I'd love some tips on keeping cat's teeth clean too, I've been buying my 10 year old kitty special teeth cleaning biscuits for years & they don't seem to be helping much, & fussy pants wasn't interested in raw chicken bones either! He's just been to the vet to have his teeth cleaned & had to have one removed, also a small cyst removed from his foot, $700 later...!!!!

the cat teeth brushing kits -- I still have those, I come across them occasionally when looking for something else, they're always good for a laugh, LOL!

my main concern with teeth problems in older cats is effect on kidneys and the surgery/anesthesia/release of bacteria sending them into kidney failure. You really have to pay very careful attention for months afterwards. What a lot of vets do is run senior panels before the surgery to get these values - but then in a few weeks if there's a problem you just have to do them again and you've wasted that time and $ -- some vets ( the bells and whistles kind) will be very careful to manage the cat just as if they are already in renal failure during the surgery by administering IV fluids before and during, doing prophylactic antibiotics beforehand and after, etc. This is expensive. I've had 4 cats go into kidney failure and I attribute them getting their teeth cleaned to causing it. It was just so clearly connected. I've started to think it's better to leave them alone--or to pull them out entirely-- and just give them antibiotics if they get a gum infection, but most vets will always want to clean the teeth regardless of the very clear connection to renal failure. (It's just like getting x-rays at the dentist; everybody agrees it's bad to have too many, but still they insist on doing them often regardless of what you think.)

Sometimes they start eating less just because eating hurts their teeth. I've found that just putting a bit of water on the dry food makes it totally palatable and then they can eat normally again and they don't see it as "canned" food, they still like it. I don't make it soupy. If the teeth get pulled, of course, they must have this softened dry food, or canned.

One of my three cats, about age 4, has developed bad breath, bloody gums and tarter on one tooth that is visible. She has had a round of antibiotic and a steroid shot neither of which helped much. According to the vet some cats are predisposed to this sort of bacteria invasion which becomes systemic...no 'cure'!! She is scheduled for a cleaning on Tuesday which may or may not do any good. I have read also that sometimes it is recommended that most of teeth be removed...a radical 'solution' in my opinion. The only other time in thirty or more years of keeping cats I have had a problem with teeth was with my Siamese mix rescue. She never was very healthy in spite of all my care and eventually developed kidney problems and I lost her at age 15. Back to 'Honey', my long haired yellow acquired from an Amish barn. She is the absolute sweetest baby..this is causing me much grief.There is a product out there called Allimed/Allimax...a very potent and expensive extract [?] of garlic which supposedly is effective when used for some serious human diseases. I have read conflicting advice about cats ingesting garlic. Please, if anyone has experience feeding garlic, good and/or bad, please help me out. At this point I'm hesitant about the cleaning even.The 'vibes' from my vet are not reassuring, nor does he express much confidence that anything will help. He appears resigned that sometimes there is no response no matter what the treatment, calling it an 'autoimmune disease'. I have a big problem with the concept of 'autoimmune'...but then I have a problem with the whole medical establishment!