Cleaning your cat’s teeth – Top tips for purrfect pearly whites

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Does the thought of placing your hands near your cat’s mouth, in an attempt to brush their teeth, conjure up fear for either you or your cat (or indeed, both of you!)?

As mentioned in our blog post about cat dental care, it’s important to keep your cat’s teeth and gums healthy and pain-free.

It’s also a fact that infections in your cat’s mouth can affect their other organs within the body, so it’s a good idea to pay attention to your cat’s oral hygiene.

Here is some helpful advice and top tips on how to clean your cat’s teeth. This’ll help you to develop and practice a good, regular oral hygiene brushing routine with your purrfect pal.

Seven top tips on how to clean cat’s teeth

1. 1. Take it slowly – there’s no need to rush, ultimately you’re aiming for a stress-free time for both of you.
   2. Start by making the touching of their mouth something familiar and that they look forward to – Settle down somewhere comfortable, then calling your cat in a tone that suggests “treat/food”, let your cat lick a treat off your finger. Try to gently rub one or two teeth or gums at the same time. Build this approach up slowly and after a few sessions, your cat should start to look forward to this and you can move up to the next stage.
   3. Arm yourself with bespoke products – There are specific toothbrushes for cats, featuring soft bristles and shaped to fit their mouths better. Some are designed as pop-on finger brushes, and there are also smaller versions for kittens too. To help the job be that much easier, specific cat toothpastes* are not only made out of all the correct ingredients, designed for cats, they are flavoured too, which will help entice and encourage your cat to allow you to touch their teeth. *Never use human toothpastes or mouth rinses on your cat as they contain unsuitable ingredients which are not designed to be swallowed and they are unable to spit out.
   4. Begin brushing the outside of the top set of teeth – always brush down away from the gums so that any food items are pushed out of the mouth.
   5. Repeat on the bottom jawline – brushing up away from the lower gum line.
   6. Gradually increase the number of teeth brushed – you may only be able to do a couple of front teeth at first. Once your cat relaxes and looks forward to the tasty cat toothpaste, you can add more teeth into your routine.
   7. No need to rinse – the pet toothpaste is designed to be eaten. Simply ensure your cat has access to fresh water afterwards.

Although it’s recommended you clean your cat’s teeth daily, even twice a week will cut down bacteria.

Getting your kitten started…

If you have a kitten, start cleaning their teeth as early as possible using kitten-sized brushes. MiPet Cover is pleased to offer new kittens four weeks’ free WalkawayCover cover* pet insurance.

*Kitten must be between eight weeks and one year old and is subject to a CVS health check (find a CVS practice). WalkawayCover covers illnesses and accidents instantly.