Vets do not always know best when it comes to diets I'm afraid, it's not what they went to school for. Most of them do not keep themselves up to date with the facts either. They get the veterinary diet info for sales and some of them are very helpful, but not all.

The only dry diets that have shown any sign of help with dental help in my opinion are the Hills T/D diets. But they are highly fatty and should be fed in moderation. But they are not a cure all. But at the same time you must wonder what causes all this tartar! Usually it's the horrible ingredients in most commercial foods.

I would do some research and nod and smile at your vets with the diet thing for now. Get some facts, try it out. If your cats are becoming unhealthy take them back to the vets and have some blood work done. But I would just opt out of the conversation with your vet about diets for now. Eventually they will notice how healthy your cats are and you can rub their noses in it so to speak.

Please before you start to feed a varied diet or raw be sure to do your research! It's important that they have a balanced diet. Also expect to see some vomiting and diarrhea as you get started. If it persists more than 3 days you may need to re think your protein selection. Also be sure you introduce new foods gradually otherwise you will upset the digestive tract and have some runny bums. Hope this is helpful information for you. As I have read myself there are a lot of very knowledgeable raw diet feeders on here that can be of more assistance than myself in guiding you with choice of raw diet programs.

Mia