Helping Your Cat Through Teething
Welcoming and caring for your new kitten is a process of constant learning and adaptation to fulfil their needs. Providing the right care for your kitten is important and there are stages of life that need some preparation in advance. These little fur babies will inevitably have to undergo their vaccinations and may suffer from an upset tummy now and then. You might feel a little alarmed if your kitten stops eating and starts to shy away from food altogether. Growing juvenile cats need plenty of nutrition to develop into healthy and active adolescent cats. Teething is a process in which the deciduous teeth (milk teeth) are replaced by eventual permanent teeth. This is a common cause for cats to lose appetite and to show irregular behaviour during the early months of growing. Let’s take a closer look at recognising teething in your cat and how you can deal with it.
The Big Biting Problem
Recognising teething in your kitten can be relatively obvious if they start to show behavioural changes at home. Kitten habits such as biting at furniture are sometimes mistakenly attributed to bad behaviour. This isn’t usually the case, as new teeth begin to emerge from your kitty’s gums, inflammation is to be expected. They will seek to gain some relief by chewing on soft yet firm material, unfortunately this will often be some of your furniture or anything they can get their paws on. If your kitten has started to chew on other things around the house, it’s highly likely they are teething and this behaviour will pass with time. Dealing with this in the meanwhile can be challenging but with the right approach, things will be just fine. Consider grabbing a soft toy for your kitten to divert its attention towards and inevitable gnawing during its non-stop chewing phase.
Sore Gums Makes Eating Difficult
Skipping out on meals is a cause for concern and immediate attention is required to figure out what’s going on with your little feline friend. Teething makes the mouth sensitive and checking their gums for signs of inflammation if important. Gently apply some movement around the side of their mouth to gain visual inspection of the gums. Your cat may be finding it uncomfortable to chew their food, especially dry food. Serving wet food that is slightly cool can help to sooth gums and allow them to receive nutrition in this transition phase. We sometimes moisten dry kibble to make it a little easier to chew down on for our precious cats.
Help Your Kitten Eat
In some circumstances however, your cat may refuse to eat at all, no matter the choice of food given. A trip to your vet is needed to investigate any other underlying conditions that may be present. If all is well, your cat will need help in taking their meals. There are a number of homemade cat food recipes (we will be covering some soon), our favourite is a blended boiled chicken soup. Make sure not to add any salt to your cat’s meals and adding some vitamin pastes now and then isn’t a bad idea. Liquidising these meals and syringe feeding is a solution to try after exhausting other options. It’s best to get someone to help you hold your kitten as you feed. Moderate amounts should be given slowly to your kitten by gently inserting the syringe at the side of its mouth. We always make sure to give plenty of time for our cute fur babies to swallow their food. After a few days of assisted feeding, try give your cat some regular food, they should eventually be ready to starting eating normally again. If your cat continues to refuse their usual food servings, it’s time for another visit to the vet.
Oral Hygiene is Important
As your cat goes through teething, it’s important to be supportive and to encourage them. It’s a tough time growing up as an energetic kitten with sore gums. As your cats permanent teeth start to settle in, keeping this healthy and clean is important. Follow a balanced diet and regularly clean their teeth to prevent gingivitis. Consider giving your cat a Silvervine Catnip Ball to help assist with oral care as they chew on the natural plant sticks. Brushing your cat’s teeth with a cat toothbrush and cat toothpaste is also an essential process to go through on a regular schedule. We hope you and your kitten get through cat teething safely, don’t forget to brush their fur too. Meow! 😻
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Steem 
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