I never used to but have become a nightly flosser the last few years. As a child we took turns going to the dentist so of course, we ended up with lots of cavities and a big fear of dentist. My teeth are soft so I have so many fillings and over the years they have had to be replaced by crowns. I have 8 porcelin (SP?) veneers in the front top that cost me a bundle 10 years ago. As an adult I have always visited the dentist every 6 months but hated the cleanings. I now floss nightly and use an electric tooth brush but I do have to be careful with it not hurting my gums. I have so much metal in my mouth that I now have what the Oral surgeon said is a low electrical current that keeps the lining of my mouth very sensitive. I have dry mouth and if the balance of potassium, calicum and iron get a little off, my mouth breaks out in sores. I have managed to keep it under control with Biotene rinse and when needed a script from the dentist. I think preventive care has made such a difference in dental health. We were pretty poor and like with doctors, you didn't go unless there was a problem. Nowadays, kids go before they even have all their baby teeth.

I lost a bunch of my teeth ... mainly because I hadn't cared for them well enough. Take care of yours, please. If you have a dental school anywhere near, go there. The local one, 20 miles away in our university did a lot of work for me, including full top plate and partial bottom (three of mine left) and it wasn't too expensive. Their evaluation changed after they'd done some major work on some that they later pulled and they gave me a credit. Then I made a contribution to the school - deductible. When they were extracting a bunch of my top ones and my student (east Indian, gentle lady) quoted these prices: extraction $32.00 first tooth in a quadrant, $16.00 each of 4 subsequent, as she was making up the account, when I said, $96.00, no one paid much attention (receptionist there, as well). When she added it all up and came to that figure, they looked at me and asked how I'd figured that so quickly. I said that base figure was $32.00,and 4 at $16.00 each was the same as two more at $32.00, that 3 x 30 is 90 and 3 x 2 is 6 - total, 96. If no dental school available, shop around - I think it possible that you can find a better deal than the quote that knocked the plaque off of your teeth (almost). Good wishes for satisfactory dental care - at a decent price. ole joyful

I had a feral cat who came to me with so much disease in his mouth, his jaw had started to decay. I had all of his teeth pulled and he healed up very well. He actually preferred dry food to wet and was a healthy weight until he passed on. He did seem to have more of a problem with vomiting though, I think because he swallowed his food mostly whole. I used to add a little broth to soften it up for him, but he really didn't care for it much. I wish your cat well!

Current Resident, I don't think the probiotics in a processed food are why your cats are not having issues. A problem I ran into with the no grain foods is that they all contain a combination of beans, lentils, peas and/or chickpeas. They're a viable protein source that is much less expensive then the meat products but they can also cause some very gassy tummies. We too fed our cats and dog TW and I agree, it's a very good option. If you look at their ingredients, some of their recipes are actually bean free which I really liked. We changed foods though because it's manufactured by Diamond and was included in the recall back in 2012 and I didn't feel I could trust the brand. We ended up trying Canidae Pure, which has a similar recipe profile and our pets have done wonderful on it. Some products from Canidae were also involved in the Diamond recall but the Canidae Pure is not one of them.