It's ONLY Natural ... you want the safest dental cleaning for your pets

(dental article continued after price chart, along with product web sites. KEEP READING! The best tip of all waits for you below!)

Here’s my favorite dental cleaning secret for cats — raw meat once a week. Yes, raw. Right in the bowl in place of your pet’s usual meal.

When my NON-HOLISTIC cat vet in Pinehurst first recommended this in 1994, I thought he was NUTS. I was still years away from really investigating this healthy pet stuff, so my mind conjured up choking, botulism, and other perils. I didn’t try it until 1999.

So after approximately 3,600 raw meat feedings (four cats, 17 years, once a week), we've not had one choking incident. No illness. Everyone safe and sound each and every time.

And best of all, it works! The vet’s reasoning – feral cats have much healthier teeth because they eat that very spongy, tough meat and the bones of their prey act as toothpicks. When you see your own pets gnaw on their “catch”, you’ll see immediately it scrubbing those pesky back teeth.

The size of the cut will depend on your pet — my cats each get pre-cut stew meat, sliced further into pieces about 1”x1”x2”. The piece must be too big for your pet to swallow whole, so he/she has to really chomp away. If it’s bigger than their mouths, they have to slow down and really work on it. But a piece too big might be intimidating. Play around with the size if they reject a too-big piece at first.

Just a couple cautions:

If you have multiple pets, separate them. Raw meat brings out a few more of their animalistic tendencies.

Second, their survival instincts are strong, so they won’t likely choke, but watch them anyway.

Keep trying if they refuse. It took my Jigsaw cat a while to “get” it.

Beyond Meat

Now, this market has exploded since Best Bites was born in 1999 and I have opted to carry a few fantastic Oral Care products:

Solid Gold Seameal, easily added to food and offers other benefits (http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/products/index.php?product=36&code=591)

PetzLife Gel and Spray, fantastic product applied directly to the teeth (http://www.petzlife.com/)

Get Naked Oral Health Liquid Supplement, very easy to add to food (http://www.n-bone.com/product_detail.asp?product_id=21)

Wysong's Dentatreat, great dietary supplement with very unique way to attack the dental problem (http://www.wysong.net/products/dentatreat-dog-cat-supplement.php#back)

Other notes...

Beware of so-called bones in the grocery store posing as dental cleaners!! if you pay close attention to the quality of the bone, you'll see they're just as crappy as most foods on the shelves. Many are preserved with noxious chemicals, such as formaldehyde.

As far as those “dental diets” — what a JOKE! They are allegedly effective not because of special ingredients, but because their massive size forces your pet to gnaw the pieces apart. You'll be doing far more with raw meat, one of our big crunchy chews or treats or both!  And you all know how I feel about the preservatives and second-rate ingredients in those particular brands (which I can't name here but you know them!!)

Weekly toothbrushing will naturally be fantastic but I know people get fidgety about it. Remember, most anxiety can be overcome through regular positive experiences. If you have the guts to brush, use special pet toothpaste, and ALWAYS ALWAYS read the ingredient label!

(Article originally published in 2000, RIP my angel Opus the toothbrush eater, who left this world too early on 8/27/04!)

PRODUCT LINKS

ArkNaturals www.arknaturals.com

N-Bone www.n-bone.com

PetzLife www.petzlife.com

 Solid Gold www.solidgoldhealth.com

Wysong www.wysong.net

Aunt Jeni's www.auntjeni.com

Bingo http://bingopettreats.com/Catalog.pdf

Halo Purely for Pets www.halopets.com

Jones www.jonesnaturalchews.com

Merrick www.merrickpetcare.com

Ziwipeak www.ziwipeak.com

Zuke's www.zukes.com