How To Clean A Cats Teeth Without Losing A Finger (Tesco Dental Bites Cat Treats)

Member Name: FourPaws

Product:	Tesco Dental Bites Cat Treats
Date:	08/07/09 (243 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very cheap, they work fantastically at cleaning teeth, Meg loves them, small sized treats, big pack

Disadvantages: None whatsoever

*What are Tesco Dental Bites Cat Treats?*
These cat treats are part of the pet care range from the supermarket giant Tesco. The extensive range which includes dry food, canned products, biscuits and treats caters for most domestic kept pets such as dogs, cats, puppies, kittens, small animals and fish.

*The product itself*
I've owned dogs all my life, but cats on the other hand, well, they are still relatively new to me, so everyday owning them, brings me new little challenges that I have to figure out! Truth be told, I don't love cats like I do dogs, but my fiancé does however, so we've two of the furry little felines and I obviously have become very attached to them.

Firstly, let me introduce you to the pair of them. The eldest is Jet, if you look at my profile page there is a picture of him in my gallery, the tiny little black cat- Jet quite simply strolled into our cottage one day about five years ago and never left, I suppose you could say he adopted us rather than the other way round! He is a very independent little guy, he'll return home for meals, and I insist he stays in at night, but the rest of the time, he is out and about doing his own thing. Then there is Meg- a shy, timid little girl who I hand raised, and due to the fact she grew up more around my dogs than other felines, I think she believes that she, too, is infact a dog. She is happier playing rough and tumble games with my Rottie than she is doing the typical cat sunbathing activities!

Both cats couldn't be more different. Jet doesn't like human company, he'll have the very occasional cuddle but I would go as far as saying that he is actually part feral, whereas Meg is my shadow, she doesn't leave my side if she can help it. Jet loves to be outside, Meg prefers to stay in. Jet could sleep for ten hours flat, while Meg rarely kips for more than an hour at a time! Then, lastly, Jet will only really eat dry cat food- he treats the wet stuff as more of a chore to eat than a pleasure, while little Meg avoids the dry stuff like the plague and survives purely on wet food! Typical bloody cats, they just like to make me spend more money on different cat food choices!

Anyway, a worry I have with Meg, is about her teeth, the fact she won't eat dry food at all really does concern me. She is still very young at the moment, not even a year old, but as she grows older, I worry that she'll start to suffer dental problems due to the fact she doesn't eat anything hard and crunchy to scrape them clean.

So recently I took it upon myself to try and find something to help aid her dental care and that search proved to be harder than I ever imagined! All pet dental care items I came across seemed to be geared at dogs and I knew she wouldn't take kindly to having her teeth cleaned with a brush. I then remembered some cat dental toys that I had read a review about by Tracy_1127 on here, I brought Meg one but do she think she would play with it?! No!

Picking up some groceries in Tesco however, I finally struck gold when I came across these Dental Bites Cat Treats. These treats, which are part of Tesco's own range brand of pet items are small, biscuit style treats, designed for cats (duh!) to help assist in dental care- helping to scrape teeth clean of plaque, tartar and food debris whilst at the same time keeping breath fresh and gums firm and healthy.

The secret behind these treats which makes them so useful in aiding teeth cleaning, is the inclusion of pumice. The natural ingredient has been included in these treats to provide a safe, harmless and highly effective abrasive texture which acts like a toothbrush when the cat chews the treat. They are specially designed to go either side of a cats tooth when they bite them and as the cat crunches, the pumice within the biscuit gently scrapes against the teeth, reaching right down to the gum line, to help remove plaque and tartar, whilst at the same time polishing the teeth, freshening breath and of course, providing a lovely treat for kitty which is easy to digest and packed with various vitamins and minerals.

*Packaging*
The treats come packaged in a small black and white plastic pouch with a cut out section that enables you to clearly see the product within. On the packet you'll find all the usual information you'd expect such as ingredients, nutritional information and contact details for Tesco. The packet has a handy resealable strip running across the top of the packet, which enables them to be resealed and kept fresh after opening.

