You want the best for your beloved pet, so picking the best dental treats for cats can be a tough decision.
Dental health is vital for anyone who has teeth, including our furry friends.
Dental treats are an excellent way to reduce the levels of plaque and tartar on your cat’s teeth, especially if you can’t get your furry friend to tolerate a cat-sized toothbrush.
Keep reading for our review of our favorite dental treats for your kitty.
Saving Your Cat
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In more extreme cases, your cat may need to have their teeth professionally cleaned (usually requiring an anesthetic), or even have a tooth or two removed.
Being proactive and regularly cleaning your cat’s teeth, such as through brushing or special treats, can help your best buddy keep their mouth healthy.
Saving Yourself
“Brushing my cat’s teeth” is perhaps a sentence you haven’t imagined uttering, lest your cat understands English.
Veterinarians recommend dental hygiene starts early in life (kittenhood), but sometimes that’s just not in the cards. Perhaps you adopted your cat as an adult, or maybe Mittens ‘missed’ her litter box after you tried to use kitty toothpaste in her mouth that one time. We haven’t even discussed cat claws yet!
Using treats to clean your cat’s teeth may not only be easier for your cat to handle, but they may also help you avoid getting bitten or scratched.
Tasty Flavours
Dental treats for cats are available in a variety of flavors sure to tempt even the finickiest of felines. With flavors ranging from fish to chicken or beef, you’re sure to find something that will clean not only your cat’s teeth but also be something they’ll enjoy eating every day.
A Note on Cat Dental Health
Dental health is essential, but we’re not medical professionals. If you’re concerned about your cat’s teeth and want more information on the subject, we suggest you speak to your veterinarian. They can give you medical advice and recommend foods, treats, and other dental products specifically for your cat.
Best Dental Treats for Cats Reviews
C.E.T. Enzymatic Oral Hygiene Chews for Cats by Virbac
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These cat treats are the real deal, being made with either freeze-dried fish or chicken. They are a bit on the larger side, which means your cat won’t be swallowing them whole without chewing.
Keep in mind that your cat must also eat the ‘paper’ on the outside of each treat. This paper has enzymes in it meant to work away at your cat’s plaque and tartar. Cats are often picky eaters, so you may have to slowly get them used to eating the treats with the paper. You may have to ease them into eating the treats if they don’t like the enzyme paper, such as cutting the treats into smaller pieces and gradually working up to a full-sized one.
To be safe, you might want to buy the smaller pack of these treats to ensure your cat likes them – enzyme paper and all.
Pros
- Made with real freeze-dried fish or chicken. The other ingredients are used to preserve the treat and make the enzyme paper.
- Large size means your cat must crunch down on them. Swallowing dental treats whole doesn’t do much for cleaning!
- Available in a pack of 30 or 96 treats. We suggest buying the 30-pack first to see if your cat likes them or not.
Cons
- These treats are expensive in comparison to the others we reviewed.
- The enzyme paper on the outside of these treats is essential to the cleaning of your cat’s teeth. Unfortunately, your cat might hate the paper.
Feline Dental Cat Treats by Greenies
Greenies don’t just make teeth-cleaning goodies for dogs – these cat treats are catnip flavored and will delight your cat. Greenies make their cat treats in other flavors too.
These crunchy treats have a distinct and unique shape to get in the nooks and crannies of your kitty’s teeth and reduce their plaque and tartar.
The treats are also fortified with a variety of vitamins and minerals, making them great for not only cleaning the mouth but also supplementing your cat’s nutritional needs.
Pros
- Approved by the Veterinary Oral Health Council.
- Treats are shaped for optimal plaque and tartar removal and are fortified with essential vitamins and minerals.
- Less than 2 calories per treat.
Cons
- These treats are full of grains, including wheat, corn gluten meal, oat fiber, and ground flaxseed, which means these treats won’t be suitable for cats with various allergies.
Brushing Bites by Meow Mix
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Just like other dental treats, Meow Mix’s Brushing Bites will help reduce the levels of plaque and tartar in your cat’s mouth if used daily.
Additionally, they are fortified with vitamin D and calcium to promote not only better dental health but also stronger bones.
These treats are available in a variety of flavors your cats will enjoy, but the ones we’re reviewing here, in particular, are salmon flavored.
Pros
- Available in a variety of flavors to suit your cat’s taste.
- Fortified with vitamin D and calcium.
- Available in multi-packs.
Cons
- The very first ingredient in these treats is corn, the second is chicken by-product meal, and the third is corn gluten meal. These treats might be made with real salmon, but there’s definitely not much of it!
- Yellow 5, blue 10, and red 40 are used to color these treats. Cats don’t really care about what color their food is. Dyes only to cater to cat owners, not cats.
Our Choice
Out of the dental treats we reviewed, we prefer Virbac’s C.E.T. Enzymatic Oral Hygiene Chews over the others. We like these treats because they’re natural and made with real freeze-dried chicken or fish. The handful of other ingredients in it are for the enzyme paper, making these treats shelf-stable.
There are no grains like wheat, corn, and rice Virbac’s treats either, unlike both Greenies and Meow Mix’s. A few grains like rice or oats to bind the ingredients together as they do in Greenies is understandable, but being excessively made of corn and meat by-products like Meow Mix’s treats is not.
And, Virbac’s treats are marketed to your cat’s taste and health, unlike Meow Mix, who uses dyes to attract human eyes.
Unfortunately, the enzyme paper on Virbac’s treats might take your cat some time to get used to. You may have to ease them into eating the treats by cutting the treats up in bites and gradually working up to a full-sized treat. Even with all that effort, your cat mightn’t like them no matter what you do, so it would be wise to buy the smaller bag of such treats just in case your cat refuses to touch them.
Though it may take some time for your cat to get used to the enzyme paper, we believe Virbac’s C.E.T. Enzymatic Oral Hygiene Chews are a more natural, tasty, and allergen-friendly way to aid in keeping your cat’s teeth clean.