# Teeth/No hard food diet?



## PrettyKitty (Nov 2, 2015)

So Lucius is 11 months old. I got him in November. Towards the end of December, one of his top canines broke off. About two weeks ago I noticed his other top canine was slightly broken as well, just not as bad at the other one. The bad one is almost up to his gums, the recent one was just the point. I stopped feeding him the hard cat food and have been sticking to wet food, baby food, and the occasional mealworm or two. He's been eating a lot more since then, his plate is cleared off within a day and a half, whereas before, he'd have the wet food gone within half a day and then he'd barely eat his dry food.

His beef cat food is in small chunks, so it's not like all he's eating is baby food consistency. But is this okay? I'm not sure if having him on an all wet-food diet will have any negative consequences... So far I'm not seeing any but it couldn't hurt to just be sure.


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

If he's not eating much it might indicate an infection (= pain). With only one or two teeth missing they shouldn't have a hard time eating. I'd make a vet appointment for him, they are very good at hiding their illnesses and pain but it's easy for a broken tooth to get infected.
Does he show any other signs of possibly being in pain (losing weight, chewing/biting things, scratching his face, etc)?

Are you by any chance using a water bottle instead of a dish?


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

A wet food diet is fine, but double check the amount of fat - you need to calculate dry matter basis percentages to accurately compare the values to kibble. Wet food is usually higher in both protein and fat.

Do you know how his teeth broke? Have they been looked at by a vet to make sure there isn't a risk of infection?


----------



## PrettyKitty (Nov 2, 2015)

He does use a water bottle. No dish for his water. He also eats his normal food off a plate. He hasn't lost weight or anything like that. And I'll be sure to check out the fat content. He mainly eats Gerber baby food ( beef, apples, carrots, and mixed berries with banana ( he loves fruit, hence why I feed him the fruit stuff)) and fancy feast beef chunks in gravy. If any of those were too have a high fat content it'd be the chunks. But thanks, to both of you.

In terms of infection, I make him let me look at his teeth like every other day and I can tell there's no infection, at least for the moment.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

To be honest, you can't necessarily tell - it's very possible there could be infection starting in the root of the teeth. Once you can see obvious signs, such as an abscess starting in the gums, it'd be pretty well advanced. It would be a really good idea to take him to the vet & have them look at the teeth. They may want to pull what's left so it can heal up cleanly & not provide an opening for infection, and to make sure it's not causing him pain. If the root's exposed, that could still cause him pain, even when eating soft food.

I'd also highly suggest switching him to a water bowl. I would bet anything he broke the teeth on his water bottle - it's one of the main risks of using them.


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

I agree with Lilysmommy and only an x-ray could really tell if there's an infection or not. I currently have a hedgehog with teeth issues and his teeth and gums looked perfectly fine. Turned out he had infected roots which showed up on x-ray. I'd get him to the vet to have him checked out just to be sure, and switch his bottle for a bowl.


----------

