Brushing teeth?

[Troy]

Pam, yes, I can imagine the Sunday roast coming out of the oven only to be scrubbed with soap before being carved and served up Perhaps you could use a dishwasher?

Back to reality...as an human I am very careful about handling chicken and egg dishes. A study in New Zealand recently showed that a considerable proportion of "24 hour bugs" were in fact caused directly by bad cooking or reheating of chicken.

[4 feline house]

Troy-

To be honest, I really don't know if all the warnings are about cooked or raw birds, I don't recall any distinction ever being made. But I have often wondered how cats managed for so long on their own if bird bones were indeed so dangerous! But, yes, sadly I have heard of a cat dying from a chicken bone. And it was a cooked chicken.

Also, you are right about cats being able to handle many bacteria that we humans can't. Acutally, most food poisoning is not even caused by a bacterial infection, per se, it is caused by toxins produced by the bacteria. If the host organism isn't sensitive to the toxin, no harm is done.

[Martin]

Troy, you ask the most personal questions! That one was quite ... unbelievable!

[Pat]

Let's get back to the brushing of cat's teeth for a moment. No, I have never tried to brush either Simon nor Kelly's teeth and I don't think I will. Simon might be very brave at the vet and will not complain but Kelly ... well, this is a different story. What I was told to do is give them chicken-necks to chew on. It's not bones but gristle and will not harm them. I for some reason don't like to give them chicken bones with all the stories I heard about it. If I am not sure, I will not feed. And yes, Kirsten, I also give them Whiskas Dentabits. I still have to make sure Kelly will chew it and not just swallow.

[Kirsten]

Well, I don't know if only cooked chicken bones splinter, but what I know for sure is that it's always dangerous to feed raw meat.
Raw pork meat for example is dangerous for cats because of the Aujeszky-virus, which is letal for cats, raw chicken could cause salmonellosis and from ham they could be infected with the Parvo virus.

Pam, your Kelly tries to swallow the DentaBits? OMG, they're so big!

Kirsten

[pam_pesto]

My fiancee says that we don't need to brush Pest's teeth because she eats hard food. But she does enjoy a nibble on cream cheese or various sauces too. I can't imagine trying to brush her teeth; she is so bratty. Do you think that we don't really have to worry about it?

[Kirsten]

I don't know, so far I thought it would only be natural not to brush an animals' teeth, especially when they eat hard food.
Now I've read several times during the past weeks that it's more and more recommended by the vets and that cats that eat can food would easily get tartar and lose their teeth. My Katz (R.I.P.) lost her teeth very young, she was only 7 when it started. So I thought I'd try to get Luna (10 months) used to it and she seems to like it, so why not?

Kirsten

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http://www.KirstenScheffel.de

[Troy]

Originally posted by Martin:
Troy, you ask the most personal questions! That one was quite ... unbelievable!

...Martin, you lost me there - what did I ask?

[Troy]

Kirsten,

I'm sorry to sound so dogmatic about the issue but personally I do believe it is OKAY to feed a cat its natural diet - raw meat. A cat is more likely to become ill/sick from processed foods, and in fact studies have proven that cooked meat will deteriorate the condition of felines whereas raw meat improves the condition.

I will say that there is a small risk in some countries of pork containing the psuedorabies virus (Aujeszky) but only in countries that have infected swine, and even then the risk is very low. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Norway, Finland and Luxembourg are free of the disease.

Lamb and beef are fine (excluding CJD) which, again, is not present in many countries and VERY low risk.

The salmonella carried in fowl meat is not the same salmonella that felines carry. As far as I know there is no concern for cats contracting salmonella. Some animals are naturally immune to salmonella - like fowl.

Only cooked fowl bones splinter in a manner dangerous to felines.

Parvo virus in felines, also known as feline distemper virus, is nearly always passed on through feline contact with other infected felines. I have not heard of it being passed on throught raw/cooked meat.

I guess we should also remember that some viral/bacterial problems exist in some countries and not others so one fixed rule is not possible. We should also remember that cats are not people (or dogs) and that their digestive systems are very efficient at ejecting toxic foods.

It just seems to me a bit strange that many of us (I'm guilty of this too) are quite happy to fill our felines with processed, canned, tinned foods (of which few are "natural") yet we fear giving them fresh raw meat which is what they are designed to eat. Considering felines thrive on disease ridden creatures like rodents and birds perhaps we are guilty of being slightly paranoid?

This is all said in a debating manner without grimmaces or frowns

[Pat]

Kirsten, Kelly is a very greedy little creature and when she smells food it has to be eaten fast. I have tried to convince her that nobody would take it from her (not even Simon) but I have failed. Kelly just swallows if she is hungry (and she is always hungry)
Troy, you are so right with what you say. Why should we worry about the fresh food. Simon would catch birds and mice outside and there is no way I could take it from him. Now, that is very fresh food. I sometimes wonder how much beef or chicken the canned food really contains. Is it as much as it says on the can

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Have a purr-fect day
Simon & Kelly

[4 feline house]

Troy-

You are correct about keeping in mind that various countries and continents have varying diseases. Also, here in the US (I don't know how much of a problem this is elsewhere), even our "fresh" foods go through an awful lot of processing and handling before they get to our kitchen, increasing the likelihood of contamination and imporoper handling and storing. I frequently give my cats raw meat, as well as cooked, as treats. I do the packaged foods mainly for convenience and thrift. I couldn't say for certain that if I had the time and the finances, I wouldn't feed a raw meat diet, supplemented with grass. But then I do live dangerously when it comes to raw meat - I love raw beef. Give me steak tartare any day!

[Troy]

4 feline house,

Yes I am a great fan of steak tartare, sashimi, and other raw meat/fish dishes too. We do seem to be lucky in this part of the world because much of our meat and fish is very fresh and cheap. It costs me as much to buy tinned food as it does fresh meat.