Cat periodontal / gum disease / dental health improving with raw food

[HannahS]

Kia ora from Aotearoa New Zealand!

I am sharing my experience with switching to raw food for my cat Moses, and the positive effect it has had on his dental health.

History
Moses is nearly 13 years old and he has had bad breath for almost all his life. Every time I asked the vet about it they would politely ignore me, so I figured it was just me being paranoid and left it. He has also been very cranky his whole life and he would only let you pat him on the very top of his head. If you touched his body he would scratch and hiss.

Since joining Holistic Actions a few months ago, I started inspecting Moses' mouth regularly and I was horrified by what I found. His gums were black and mottled, there was a visible abscess, there were bright red parts, his teeth were covered in tartar, and between the first and second time I inspected him, a tooth had fallen out, and I could see gaps where other teeth were gone.

I felt sick inside and I had to take lots of deep breaths - no wonder my little friend was always so cranky, he must have been in pain. I knew from talking with @Dr. Jeff and @Gail Pope that if I was feeling guilty and calling myself a bad cat mama, that would not help me to make good decisions and help Moses. So I dealt with those feelings of guilt first, and shed some tears for my ignorance. I apologised to Moses for trusting the vet when my instinct kept telling me something was wrong, and I moved into problem-solving mode.

Treatment
So it seems that EVERYTHING improves with a raw food diet! All I did was gradually shift Moses onto a 100% raw food diet, (including 10% cooked veges for fibre). His gums started looking less inflamed, there was more pink coming through and the black mottled colour started fading. But the tartar wasn't budging.

I did a little bit of research, and got some advice from Dr Jeff to get Moses onto chicken necks.

It took a bit of trial and error but now, almost 4 months down the track, Moses loves his raw food, and he loves chicken necks - the chicken necks took about a week of perseverance and he gets annoyed when he doesn't get one now.

I checked his teeth yesterday and most of the tartar has gone, the red, inflamed parts are completely gone, and the black mottled parts have faded to grey, with more pink visible.
Moses is more amenable to being patted all over his body, and even lets me massage his gums!
And the bad breath is gone!

Footnote - my ex-vet's opinion and advice
During the last month, Moses fell out a window (he is so energetic and excited about life now that he is on a raw food diet, yet his old body is catching up and he isn't as agile as he used to be, so there have been quite a few moments where he has attempted feats of daring that become a much more active body! It is great to see him interested in life again, and also heart-stopping if I catch him trying to jump across a big space).
I took him back to my vet as it was an emergency (sprained hip), and I asked about his teeth again, as I was interested to see what they said. Also I was more prepared as I had actually looked in his mouth myself, which I had never done before joining HA!
The vet said they could do a clean under general anaesthetic, and they would remove any wobbly teeth during the clean. I said "Good to know" and I left...
Moses does not need to lose any more teeth and he has managed to keep all his remaining teeth since switching to the raw food diet.
I noticed a poster on the wall showing the stages of gum disease for cats - it said "ALL cats will develop gum disease after two years". I found this very interesting and I am also sad that despite me bringing up the bad breath concerns for so many years, not a single vet ever looked inside Moses's mouth.

?The moral of the story for me is to follow my intuition - and to get a new vet!?

I hope this has been helpful for some of you - any questions about the process of switching to raw food, just ask.

Lots of love from Moses and me xxxxx

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Wow, thanks for sharing your wonderful raw food feeding story Hannah!

Phew, I'm glad that Mo was not injured when he fell out of the window. That must have been scary. ?

Regarding his teeth and mouth symptoms, fantastic that you took a "sacred paws" and mindful breath before making the decision about what to do. Brava!

Yes, IMHO almost every symptom should improve with fresh food feeding, and especially a raw diet.

The nutrients in fresh and raw foods are more bioavailable and these foods have more vitality/energy. I believe that both the physical and energetic qualities of the diet are what helped boost his BEAM and quality of life.

The 2019 report about ultra-processed food describes some of the differences between them and fresh foods:

" Ultra-processed foods’ impacts on health"

http://www.fao.org/3/ca7349en/ca7349en.pdf

They say:

Ultra-processed foods and beverages increase significantly the risks of obesity, and other noncommunicable diseases, and most causes of mortality, while reduced consumption has significant effects on health and well-being

Unfortunately, I don't know of any research into vitality and cellular energy in food, but I'll keep searching.

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

What an inspiring story! Thanks for sharing it! Raw food does cure many ills, and it's pretty darn impressive when it happens in such a visible way! Often times the changes are internal and not obvious, though we know they are occurring.

I can't believe no vet ever looked in his mouth, especially when you specifically mentioned bad breath! Ears, eyes, mouth... that's where my exams always start. Dental disease *is* incredibly common, and advanced periodontal disease is, as you've discovered, very painful; and puts a serious damper on the cat's willingness to be active. I can't even count how many people called me a week or two after I cleaned up a kitty's mouth and removed infected teeth and said "Oh my, she's playing like a kitten again!" But it can be a mixed blessing, as you discovered!!

If teeth are wobbly, they are painful. As the premier veterinary dentist in Colorado once told me, cats don't "need" their teeth, and if they are wobbly, painful--and most importantly, providing a nice hiding place for bacteria--I would be inclined to pull them. However, wobbly teeth *can* (but don't always) eventually stabilize, so waiting a few more months to see how far the mouth will heal may be appropriate. But ultimately, if those teeth need to go... I promise that he will not miss them!

Anyway, many kudos to you and Moses!

 

[HannahS]

Dear @Dr. Jean - Thank you so much for this supportive reply!
Yes, 13 years on and a vet has STILL not looked in his mouth, oh dear!
The two wobbly teeth he had when I started him on the raw food diet (and started checking his teeth) have fallen out and healed over nicely.
I just this second had a look in his mouth and all gums are looking good and some of his teeth are even white and shiny! Which is a total shock after the amount of tartar that was on his teeth.
And no bad breath!
Thank you so much for the information and I am going to try and find a good vet in the new town I live in so he can have a proper dental check up in a couple of months.
Thank you again to all you do, I am becoming a bit of a raw food zealot, telling all my friends to give it a go if they can commit.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Fantastic Hannah!

Go raw feeders of New Zealand!???