Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat Health & Behaviour => Health & Behaviour General => Topic started by: MrsR on August 21, 2009, 20:09:34 PM
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Bunty now only has her 4 canines and wondering from those with experience of cats with only a few teeth what is the easiest food for them to eat - texture and brandwise.
Thanks x
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I think Jack is having the same issue. We were watching him eat and his appetite isn't great, but we're now starting to wonder if it's due to the effort the poor lad has to put into trying to chew pretty much anything.
Am currently blending cat food, which he licks up a little bit of.
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Schui had none and Byron just has 2, my vet said they can eat as normal but they do prefer soft food and hardly ever eat biscuits. Both mine seem to love Classic, Whiskers supermeat and Hi life Sachets and the Hi Life Petit Pate range especially the turkey and giblets plus any meats we have cut into small pieces. Byron also loves Webbox type treats.
eta: I also mash all their food up for them to a mush otherwise they just lick the jelly/juices off.
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Easiest food? well, in my Elsa's case, it was ANY food LOL! She only had her canines - but she could anything, dry food, cubes of raw meat, any wet food - and could even gum a chicken leg to death! Seriously, she could still use those canines and her gums to strip the meat of the bone, so I shouldnt worry too much, I'm sure Bunty will be able to eat whatever you give her. ;D
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Do you find your guys dribble more now?
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No I haven't found that Nikki, why is Bunty?
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Yes, I do. Poor Jack is struggling with the lack of teeth and it's a little bit saddening to be honest.
I do the same Janey - at the moment I am actually blending his cat food in gravy into a disgusting smelling liquidy type affair. It looks a little like choc.olate angel delight - but sadly doesn't smell like it.... :sick:
Am getting some hi-life pate today. Jack's never been a fan of pate meat but anything's worth a try.
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Yes she is dribbling lots, I do think she is struggling too - off to supermarket soon and will get a mixture of what they have to try her on.
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Poor Bunty :hug: I'd just check with the vet if she is dribbling alot tbh unless it is the newness but I've had a few cats with no or few teeth and not found that. I know for a while after that things can be different for them they eat differently etc until they get used to it and Schui's tongue was stuck out to one side for months afterwards as if he didn't know where to put it! but he had no teeth.
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My beloved Sooty (now RIP) had all his teeth except canines out when he was 18 - he carried on eating absolutely normally on a mix of wet and dried food. My vet told me that many of them develop very hard gums when their teeth have all been removed and they can often go on eating as normal. I guess it's not always going to be the case though and may depend on whether there is an underlying condition affecting the mouth. Good luck xx
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Simon has teeth missing and doesnt struggle (hes not elderly tho) hes currently munching on a collar dove so being a gummy doesnt have to restrict their food ;D
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Sam does dribble, but I think he is the only toothless cat that has - he can eat anything, even raw meat - and is annoyed if he doesn't get biscuits, Ginger was too. I have never really mushed up food for toothless cats. I remember when Rolo had his dental, the vet had some samples that were near the BB date, so she gave them to me, and some were dental biscuits, so they joked about Rolo not needing them - he absolutely adored them and wouldnt eat his normal JWB straight after his dental, and Ginger opted for the biscuits rather than the soft food I went out specially for!! Has she had a check up since her dental?
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Desley yes 2 check ups since and vet said normal to dribble and all looks fine.
Also guys, how are your furbabies with grooming since their dentals and lack of teeth?
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I have to say, Jack doesn't appear to be adapting well, whereas Mog lost her teeth randomly and didn't have any for about a year and was eating biscuits! She also seemed to cope with grooming until about a year ago when her dementia worsened. Jack, on the other hand seems to have forgotten completely about keeping clean (apart from his bum!) and I have to keep wiping his chin for him. :scared:
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JS I wonder if the lack of grooming is down to Jack's HyperT? :hug: to the main man
Freddie only has 2 canines MrsR and is mainly white and long haired. He grooms himself fine (always extremely clean) and eats biscuits. I do mash his wet food but it's Felix AGAIL so is pretty mashed up already. I only mash it up through habit really as I found that, after the dental, he sometimes used to throw up unmashed food if he ate it too quickly. He has never dribbled. I hope Bunty is doing well :hug:
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I had issues with Ginger and grooming - also, keep an eye on her claws, as they can't always chew them as well. Sam seems to have no issues with grooming, but he doesn't have particularly thick fur, unlike Ginger. I can't think of any of the other toothless cats (I have had a few!!) having grooming issues, but Snowy did have issues with her claws.
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I'm at the point of having to make the decision to have one of my cats' teeth removed as he suffers from chronic gum inflammation that isn't now responding to any treatment. Butch has had 4 teeth removed already and was reasonably OK on Metacam for a while, but that stopped working and a new vet suggested steroids. They worked wonders for about 2 months, but the last injection he had was only effective for a week before he started showing symptoms again.
Trouble is, Butch is a complete wuss and I really wonder if he'll adapt to having no teeth. Talk about mis-named!
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Its amazing how well they adapt without teeth ;D
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Freddie only has 2 canines MrsR and is mainly white and long haired. He grooms himself fine (always extremely clean) and eats biscuits.
Just to add.... Freddie came in the other day absolutely filthy. It had been raining heavily and his tummy was really mucky. A few hours later he was gleaming with no assistance from us. They really adapt incredibly well to lack of teeth.
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Telstar, I would definitely opt for the tooth removal, and if you read Dr Addies site, steroids are the worst thing to use. I have had more than one toothless cat (currently got one), and they all adapt fine - more than one of my toothless cats have been able to eat raw meat, and all have been able to eat everything they could while they had teeth, but a lot happier for it.
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Desley, I'm not purposely disagreeing (honestly!) but Jack seriously does struggle to chew things. Sometimes in his efforts he throws the food out of his mouth.....
He's still currently living on a diet predominantly of the gravy and jelly off meat. Have to say, though - Mog has no teeth and she eats dry food.
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It can take time for their gums to harden up but I have had 4 completely toothless cats (some lost all their teeth in one go, some over years), and some with very few teeth - and it is very rare I have to mash food up. Mind you, the vet is surprised that Sam eats so well due to his severe mouth ulcers (he is the only toothless cat in the house at present). Rolo also surprised my vet when he munched his way through a pouch and demanded more, seeing as she had just taken 11 teeth out - and one took over 45 mins to remove.
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See that's the weird thing. When Jack came home from his dental he went straight for the biscuits. So I'm not 100% sure if it isn't to do with his hyper-t in some obscure way.
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Ginger did that after one of his dentals, I had bought some nice pate food specially for him and he went for Snowy's biscuits. Can he still eat biscuits? I find toothless cats can't eat as many biscuits in one go as they tend to drop some and they go soggy, but if he can still eat biscuits that will help him. It could be the hyper-t meds that is causing his lack of appetite, the only way to know would be to stop them for a few days
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We're changing his hyper-t meds, so maybe that'll make a difference. He tries to eat biscuits, but generally doesn't do very well - he seems to end up accidentally losing food out of the side of his mouth. :(
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What are you changing to JS?
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Felimazole. It's ordered and should be here mid to end of the week; hope it's quick.
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Hope that Jack does better on the Felimazole :)
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Me too Janey. I feel like I'm losing him and I don't know what else to try.
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Is Jack totally off his food?
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He really eats VERY little. I'm not exaggerating when I say if it was a tin of food it would be under a fifth of a tin for the whole day.
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and has this only started since he went on thyroid meds?
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Sorry Nikki, I know this is your thread.
If I'm honest, part of the reason I was worried was he started eating less and losing weight. So he went for the blood panel - everything apart from his thyroid is clean.