Dry Cat Food with big kibbles

Shanao

I've got a one year old cat who has bad gums. I've been feeding him dry food every since I got him at eight weeks old and he drinks plenty of water a day (has a habit of jumping into the sink to drink from the tap). I'm looking for a dry food that has larger than normal kibbles because I think he's gulping down his food rather than chewing it. I was thinking the Royal Canin Maine Coon food because they seem to be biggish kibbles, has anyone got any other suggestions? I checked the Hills oral care food as well but the kibbles are still too small. Anyone know of one?

Zapperzy

I have heard of people using the maine coon food before, if the oral food is still too small then that might be your best option. Has a vet seen him, what have they recommended? Is it bad gums or teeth he has?
I would be careful of feeding him just dry food, ensure he is drinking enough water, not enough moisture in their diet can cause painful struvite crystals to form. No harm in giving him a little wet food each day.

Shanao

I've been keeping an eye on his water intake alright; there's two of them and a kitten and they drink a two litre bottle between them in a day, plus he jumps into the sink at every available opportunity to get some more so I'm not too worried about that. I wont feed him wet food because he doesn't even like it anyway; he gets dried food and raw liver and wolfs that down. He gets tuna or sardines once a week as well. First cat I've ever met who doesn't like the wet stuff, but he's always been a bit of an oddball anyway.

He was at a vet who just commented on his gums, then asked what I was feeding, I said dried food (currently on a mix of JW and RC indoor) and then she didn't say anymore on it, just told me to keep an eye on it :rolleyes: She seemed kind of confused to be honest with you, that his gums were bad but he was eating dry food. Real helpful huh?

The Sweeper

Shanao, I have found in my rescue moggies that gingivitis in a young cat can be a sign of an immune system that's been struggling a little - especially when the gingivitis can't be blamed on a build-up of tartar on the teeth.

How much liver are you feeding him? Too much liver can cause excessive amounts of vitamin A in the cat, so that could be a part of the problem. Given you're feeding your cat a dry food, which is nutritionally balanced, the extra liver you're feeding could be tipping him into the realms of too much vitamin A.

An alternative would be to feed him one meal of raw food per day, and one meal of kibble - with the raw you could try chunks or strips of raw beef, lamb or chicken - if you feed chicken try a chicken neck (has calcium from the bone, and cleans teeth beautifully) and maybe two to three thumb-sized pieces of liver per week.

The raw feeding model for cats is 80-10-10, meaning 80% muscle meat including heart, 10% bone, and 10% organ meat, with liver making up no more than half of that 10% - so in otherwords, if you fed an all-raw diet, no more than 5% of it by volume in any week should be liver, so try visualising that and see if you're overfeeding the liver somewhat, especially if you're just supplementing his already-balanced diet with it.

The other thing to look at is other symptoms - one of my own cats (I have six full-timers) suffered with gingivitis for his first couple of years and it's fading as a problem now as he approaches four years old. He suffered a bit with communal colony-cat illnesses such as chlamydia and herpes when he was younger - these don't manifest as STDs as in humans. Chlamydia and Herpes in cats can show up through upper respiratory tract infections, sneezes and wheezes in other words, plus sore eyes - a common indication would be a cat that's really off-colour, with a snotty nose and a half-closed, heavily weeping eye where the nictatating membrane is irritated and swollen. These are very treatable with an antibiotic paste from the vet, and can be warded off through some dietary supplementation with L-lysine amino acid, but they seem to 'wobble' the cat's entire immune system somewhat, and I believe that's what gives the gingivitis a bit of a foothold. It just seems to be an inflammation, with a side order of bad breath, that won't go down of its own accord, but isn't causing major problems and isn't an indication of tartar-related gum disease.

No idea if any of that will help. Dry kibble doesn't clean the teeth by the way, that's dry food marketing bollox. Anyone who's ever owned a cat and watched them eat knows they hoover down half their kibble in whole pieces and crunch a couple of the others. It does help keep the teeth clean by simply not causing a build-up on them in the first place, but I would heavily contest any petfood company claims that their kibble actually cleans teeth - possibly more believeable in the big pieces designed to be chewed, but you'll see their shape is more about making them awkward to swallow whole than it is about creating a tooth-brushing action.

If you want to keep your cat's teeth clean, try raw chicken necks and raw meat strips and chunks.

Shanao

Should have explained that a bit better. He gets liver twice a week at the most, and no dry food the days I feed him raw. He's in perfect health otherwise, I had him bloodtested about four months back and it came back negative for everything, he is neutured and an inside cat and he doesn't have bad breath. I'm actually a little embarrassed that I cant really determine what's causing it; my years of vet nursing have failed me

Tbh, i think the dried food has helped with my other cat's teeth. Abandoned kitten, dumped in the garden, the usual story, but whatever he had been fed on before, by the gods it must have been horrible. His teeth were manky and his breath stank. Onto the dried food though, and strangely enough for a cat, he does crunch the kibbles. His teeth and gums are perfectly healthy. The big fella (that's what we call the older guy) is on the exact same diet but I think he really must be part hoover the way he sucked up the food.

lorebringer

Doesn't Royal Canin do an oral health food that's bigger and harder than the standard RC kibble? (could be imagining things but I'm sure I saw it the last time I was in the vets!)