"Kibble designed for Exotic Shorthairs": what is actually measured in flat-faced cats is their mouth
Published by Planète Pets · managing editor: Clément Lacaille · how our guides are written
Ranges labelled "for Persians" or "for Exotic Shorthairs" advertise a specially engineered kibble shape meant to compensate for the flat face. What is actually documented in these cats is not the kibble: it is the state of their mouth. A study by Mestrinho, Louro, Gordo, Niza, Requicha, Force and Gawor published in 2018 in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association examined 50 purebred cats under anaesthesia, with full-mouth radiographs (see the study). Our diet comparisons are gathered in the cat food section.
Contents · 4 sections
A heavily reshaped mouth, documented tooth by tooth
The cross-sectional study, run across three centres (California, Lisbon, Krakow), covered 42 Persians and 8 Exotic Shorthairs. Malocclusions affected 36 of the 50 cats (72%); dental crowding 28 of 50 (56%), with the incisors the most affected teeth, precisely those used to pick food up. Add to that 32 cats with malpositioned teeth (64%), 38 with an abnormal tooth count (76%) including 32 cases of hypodontia, 44 with periodontal disease (88%) and 35 with tooth resorption (70%). Sieslack and colleagues, in PLOS ONE in 2021, measured the same disorder on CT: an average of 2.03 displaced maxillary teeth in Persians against 0.11 in European shorthairs, and 1.30 against 0.22 in the mandible.
What these figures do not demonstrate
None of these studies measured prehension, eating speed, amount eaten, body weight or pain at mealtimes. The "almond-shaped kibble" for flat-faced cats therefore remains a manufacturer claim: to date, no published trial compares the intake of two kibble shapes in a brachycephalic cat. A second point often overlooked: the 2018 study had no non-brachycephalic control group, so its 72%, 88% and 70% describe prevalence within a purebred population, without giving a quantified excess risk compared with an average cat. Useful orders of magnitude for planning follow-up, not a selling point.
What remains actionable day to day
The honest conclusion shifts the subject from the shape of the kibble to monitoring the mouth, and to texture. A cat with crowded incisors, missing teeth and inflamed gums may be more comfortable with some wet food, a point developed in our comparison of wet versus dry cat food. The question of the container, which is separate from the ration itself, is handled in our guide to the best bowl for a flat-faced cat.
- Schedule regular dental check-ups, with radiographs if your vet judges them useful: resorption and periodontal disease are invisible from the outside.
- Watch mealtimes: chewing on one side only, kibble spat out, meals cut short are all signals worth reporting.
- Try a wet and dry mix rather than buying a patented shape whose effect has never been published.
- Do not blame a poor appetite on kibble shape until oral pain has been ruled out.
Frequently asked questions
Should I buy kibble designed for flat-faced breeds?
Nothing requires it: no published trial shows that a particular shape improves food intake in these cats. Feeding it is not a mistake, it is simply an unverified claim.
Does an Exotic Shorthair inevitably have poor teeth?
No. The prevalence figures come from a sample of 50 purebred cats examined under anaesthesia, with no control group: they flag something to monitor, not an individual certainty.
Is wet food better than dry for these breeds?
No trial settles the question in brachycephalic cats; wet food remains a reasonable option when the mouth is painful or missing teeth, to be discussed with your vet. Our other feeding benchmarks sit in the cat hub.
An accessory from our shop for this use: Raised-edge silicone feeding mat for cats (€25.90) · the whole shop
For your cat, at Le Félin (same family, zero commission): Arbre à chat en bois design (from €99.99)
This guide is part of Planète Pets’s Cats universe. Our advice is general in nature: for any health concern, your veterinarian remains the only reference.
