Have any of you used Hill's Pet Diet® t/d® Dry Food for cats with tooth or gum problems?

I’ve used it – it may help. The pieces are rather larger than normal cat kibble, and hard, encouraging the cat to actually chew with the molars more than they normally would.

In spite of some of the vociferous opinions you ‘ll find online re: cat food, I like SD. Less filler, so less voluminous and less stinky stools in the litter box, and nice healthy cats.

Thanks. I’ll get a third opinion from my vet on Monday.

I’ve been told that dental treats and food are not a substitute for a thorough cleaning, though they may slow the growth of tartar.

When I worked in two different pet stores back in ‘the day” (late 80’s, early 90’s) Hill’s and Iams were the only pet foods either of them dealt with. I think that you can trust that the things they sell aren’t bad for your pet. BUT, as @tinyfaery mentioned you should not look to the items to do anything more than just help remove tarter.

That’s what the vet says. It can’t hurt. Milo loves the stuff, however, and is ignoring his Felidae.

The downsize is that, after six weeks, I have to prize Milo’s jaws open and see how his infected tooth (at the gum line) looks. That is, at minimum, a two-man job.

It has not decreased his many BMs, but they do seem to smell less…well…smelly.

We feed our cats meat, cooked whole chickens, bones… A natural alternative really is real food. A previous lovely beast came to us with tartar, she liked raw fish. We fed her on pieces of raw mackerel a couple of times a week, bones included. She also liked a dried organic food (Pascoes, here in the uk), which was flat and easy to crunch. After only 3 months, her teeth were free of tartar and her coat was great.

The bengals we now have (or whom we serve) each have slightly different tastes, but the boy will happily eat any raw meat, which in itself helps cleaning. The girl doesn’t like meat, but will happily demolish cooked (roast) chicken bones. Great for cleaning and for calcium. They have that once a week or so. It is safe to give cats bones, but not dogs. The cat’s gut is designed for a totally carnivorous diet – see them eat whole birds, voles etc – so I would strongly recommend introducing something natural rather than relying on dried foods.