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Thank you, these are great tips. Sorry for your loss, sounds like you gave her a long and happy life. Luckily I already do all of these! (Except for dry food;

Thank you, these are great tips. Sorry for your loss, sounds like you gave her a long and happy life. Luckily I already do all of these! (Except for dry food; we do wet and raw only here)

ornornor 3y ago
Thanks. It’s hard for people who haven’t gone through it to understand the pain it can cause. But even then, euthanasia is an act of compassion no matter how difficult it is rather than letting the animal suffer and slowly die. For dry food, vets told us some cats like it better but it also helps with oral health as it removes some of the plaque by friction and keeps the gums healthier by stimulating ligaments holding the teeth from the crunching.
- drakonka 3y ago
  I have not yet had to go through it myself, but came very close when one of my cats nearly died as a kitten. The experience affected me permanently and I get a little more anxious with every year that they get older. From what I understand the plaque thing with dry food is a bit of a myth. After all, we don't brush our teeth by eating crackers. So I brush their teeth with a toothbrush and enzymatic toothpaste instead! For stimulating ligaments, that's really interesting. I feed largely a (balanced) homemade raw diet alongside commercial wet and suspect/hope having them chew through solid chunks of raw muscle meat would achieve a similar effect.
  - ornornor 3y ago
    It doesn’t replace brushing but as our cat was eating wet food with a sort of pâté consistency, it would accumulate in her teeth. Alternating this with dry food helped remove most of this still wet food from her teeth so that it doesn’t turn into stone as fast. It’ll never be as effective as brushing though but our cat didn’t allow it unfortunately. If the wet food is chewy then I guess it’d be very similar to dry food. Our cat’s food consistency was softer so she’s need the hard kibbles to crunch on. Losing a pet is never easy I think. Even if it isn’t human, it becomes a member of the family with its own character, habits, and behaviour. It does create a void when they go but it’s unfortunately inevitable. It’s difficult to know when is the right time, but I believe it’s worse to leave a pet suffer because its owner doesn’t have the empathy to call it.

Thank you, these are great tips. Sorry for your loss, sounds like you gave her a long and happy life. Luckily I already do all of these! (Except for dry food; we do wet and raw only here)

ornornor 3y ago

Thanks. It’s hard for people who haven’t gone through it to understand the pain it can cause. But even then, euthanasia is an act of compassion no matter how difficult it is rather than letting the animal suffer and slowly die. For dry food, vets told us some cats like it better but it also helps with oral health as it removes some of the plaque by friction and keeps the gums healthier by stimulating ligaments holding the teeth from the crunching.

drakonka 3y ago
I have not yet had to go through it myself, but came very close when one of my cats nearly died as a kitten. The experience affected me permanently and I get a little more anxious with every year that they get older. From what I understand the plaque thing with dry food is a bit of a myth. After all, we don't brush our teeth by eating crackers. So I brush their teeth with a toothbrush and enzymatic toothpaste instead! For stimulating ligaments, that's really interesting. I feed largely a (balanced) homemade raw diet alongside commercial wet and suspect/hope having them chew through solid chunks of raw muscle meat would achieve a similar effect.
- ornornor 3y ago
  It doesn’t replace brushing but as our cat was eating wet food with a sort of pâté consistency, it would accumulate in her teeth. Alternating this with dry food helped remove most of this still wet food from her teeth so that it doesn’t turn into stone as fast. It’ll never be as effective as brushing though but our cat didn’t allow it unfortunately. If the wet food is chewy then I guess it’d be very similar to dry food. Our cat’s food consistency was softer so she’s need the hard kibbles to crunch on. Losing a pet is never easy I think. Even if it isn’t human, it becomes a member of the family with its own character, habits, and behaviour. It does create a void when they go but it’s unfortunately inevitable. It’s difficult to know when is the right time, but I believe it’s worse to leave a pet suffer because its owner doesn’t have the empathy to call it.