial costs: food, treatment (if necessary), regular mandatory medical procedures (cleansing the body of parasites, both internal and external), and the purchase of necessary accessories and toys. Among other things, you will have to make many important decisions. For example, what to choose: natural cat food or dry? How much time do you spend caring for a pet? Will the decisions he makes harm him? After all, the he alth and well-being of this animal will now be in your hands. Therefore, it is simply impossible to ignore the necessary hygiene procedures. Due to the fact that some allow such negligence, pets acquire a number of unpleasanthe alth problems. One of them can be tartar. What it is? Is it dangerous for a cat? How to get rid of it? Details will be discussed later in this article.

Do cats brush their teeth in nature?

Many people believe that cats that live in the wild, up to a very old age, have excellent strong teeth. This means that animals do not need special care for them. Indeed, in nature, no one offers them dry food or special food for old cats. However, this opinion is erroneous. In cats that do not live with a person, teeth deteriorate as much, and perhaps even more. Another important factor that is often overlooked is the lifespan of stray animals. And she, as you know, is extremely small. This means that a significant part of them simply do not survive until the moment when the disease reaches a serious stage of development.

So it must be remembered that the gums and teeth of cats are subject to the same diseases as humans. Namely: often they are diagnosed with gingivitis, stomatitis, caries and other similar diseases. Moreover, some breeds of cats, depending on heredity, as well as other factors inherent only to them, are more prone to certain diseases than representatives of other breeds. This is true for Siamese, British, Persian and Scottish Fold cats, which are more likely to suffer from gum problems. And their cause, as a rule, is precisely tartar - an extremely common problem among animals that are kept inat home.

What is tartar?

What is this disease? It all starts with the formation of plaque - small crystalline particles that adhere incredibly tightly to the smooth surface of tooth enamel. What is included in their composition? A complex of complex components, among which are mineral s alts, bacteria, semi-decomposed food residues that were previously partially dissolved by saliva.

If the owner of the animal regularly ignores the need to carefully care for the condition of the teeth of his pet, then the mixture of the described substances eats into the surface of the tooth, thus forming plaque. It can be easily distinguished (visible dark growths). Tartar not only significantly spoils the appearance of the oral cavity, but also provokes the occurrence of bad breath in a pet.

Causes of occurrence

Why do these formations form on the teeth of cats? If you know the causes of the problem, it is much easier to avoid them. So, what provokes the formation of tartar in the oral cavity of cats. The following reasons are distinguished:

• Dental diseases.
• Significant violations of mineral metabolism, which provokes a change in the concentration of calcium and phosphorus in the blood. Thus, the amount of dissolved s alts in saliva increases in saliva, which subsequently settle on the teeth like plaque.
• Absence of any antagonistic tooth.
• Inflamed gums at the base of the teeth.

What is the key reasoncausing all others? As studies and practice show, the main predisposing factor in this context is malnutrition. The diet of a pet must include solid food, which cleans the teeth. If it is absent, then plaque accumulates and causes certain he alth problems.

Risk group

Which animals are at particular risk in this regard? As a rule, we are talking about adult cats (always older than three to five years). However, due to certain factors (in particular, nutritional habits), the problem began to affect more and more young individuals. Today, it is increasingly possible to observe young kittens (sometimes up to a year old) with a dangerous green coating on their teeth.

Where exactly does the stone form?

It is important to know where to look for developing tartar in a cat. It is logical that plaque accumulates most intensively precisely in those areas that are maximally washed with saliva, namely from the inside of the lower incisors and from the outside of the molars. It should be noted that such processes always affect a whole group of teeth.

Varieties of stones

To select the correct treatment, it is important to know what kind of tartar the cat has formed. They are distinguished by two types, which differ in their location. So, the stones are supragingival and subgingival. The first are formed directly near the base of the tooth. They are easy to notice during inspection even without special devices. Subgingival stones are located at the tooth root. Finding it on your own is extremely difficult. In this case, you will need experience and skills that only professionals have.

Symptoms

How do you know if your pet is developing tartar? In a cat, due to mechanical irritation of the mucous membranes in the mouth, the gums begin to bleed, which provokes their chronic inflammation. The most noticeable symptom of stone formation is an unpleasant odor coming from the cat's mouth. The animal may be disturbed by obsessive itching.

In cases where the necessary treatment is not carried out, the manifestation of symptoms may worsen, and new ones will also appear. Among them are the following: the cat has noticeable injuries to the cheeks and tongue; it becomes difficult or almost impossible for her to chew, as a result of which the animal completely refuses food; a huge number of pathogenic microorganisms develop in the oral cavity, which provoke loosening and subsequent loss of individual teeth; the cat salivates significantly.

How to make a diagnosis?

Finding out if your pet has tartar is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. And for this it is absolutely not necessary to be an expert. It is enough just to carefully examine the teeth of cats. If they have a noticeable plaque (usually a dark greenish-brown hue), this indicates that the development of certain pathological processes in the animal's oral cavity. Soon maytartar build up. In this case, the cat has direct indications for medical treatment.

Treatment

So, the cat has tartar. What to do? Most professional veterinarians who work in large cities have innovative methods to eliminate this problem, and also have the necessary devices designed for this. Such specialists can perform the removal of tartar in cats using ultrasound. The main disadvantage of this procedure is its high cost. Moreover, it must be performed exclusively under general anesthesia or when the animal is in a state of "medicated sleep".

In veterinary clinics that do not have such a technique, they offer to carry out this procedure using a more archaic technique. Its essence is the mechanical removal of the stone with the help of surgical instruments. The animal is tied to a table, and sometimes it is even recommended to use anesthesia, as the procedure is extremely unpleasant. Moreover, due to the peculiarities of the method, the teeth of a cat are cleaned rather painfully. However, it is not always possible to choose a more acceptable technique for the procedure.

Prevention of tartar in cats

In order to avoid serious problems, it is recommended to practice a number of preventive measures designed to prevent the formation of dangerous plaque.

The first thing you need is a cat toothbrush. Yes, the raid will have to be removed regularlyon one's own. How to brush a cat's teeth? It is important to understand that this must be done at least once a week (even better - every day). It would be correct to use solutions specially designed for this. You can cook them yourself. Simple recipe: dissolve a couple of tablespoons of soda in one liter of water. In the resulting solution, add a five percent alcohol infusion of iodine. This will effectively help break down mineral formations.

How to brush a cat's teeth if she doesn't allow it? It is important to teach your pet to this from an early age. Then this procedure will become normal for him.

In the event that the moment is missed, and plaque has already formed, the teeth of cats should be treated with 3% hydrogen peroxide. It is important not to get on the mucous membranes so as not to burn them. How does peroxide work? It removes the oxidizing film, to which the stone is attached. At the end of the procedure, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse the cat's mouth. You can do this no more than once every four weeks.

An important method of prevention is proper nutrition. For older animals, it would be appropriate to use old cat food. Dry food often solves the problem effectively, so it is worth paying attention to them. You can also use solid natural cat food. All this will help naturally get rid of plaque.

Result

You must remember that the he alth of your pet is entirely in your hands. Therefore, if you can pay enough attention to caring for him,the pet will be able to please you for a long time, and there will simply be no need to spend time and money on treatment. It is important from early childhood to accustom a kitten to the necessary hygiene procedures and get used to devoting time and energy to them. This will bear many good fruits in the future. Your care and perseverance will help the cat live a happy, serene life with your family. And her love and gratitude can be the best reward for your efforts.