Quote:
Originally Posted by Rosebud2020
Don't assume your cat has gingivitis. That's what I thought but it was something far more serious.
I rescued a kitty who was found to have the calicivirus and unfortunately, transmitted the virus to one of my other cats. It is highly contagious. Both kitties had to have all their teeth extracted which ended up costing many thousands of dollars.
At that time Buffalo Ridge recommended a dental specialist in Maitland. That specialist, Dr. Brown, actually was brought in from her office in Boca Raton and that is where I took the cats to have the extractions performed. She was far less expensive than the quote the Maitland office gave.
Don't kid yourself . . . they can eat crunchy food as easily as soft food once their mouth has healed. Let them eat whatever they prefer. In addition, there are a lot of negatives regarding dogs and cats only eating grain-free food.
|
Dogs yes, cats no regarding grain-free food. Cats are obligate carnivores. That means their bodies are created to digest and process raw moist meat, and their bodies are NOT created to handle non-flesh-based foods efficiently at all. The cats that the domestic felines are most related to, only chew grasses when their stomachs are upset, because it helps them to vomit whatever is causing the upset stomach. They get 100% of any vegetable matter they need by eating the uncooked still-warm stomachs of their prey, most of which are herbivores and omnivores.
Cats cannot chew, because they have no molars. So if they are eating crunchy kibble that's too big for them they have to crack the kibble with their incisors. It's akin to being forced to only eat your food inside of nut shells and not being provided a nutcracker to open the shells. Of course it will eventually have an impact on your teeth and gums.
The smaller kibble they swallow whole because, again, they don't have molars to grind food (chew) with.
Kibble is made with some kind of starch to bind the food into hard nuggets. The starch is typically grain or gluten, but can also be in the form of cheap pea protein, which is also not easily digested by cats. Corn is not digestible by cats at all (and isn't easily digested by humans either for that matter). Cats do not have a nutritional need for carbs or fiber. They are not omnivores (which do have nutritional need for carbs and fiber).