Ever thought of brushing your cat's teeth? Here's how!

A healthy mouth is critical to a healthy cat. The very best way to keep your cat’s mouth healthy is by daily tooth brushing. What????  Yep.  That’s right.  You can brush your cat’s teeth!!!

I don’t recommend diving right in and expecting a vigorous and thorough scrub on day one.  That is likely to end very badly.  It is important to gauge your expectations and go very slowly.  Let’s break this process down into reasonable, attainable goals.  In addition, you’ll need some tools to accomplish your task – cotton swab, cat toothbrush and cat safe toothpaste (human toothpaste may have ingredients that are not safe for cats.)

Goal #1 – Gradually introduce the concept of tooth brushing to your cat.  To do this, take a cotton swab and gently stroke your cat’s lips.  If your cat accepts this maneuver, gradually lift up your cat’s lips and gently massage your cat’s gums.  Reward your cat with an acceptable treat.

Goal #2 – Now that your cat is accepting of the cotton swab, add a little cat toothpaste to the tip of the cotton swab and let your cat get used to the taste.

Goal #3 – Use the same technique as goal #1, but use the cat toothbrush this time.

As always with cats, it’s a good idea to move through the steps slowly.  It is best to repeat each step for a few days before moving on to the next one.

You got this!