Question:
Is there anything I can do for my 9-year-old cat's very bad breath? I took her to the vet, and he found no abscesses, no tooth decay, no gum disease and very little tartar. Her mouth was very healthy. However, her breath is awful. I can smell it even when she's grooming herself. She eats many flavors of moist food and always her dry food and water. Help!.
B.H., Silver Spring, Md Jun 11, 2006
Answer:
Years ago, one could buy chlorophyll tablets for bad breath. This worked well on cats and was even given to make female dogs less attractive to male dogs when they were in heat.While your cat may have healthy teeth and gums, microscopic particles of food that remain in her mouth after eating could contribute to halitosis. Giving her a raw chicken wing to chew on twice a week should help take care of this problem. Also, add a daily tablespoonful of chopped wheat grass or alfalfa sprouts to her food -- an excellent source of chlorophyll. You may well find that shifting her gradually to a home-prepared, balanced diet of whole-food ingredients (with no fine-particle processed ingredients) like the basic recipe on my Web site (www.doctormwfox.org) could give your cat sweeter breath.Bad breath can also mean chronic indigestion and be an early sign of kidney or liver disease. So keep a close eye on your cat's health, and have her checked out by your veterinarian every six months.
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