Um, so, went to the vet today, and got told I need my kitty's teeth cleaned. Quote at current vet is $200.

That's a lot of money for a yearly thing. I love my kitty, but if someone knows a good location that can do it for a bit less? (I'd be switching vets entirely I think).

7/14/2006 5:53:47 PM

i use glenwood animal hospital for my cat

teeth cleaning is something you can aviod by changing your cats diet

7/14/2006 5:58:58 PM

^ Really? We talking a brand thing or what? I dont give her wet food, just dry.

7/14/2006 6:00:14 PM

since when did having a dental become a yearly thing? unless they have horrible teeth i dont see why that would be necessary.....but you can try to brush them if she'll let you...

7/14/2006 6:15:11 PM

talk to the vet about it

how old is your cat?

buying food that costs a little more might be worth it in the long run if you cant afford $200 yearly teeth cleaning, i'm sure there are alternatives

you may need to change the food & also do a little at home brushing with kits you can get from the pet store

7/14/2006 6:15:46 PM

i work at mayfair...we aren't reasonable, but our doctors recommend CET Oral rinse. I use it on my kitten because she has bad gingivitis and I can't really afford a dental every year either. I have another kitty with a worse dental problem and she will have a dental every 6 months until all her teeth are gone, which will be soon, she only has 9 left.

7/14/2006 7:43:55 PM

^^ she's two and never had it done, and I'm fine with buying expensive food. She gets Nutro Indoor weight management right now.

^ Sorry to hear that about your kitty.

7/14/2006 8:58:23 PM

You pay $200 to have her teeth cleaned? My cat is about 15 years old and, to the best of my knowledge, she has never had her teeth brushed. Of course, I do pay a pretty penny for her hyperthyroidism medicine.

Regardless, brushing your cat's teeth looks to be as easy as it sounds:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=feline+dental+care&btnG=Search

7/14/2006 9:21:02 PM

your cat is two and needs a dental?

either you need a new vet or a new cat

7/14/2006 9:39:06 PM

We had some problems with our cats teeth. We switched them over to Science Diet Oral Care a few years ago. Now, the vets don't complain about their teeth.

You shouldn't have to make it a yearly thing.

7/14/2006 9:44:36 PM

^^^ No, i havent paid for that yet and dont want to! Thanks for the link, i think i'm going to try it myself.
^^ I'm tempted to say new vet.

7/14/2006 9:48:45 PM

Brushing your pet's teeth help slow down the accumulation of dental tartar. When they say "your cat need's his/her teeth cleaned" they mean putting them under anesthesia and doing a full on scale (including right under the gum line) and polish.

The amount of tartar that accumulates over a certain amount of time depends on the size of pet, whether or not he/she likes to chew, and the type of diet you are feeding them.

The hospital I work at charges around $200 also. It is going to cost a good amount because it involves anesthesia. Just remember, some quotes may include antibiotics and pain meds, depending on how bad the mouth looks.

7/14/2006 9:52:59 PM

^ What she said. Its really not an outrageous price. The anesthesia is outrageously expensive (human medicine uses the same stuff so it drives the cost up). It is excessive for your cat to need yearly dentals at age two. As others have mentioned, look into diet alternatives and products by CET.

7/15/2006 12:51:34 AM

One of my cats is about 9 years old, and its never had its teeth cleaned, and we buy it just regular dry cat food. It's teeth seem to be perfectly fine to me.

I didn't even know you could get a cats teeth cleaned...

[Edited on July 15, 2006 at 3:47 AM. Reason : ]

7/15/2006 3:47:31 AM

We had to get our dog's teeth cleaned every 6 months like a humans. And yes, it is pretty standard to get your dog or cat's teeth cleaned.

7/15/2006 5:39:27 AM

you also have to realize that some cats have bad teeth. it can be genetic just like in humans.
also, cleaning teeth is not normally a yearly thing unless of course your cat has bad teeth.

i know the vet I work for has dental month in September, ~15% off,

7/15/2006 5:40:32 AM

it does depend on the animal

i've had my cat for 4 years & she's never needed her teeth cleaned

my moms 2 cats on the other hand get theirs cleaned-- one is insanely obese so that may have something to do with it

at age 2 your vet should definitely be able to offer you options to avoid a yearly cleaning, or at least try to. you might have to go through with this $200 cleaning to get a good base going but after that you should be able to avoid it yearly

7/15/2006 11:33:16 AM

i had my cat done at brentwood animal hospital (atlantic ave) when i worked there. i forget the exact price, but it was definitely under $200.

