Why is it that people are hooked on the myth that dry food cleans cat's teeth?

Question

It doesn't make sense. Does eating a pretzel clean your teeth? Do you beleive it or not. Besides feeding your cat only dry will lead to dehyrdration and urinary tract infection.

Answer 1

People believe the myth because it's perpetuated by the manufacturers and advertisers. I used to believe it myself, until I came across an article on dental studies in cats, that showed no significant difference in the condition of their teeth whether they ate wet or dry food. Besides, dry food is loaded with carbohydrates and we all know how bad sugar is for your teeth.

When you stop to think logically, humans use chewing gum, not dry crackers to help keep their mouth fresh. For cats to derive any supposed abrasive action from dry food they would have to chew it, but they don't, they crunch it in order to be able to swallow it.

I've always given my cats wet food as their main diet, but now I give them tough pieces of meat to chew instead of dry biscuits. It's better for their teeth and they enjoy it much more.

Answer 2

Know what cleans a cat's teeth? His toothbrush! And the taste is apparently good or I don't think I would be allowed to brush.

I got the info that dry food causes UTI from my vet when I brought the kittens for shots. Ash content is the problem so you need to balance this with a good food.

EVO wet and some dry seems to be working well. Also,the occasional Tiki Cat wet because my girl is picky and I wanted a treat for her.

The pretzel thing is fantastic, it is the same thing. How is this logical. In answer to the question, I'll cite marketing techniques. Why do people think fast food salad is healthy? Same thing. The bag/advertisement says "CLEAN TEETH!" so people think it works.

Answer 3

Obviously, I am not one of those who believes it! LOL

I believe most people are simply parroting what they've heard. If they thought to research it or even stopped to think about it, they'd know better. Unfortunately, unless they run into problems or just happen to run across things like this, they never ever do have cause to question it.

I don't mean that to sound mean - I was once one of those people. I never questioned ANYTHING I was told - I completely winged it with my last cat. It's only because of Poppy's issues that I have a clue about anything these days.

For anyone who hasn't heard this - see the links below for supporting information.

EDIT: Just like humans, cats are unique. I have made it to 42 in relatively good health eating a horrible diet and smoking. My last cat was the same. Oh, she didn't smoke, but I fed her crappy food. Granted she did have health issues but she did live to 20.

So yes, you can take chances with your cat's health - feed the bad food, etc. and you might get lucky. But I say why take a chance? So the two I have now eat the best food and only get dry as a treat. For their teeth they get chicken necks to rip and shred through.

Besides, they only ate dry for their first two years. If it were so great for their teeth, they wouldn't both have a little tartar already.

Answer 4

Pretzels are CARBS.. they become sticky in your teeth.. a quality food is MEAT and many have actually formulated a good shape that does scrape the teeth...
cats have less saliva in their mouth than people as such people when eating wil mash up a pretzel to a gummy paste.. cats when eating still retain the scraping ability of the dry food..

in truth if a person offers plenty of FRESH water there is NO reason a cat on an all dry diet will become dehydrated...

and as far as Urinary tract infections go - this is caused by low quality food, milk (anything with high calcium - even fish), high magnesium in food (even canned) and genetics.

FEEDING a small amout of canned food mixed with water is an EXCELLENT way of getting a bit more water into a cat.. make a soup out of it...(feed seperate from the dry of course)

however cats on purely canned food diets do have problems associated with that too.. so its really a matter of feeding BOTH....

Answer 5

Dry food does help clean the plaque off teeth of any animal. Just like humans--there are times that they need to have their teeth cleaned.
If a cat only receives dry food doesn't mean they'll become dehydrated. You can give a cat both and the cat can still have bladder/kidney problems no matter what it's fed.
I believe it depends on the breed or mixed breeds of cat's that cause the bladder/kidney problem.

Answer 6

I don't know, but dry food does not maintain good teeth health plus its filled with all sorts of ingredients like corn that cats just don't need.

The pretzel thingy came from Ken, and I'm not sure the analogy is quite right....

Answer 7

My vet recommended dry food to combat tartar on my cat's teeth. You can't equate the cat food with a pretzel. Human teeth and cat's teeth are shaped differently. You would need to compare something that would appear as big to us as the cat food is to the cat. I have a big water bowl and need to fill it every day because the cats drink quite a bit. All dry foods are not created equal. Those with a lower ash content are less likely to cause crystals in the urine. (Vet advice again). Cats eating exclusively "wet" food can also get urinary tract problems. All my cats have eaten exclusively dry food. I compared kittens eating only canned food with kittens eating dry food and the latter had better muscular development. It's cheaper, easier to feed and there is less recycling. My cats are perfectly healthy according to the vet.

You can believe what you want, and I can believe what I want. Just don't shoot us down because we don't do things the same way you do. I believe your reasoning is flawed. HOWEVER, the argument of wet vs. dry will continue until the end of time. As long as the cats are healthy it doesn't really matter, does it? Chill.

Just like newspapers, you can't believe everything you read on the web.

Answer 8

i'm confused about this too! my cat was recently neutered, and they found that he had an infection in his gums already, he is only 1 1/2 years old.
the vet could not really give me an answer why, but my cat does eat chicken, fish and Temptations dry food.

Answer 9

funny my cat is now 18 years old and has been on dry only since 5 weeks old. never has had a urinary tract infection and has never needed dentistry.
My friend feeds hers mostly can and meat and hers is only 6 years ond and is continuously having urinary tract infections and has needed to go to the vets twice for serious teeth cleaning. This according to the vet is due to the fact it doesn't get the hard food.

Answer 10

I think you are mistaken, we don't Clean the teeth with dry food but dry food help to prevent tooth decaye less food particles will stick to teeth if it is dry, and dry food do help to rub off particulate matter due to the rough surface of the dry kibbles. it does not lead to dehydration, not giving you cat enough water through out the day leads to dehydration, you should always give water with the pet food, be it dry or wet. I have never heard of dry food contributing to urinary infection tell me your source so I can read up on this if it is true. its still a good idea to brush your dog or cats teeth. ask your vet or any vet. its like us eating for human comparison it would be like eating peanuts vs gummy bears! which do you think would cause tooth decaye faster if we never brushed our teeth.