Dental disease is the most common health problem in cats, yet most cats receive no dental care. Chronic oral pain significantly reduces quality of life in a large proportion of companion cats.
Cat dental disease is one of the most common and least addressed welfare problems in companion animal medicine. The combination of high prevalence, silent pain expression, and owner unawareness creates a situation where millions of cats live with chronic oral pain that goes unrecognized and untreated. Cats in significant dental pain rarely stop eating — they are obligate predators whose survival drive overrides pain expression. Instead, they eat more slowly, prefer softer food, drop food, or become subtly less interactive. Veterinary dental assessment under anesthesia is essential because only anesthetic examination allows thorough probing and radiographic evaluation. The welfare implication is clear: cats deserve regular dental assessment and treatment as a baseline of companion animal care.