Periodontal Disease in Cats and Dogs

It’s the most common disease your vet sees, and one of the most ignored: by the age of three, the large majority of dogs and cats already show some degree of periodontal (gum) disease. It’s largely silent, often painful, and it doesn’t stay in the mouth — which is exactly why it deserves more attention than the once-a-year “their breath is a bit off” shrug it usually gets.

The encouraging part: of all the conditions on this hub, dental disease is among the most influenced by how your pet eats. This is a supportive feeding guide — not a substitute for a veterinary dental exam, which is the only way to assess what’s happening below the gumline.

How Gum Disease Actually Develops

The mechanism is the same as in our own mouths. Immediately after eating, food, saliva and bacteria combine into a sticky film along the teeth: plaque. Leave it, and it mineralises into hard tartar, which irritates the gums (gingivitis), drives inflammation, bad breath and pain, and eventually loosens and loses teeth.

But the real reason periodontal disease matters goes deeper than the mouth. Those gum-line bacteria don’t stay put — they get into the bloodstream, and the chronic load they create has been linked to strain on the heart, kidneys and liver. A post-mortem study of dogs found that the greater the periodontal disease burden, the more likely there were pathological changes in exactly those organs. A mouth in trouble is a whole-body problem. (It’s one of the more surprising threads connecting this article to the kidney one on this hub.)

The Kibble Myth: “Dry Food Cleans Teeth”

You’ve heard it for years: kibble keeps teeth clean through its “abrasive action.” Watch your dog eat kibble and the claim falls apart — they don’t chew it, they bolt it down whole. There’s no scrubbing happening. Worse, kibble is starch-heavy, and starch breaks down to the sugars that plaque-forming bacteria feed on. If the vast majority of dogs are fed starch-laden processed food and the vast majority of dogs have dental disease, that’s not a coincidence worth ignoring.

Dr Tom Lonsdale — the veterinary surgeon who has spent a career arguing that periodontal disease is largely diet-made — points to the obvious natural comparison: wild carnivores don’t brush, floss or visit a dentist, yet they don’t live with rotting, tartar-encrusted teeth. The difference is what they chew.

So What Do I Feed? Let Them Chew What They’re Built For

The single most species-appropriate dental tool is the one nature designed: raw meaty bones. Tearing and gnawing through raw meat and bone mechanically scrapes plaque off the teeth — the “toothbrush” wild carnivores have always used. It’s not just theory: in a controlled study, dogs given raw bovine bones to chew had their established dental tartar reduced by roughly a third within days and far more over a couple of weeks, with no tooth fractures or obstructions. Raw meat also carries natural enzymes and, unlike starchy food, doesn’t stick to the teeth. Even ground raw diets help, simply by removing the starch that feeds the problem.

Feeding raw bones safely — the rules matter

Raw bones are genuinely useful, but they’re not for every pet, and a few rules keep them safe:

• Raw only — never cooked. Cooked bones splinter; raw bones flex. (Tellingly, when researchers tested autoclaved bones they found tooth and root injuries that raw bones didn’t cause.)
• Size up. A recreational bone should be roughly as big as your pet’s head, so it can’t be swallowed whole or crack a tooth.
• Know who shouldn’t have them: pets with pancreatitis, existing mouth disease, weak or fractured teeth, “gulpers” who swallow rather than chew, and resource-guarders. Ask your vet first if any of these apply.
• Supervise, and offer bones as part of a balanced raw diet, not a free-for-all.

If your pet can’t or shouldn’t chew recreational bones — toy and short-nosed breeds are often genetically prone to dental trouble regardless of diet — a fully digestible, high-quality dental chew is a reasonable stand-in. And whatever you feed, get into the habit of a routine mouth check: lift the lips, look along the gumline and under the tongue for redness, loose teeth or lumps, and note any change in breath that isn’t just last night’s dinner. You’ll quickly learn your pet’s normal — and spot when it shifts.

A Word on Dental Cleanings

Professional cleaning under anaesthesia has become routine — and for a pet with established disease it’s sometimes necessary and the right call. The point isn’t to avoid the vet; it’s that prevention through appropriate feeding means fewer pets reaching that stage in the first place. Talk to your vet about anaesthetic risk and about what a sensible prevention plan looks like for your pet’s breed and age.

Key Takeaways

• Periodontal disease is common, silent and serious — most pets show it by age three.
• It doesn’t stay in the mouth. Oral bacteria reach the bloodstream and strain the heart, kidneys and liver.
• Kibble doesn’t clean teeth — pets bolt it whole, and its starch feeds plaque bacteria.
• Raw meaty bones are nature’s toothbrush — they scrape plaque mechanically and don’t stick.
• Feed bones safely: raw not cooked, sized to the pet, supervised, and not for gulpers or pets with mouth/pancreatic problems.
• Do routine mouth checks, and keep your vet in the loop — some breeds need extra help whatever they eat.

Sources

• Marx FR, Machado GS, Pezzali JG, et al. Raw beef bones as chewing items to reduce dental calculus in Beagle dogs. Australian Veterinary Journal. 2016;94(1–2):18–23. doi:10.1111/avj.12394
• Pavlica Z, Petelin M, Juntes P, Eržen D, Crossley DA, Skalerič U. Periodontal disease burden and pathological changes in organs of dogs. Journal of Veterinary Dentistry. 2008;25(2):97–105. doi:10.1177/089875640802500210