7/15/2006 11:44:01 AM

feed your cat premium dry cat food (expensive yes but better for teeth and overall health)
ours is on proplan and no complaints.
cut back on moist food or eliminate all together, same with moist treats.
there are dental treats out there.

my dogs have always been on premium food and they get alot of rawhides and no cheap nasty treats and the vets are amazed that they've never had a cleaning.

you can try brushing them yourself. my roommate does it to her cat once in a while.
eh

7/15/2006 1:52:32 PM

I'm not sure if eliminating wet food is such a good idea. The idea that dry food stops tarter isn't as proven as I used to believe. I'd rather feed mine a mixture of wet/dry so that they can get the benefits of high protein/low carb/high moisture from the wet because I can't afford to feed them only foods like Innova Evo all the time sadly. Even food such as Proplan has a lot of corn/grains in it which is something I try to avoid. Although it seems that every food bag I read includes as many carbs as they can throw into it.

Quote :

"Logan, et al., Dental Disease, in: Hand et al., eds., Small Animal Clinical Nutrition, Fourth Edition. Topeka, KS: Mark Morris Institute, 2000, p. 487. "Although consumption of soft foods may promote plaque accumulation, the general belief that dry foods provide significant oral cleansing should be regarded with skepticism. A moist food may perform similarly to a typical dry food in affecting plaque, stain and calculus accumulation...Typical dry dog and cat foods contribute little dental cleansing. As a tooth penetrates a kibble or treat the initial contact causes the food to shatter and crumble with contact only at the coronal tip of the tooth surface...The kibble crumbles...providing little or no mechanical cleansing....""

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=doesdryfoodcleantheteeth

Quote :

"Long-standing claims that cats have less dental disease when they are fed dry food versus canned food are grossly overrated, inaccurate, and are not supported by recent studies. First, dry food is hard, but brittle, and merely shatters with little to no abrasive effect on the teeth. Second, the high carbohydrate (read: sugar) level in dry foods has been shown to cause dental decay. Third, many cats swallow the majority of their dry food whole and thus receive minimal benefit from chewing motion."

http://www.homevet.com/petcare/feedingyourcat.html

7/15/2006 4:27:32 PM

science diet makes a prescription diet for dental issues

its t/d.....more expensive and must be purchased at the vet but if you get a bag and use that food as treats to supplement its regular diet a small bag should last a while

7/15/2006 10:27:59 PM

T/D is very fattening, but I mix it in with my kitties' normal food.

2 years old isn't unreasonable for a dental, my 1.5 year old kitten had a dental at 10 months. She had really bad gingivitis, I'd only had her for 2 months. I would get the dental now and then start using products like the CET rinse, toothpaste, dental treats, and talk to your vet about Oravet. It's a wax based sealant you put on the teeth weekly.

7/15/2006 10:41:52 PM

Along the same lines, are there any vets around that are reasonable that will let you break down if you have a big balance into payments? We had to take our kitten to Banfield and they wanted us to drop like 5-600 dollars on the spot. We were trying to work out a plan where we could pay like 200 that night and then break the rest down maybe even just a week and they were pretty heartless and demanded it all upfront. The woman pretty much just acted like a bitch and didn't give a shit at all. We were willing to pay alot if we could break it down some, just wondering if anyone knows of a good vet that people aren't always rich and cant pay everything in full upfront.

7/15/2006 11:17:23 PM

i think glenwood animal hospital does

mike takes chloe (cat) to the vet for me because she stays in raleigh with him & i just call and pay with my credit card later on

they're really nice & i'm almost positive they let you break it up because my parents have like 100 pets and when they all go in at the same time i think they break up payments to keep it decent on the bank account

7/15/2006 11:24:06 PM

http://www.carecredit.com

7/16/2006 10:59:53 AM

What is so special about premium foods that make them better?

7/16/2006 3:31:39 PM

better ingredients, same thing with us

fancy feast and meow mix are the feline equivalent of mcdonalds

7/16/2006 10:56:32 PM

Quote :

"What is so special about premium foods that make them better?"

Think of it like this...
premium dog food = fresh NY strip from the butcher
average dog food = cafeteria meatloaf

Premium dog food uses less filler (like corn meal) and uses higher quality meats. It is more thoroughly digested and more nutrients are pulled out of it. Pretty much just like when people eat fresh and healthy food instead of TV dinners and fast food. When you put your pet on a premium food you actually will notice a better quality coat and less crap, literally.

7/16/2006 11:01:02 PM

Interesting... has there been studies that prove this?

Also, what if my cats occasionally catch and eat a squirrel or bird or something, how does this compare to the premium cat food?

7/17/2006 1:26:34 AM