Bengal Diet and how it effects their teeth

Cats are obligate carnivores. They are intended to eat a diet of birds, Lizards and small mammals and the structure of their teeth and jaws tells the tale.

All of the teeth, not just the incisors and canines, or cat-nines as they are called, are pointy. The molars, which are flat for grinding food in herbivores and omnivores, are even sharp and pointy in cats. Also, the jaw has no ability for side to side grinding motions.

In nature, when a cat, whether domestic or Bengal eats prey, the function of the teeth and jaws is to tear the prey into bite sized pieces that are then swallowed. In this process, the muscle tissue, connective tissue, fur and feathers slides between the teeth, essentially cleaning and flossing the teeth as the cat consumes the meal which is, very low in carbohydrates.

Dry cat food does not keep a cat’s teeth clean. Many times, when a Veterinarian opens the mouth of a cat during routine examination they find a mouth full of gingivitis, tartar, lesions and exposed sensitive areas of the teeth. (See "Feeding your Bengal a Raw Diet)

Dental disease can also affect a cat’s overall health:
Infections and inflammation resulting from dental infections can cause inflammation in the blood vessels. These blood vessels fan out into fine little networks in internal organs such as the kidneys. The inflammation in these blood vessels can contribute to kidney disease as your cat ages. Syndromes such as Type 2 Diabetes can also be impossible to resolve until the diseased teeth are removed from the mouth. Many times cat owners say after diseased teeth have been extracted from their cat that they didn’t realize how much trouble the diseased teeth were causing until after they were removed, and they got their “old” cat back who was once again playful, responsive, and doing old habits and routines. Sometimes seemingly unrelated skin infections resolved as well. Diseased teeth place a burden on the cats the immune system.

Many times the cat owner says , I feed dry / kibble diet!. How could this be? Dry Kibble does not clean a cat’s teeth, and it is high in carbohydrates as well. Canned diets do not clean the cat’s teeth either, nor does mush raw diet, but at least these it is low in carbohydrates. There are ways to help your cat’s teeth.  (See "Feeding your Bengal a Raw Diet)  If your cat will tear at a piece of meat on a regular basis this can help. 
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The gold standard is for you to brush your cat’s teeth. But please reserve judgement until after you look at the dental video produced by Cornell University. It outlines steps to help your cat find tooth brushing acceptable or even a good thing. Regular tooth brushing can greatly impact your cat’s oral health and overall health. Regular brushing can also increase the time between necessary scaling and polishing and prevent the need for surgical tooth extractions.

Dental scaling and polishing is still important to your cats overall health. Scaling and polishing removes the plaque buildup on the tooth surface and with high quality dental instruments, below the gum line. Eighty Percent of dental disease begins below the gumline. You can't see this though there may be a clue in the form of gingivitis or a red line along the gumline. 

Proper diet can lengthen the interval between necessary scaling and polishing. And the closer the diet replicates the diet found in nature, the less dental care your Bengal will need.  Many breeders and pet owners report healthier, happier cats as a result of proper Raw feeding.  Cats are not built for a dry kibble diet.

For more Bengal information and resources visit us at this link.

"If it's not a Bengal, It's just a cat"

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