About 6 months ago my moggy was weighed (prior to having a worming tablet) and she weighed nearly 14lbs. Yes, rather overweight - so the vet advised me to switch her to a "drier" diet, with less wet food and more dry food.

So I did. (This also helped my other cat's BAD breath problem!) Her diet became 2 sachets of wet food and a dish of dry food (plus unlimited water) a day.

A few days ago my moggy showed signs of cystitis, and I researched it while waiting for the vet appointment, and it seems that dry food can often contribute (or cause) cystitis in cats.

Cat goes off to the vets, she's still overweight (12 lbs, so has lost a little), confirmed she's got cystitis, and told to put her on a dry food diet ONLY due to her teeth being in a bad state for her age (she's 2).

Now I don't WANT to put her on a dry food diet as she is peeing blood and will probably now be susceptible to future attacks, plus I notice that when she ONLY has dry food she eats loads more than when it's just wet or wet & dry, but the vet says dry food only...?

So how can I keep her teeth clean (or get them clean) without going to a full dry diet?

I've also got a cat with bad teeth - sometimes it just happens. Our cat had dental treatment under anaesthetic, and had most of his back teeth removed, which greatly improved both his quality of life and his bad breath! He still has his fangs, they're fine, and he doesn't seem to suffer at all through the loss of the back teeth, nor has he had any problems with his remaining teeth.

Whatever you feed your cat (my cat was on hard food all his life up until 2 years ago), if the teeth are bad, they're bad and they may cause toothache. Maybe the vet would be willing to treat your cat's bad teeth, clean them or extract them, and then you can go back to a soft food diet, but maybe mix in just a small amount of hard food with it for extra texture.

Our 17-year-old cat has fantastic teeth, much admired by the vet! No reason for it, he's had exactly the same diet as all my cats.

I don't think they're rotten (yet!), I think the vet wants to try to avoid that, hence wanting to switch to dry food, for the abrasion. My other cat has fab teeth, is lovely and sleek and slim, despite eating twice as much as the fat cat with bad teeth, LOL!

I need to find a way to get Moggsy's teeth cleaned/cleaner so that she doesn't need any treatment (her teeth seem to look fine when she yawns! Probably a build up of tartar or something).

Well, the vet can clean them with the cat under sedation - our vet offers it as an added extra when a cat has to undergo surgery! Then if that works, and there's no underlying disease, just live with the fact that she'll have to get her teeth done every so often. Although if you mix a little "hard tack" with mostly soft food, that should help.

Thanks for that

I think your cat not getting cystitis is much more important than the teeth, but hopefully you can find a solution that suits both - vets can be SO non-constructive sometimes!