Cats and toothpaste – Help!

Our 14 year old mog has unfortunately just had to have a few teeth out.

The vet has given us some evil smelling feline toothpaste and instructions to get it somewhere near the cats remaining gnashers.

Well, the first attempt ended with blood, screams and swearing.
So we then apply some cunning and put the goo on the cat’s nose, hoping she’d lick it off.
Noooooo, she just wiped it all off on a handy cushion, the little sod, then went back to gumming her food.

So come on, ideas please, surely someone else has had this problem.

The scars are healing nicely btw, thanks.

Tried to brush my dog’s teeth once.

Never again.

have you tried holding her by the scruff? It triggers a reflex that kind of makes them freeze. I do remember my mum trying to use beefy toothpaste on our cat with little success though…!

Smear it on/hide it in their food?

you know on you’ve been framed when someone pushes the birthday boy’s head into the cake?

*CATSMASH*

If it doesn’t defeat the purpose, you could try mixing it with the cats food.

A cat we had years ago really enjoyed having her nails filed. See if yours does too, this will at least limit her ability to fught back when you next attempt to brush.

have you tried holding her by the scruff? It triggers a reflex that kind of makes them freeze.

Yeah, there’s YT videos on this, search for “how to deactivate a cat” or something similar. Not overly sure as I approve of the method (bulldog clip) but it seems effective.

Try this*.

*I am not a vet.

wrap the cat in a sheet? it at least reduces the damage they inflict

Cats are generally less amenable to teeth cleaning than dogs. If she will chew/gum dried kibble thats your best bet. to have any real benefit toothpaste needs to be done once daily, every other day negligible benefit, less frequently and you might as well piss in its left ear…

Is it really necessary? My cat lost most of her front teeth to gingivitis many many years ago, and hasn’t suffered for it. The back teeth are fine, and she happily crunches on biscuits. I wormed both my g/f’s cats the other week, and they were easy compared to my viscous little devil, she may not have many teeth left but she bit me with what few she had.

I tried to swarfega our cat once.

She was white and had run under a neighbours car which had a very oily sump and was trying to lick all th oil off her fur.

She was wrapped in a towel and I had gardening gloves on.

I ended up with bandages on my arms and the cat at the vets under a general anaesthetic to have the oil removed.

if the vet thinks this is a good idea maybe they could demonstrate the best way of doing it?

😆

Not going to help you but both our dog and car will sit still and have their teeth cleaned. The dog actually likes the taste of the toothpaste.

Get someone to scruff it and get on with it wearing some gardening gloves.

ratchet straps, bungee cords and gaffa tape

Clip her claws, they are like nails you can take the sharp bits off the end with no harm or pain.

You might want to wait 24 hours before phase 2, but wrap her in a towel, and then you have to get your hand kind of around the back of her head, so you have a thumb and finger in each corner of the jaw, this means they can’t shut their mouth.

Get brave person to apply toothpaste.

You might want to wait 24 hours before phase 2, but wrap her in a towel, and then you have to get your hand kind of around the back of her head, so you have a thumb and finger in each corner of the jaw, this means they can’t shut their mouth.

Get brave person to apply toothpaste.

+1

Smear the paste on the back of the paw(s) they usually flick most off then lick the rest.

Result?

+1 for wrapping in a towel.

Otherwise, explain to your cat that it’s either going in one end or the other.

Get the vet to remove the last few teeth. One of my parents cats hasn’t got any left, still manages to eat his dried cat food fine. Think he swallows it whole 🙂

kerrrr, chinnng.

Hmmmm. The cat is 14. I’m not sure I’d bother, but then I am naturally suspicious of vets. Kitty toothpaste? Really?