*Price & Availability*
Being an own brand product, these cat treats are obviously only available from Tesco- either in store or you can get them online with the rest of your grocery shopping.

They are exceptionally well priced, with a 50g packet costing just 76p.

*My opinion*
To be honest, I am rather sceptical about all these special dental care treats which claim to be able to do all these wonderful things for your pets whilst they simply enjoy a tasty treat. After all, who would have faith in a chocolate bar that cleans humans teeth, if such product was available?! Over the years I've become pretty clued up on what works and what doesn't in the world of canine dental care products, but feline ones? They are a whole different world to me!

I knew Meg needed something to assist with her teeth, and by that point, I didn't really care what it was or even how effective it was- as long as it was something, as surely something is better than nothing! So when I spotted these, I promptly chucked a packet of them into my basket.

At 76p, they were very well priced I thought, especially considering there appeared to be hundreds of treats within the packet and when you take into consideration a small pot of the Whiskas Dentabits costs £1.02, you are getting a very good deal with these Tesco Dental Bites Cat Treats, especially if they work! I hesitated a little before purchase as I had brought the Dental Bones they do for dogs for Grace and Benson and they made their gums bleed, but I went ahead, gave Tesco the benefit of the doubt, and purchased a packet for Meg.

Later that evening when back at home, I let Meg eat her dinner of wet food as normal and then let her sample one of her new treats. At first, she was very reluctant to eat it- I think she thought I was trying to get her to eat the dreaded dry cat food! After a little gentle persuasion however, she accepted a treat. Meg is a little cat, she isn't fully grown yet but even when she does reach her full adult size, I think she'll be like Jet and be a tiny little cat, but even so, the treats were a perfect size for her mouth. She spent a few minutes licking the treat and spitting it back out again before she ate it, but once she had, she appeared to enjoy it an awful lot and turned on the purr machine in hope of getting another one!

There was no feeding guide on the packet, which was a little annoying as you don't know for sure how many should be fed per day for maximum effect so I had to play it by ear and I decided I'd feed her 4 a day- 2 in the morning after her breakfast, and then two again after her evening meal, and she how we got on.

The treats themselves smelt quite strong and meaty but once Meg had eaten a couple, no traces were left on her breath and infact, it did smell quite pleasant and fresh, well as fresh as cat breath could possibly be! Judging by the crunching noises Meg made whilst consuming the treats, they certainly did sound very good for her teeth! She had to spend a good while chomping and chewing at them before she could swallow them, so as well as the obvious dental benefits, she was also enjoying the treat a lot more as it wasn't gulped down in seconds like some are!

To be able to give a fair review on the product I put Meg on a 4 week trial, to see what improvement, if any, these treats had on her teeth. At the start of the month, Meg's teeth weren't awful, she is still very young remember, but her back teeth did appear to have very early stages of tartar developing on them. At the end of the month, after being fed 4 treats a day, I rechecked her mouth and was delighted to see everything had been removed, they were lovely, sparkly white and her gums a lovely healthy pink colour. I was over the moon (god, I am so sad- getting excited over clean cat teeth) that a product that was so cheap had achieved such excellent results in such a short amount of time.

Overall, I'll certainly be making these a regular purchase! They are dirt cheap, the pack lasts absolutely ages, Meg adores them, they clean teeth with noticeable results and they are a fantastic way of getting a cat who hates regular dry cat food, to crunch and chew on something hard- which is great for the mouth and face muscles as well as good for the teeth and gums. I'll still be trying to tempt Meg to accept a little bit of dry food into her diet, but until then, and even afterwards, these Tesco Dental Bites Cat Treats will be part of her daily routine and hopefully keep her teeth clean and sparkly for years to come!

Summary: A true gem to be discovered lurking on the shelves of Tesco!