Cats teeth

nementai

I hope someone in the know can help me out with a dilemma I'm having over my cat's teeth.

We got our cat a year ago from a rescue, when she was about 2 years old. From our first trip to the vet, we were told that she had gingivitis and tried a couple of rounds of antibiotics, as well as putting her on Royal Canin dental food in the mornings. The antibiotics did seem to help, but only for the duration of the course.

She has very bad breath and her gums are very red, but no other symptoms (bleeding, pawing at her mouth, dribbling etc.) and is a happy, playful cat who wolfs down her food, both dried and wet.

We've just taken her for her annual checkup and the vet has said that she wants to do a full extraction to resolve the breath and redness problem, which she feels is probably viral in nature.

The cost isn't an issue (p.i.t.a. but bearable) but I'm reluctant to put her through such a big procedure when she seems fine and is so young. From what I've read online, it looks like a scale and polish would be a reasonable option, but the vet was quite keen that we go straight for extraction.

Can anyone give an opinion as to whether the extraction is really the best route? Does the viral aspect makes a difference?

cyberbob

If you don't keep on top of dental problems they will only get worse. We have one cat who is 8 who had to have a couple of extractions when she was 2 and that solved all her problems.
We have another cat who is 3 years old who has the smallest teeth I have ever seen she has a constant gingivitis problem so need to have yearly teeth cleans.

If your worried why don't you get a second opinion

ka7e

I have a 5 year-old cat who had the majority of his teeth removed 18 months ago. His breath stank and worse, from our point of view, his saliva carried lots of bugs leading to bacterial infections in US! We knew he would need some extractions of obviously rotten teeth, but asked the vet to phone us if the treatment had to be more extensive. You could ask for a polish and scale, with the option of extraction if any teeth are very bad. But be prepared to return for further cleaning and/or extractions at a later date.

He's now fine and manages both wet and dry food easily, smells 100% nicer and is very contented.

mozzyc

Hi

How much roughly will a polish and clean cost? I know dental isn't covered by insurance, so would need to budget for it.
Thanks

tinksy

my moggie has just had some form of gum disease again from a virus. He was dribbling when we took him to the vets and had very red gums. He had a course of antibiotics and painkillers and three weeks on seems fine. He is eating very well and no dribbling and has just normal cat breathe (although farts like a trouper!) his gums also look the same colour as his brother! fingers crossed we have solved it we have also started changing his food over to whisker's biscuits which have added teeth stuff in and he loves these. We are aware that it will probably come back as its viral. My mum was quoted £300 to have teeth removed for her cat so I'm guessing roughly around there for extraction if needed.

pigpen

From experience.. DO IT!!!!!!!!!

gingivitis can kill them very quickly if left. It causes massive liver and kidney failure.. especially if it is unresponsive to antibiotics.

My uncle lost one of his cats at the beginning of this year due to this complaint after he had been advised to have the cats teeth extracted and didn't want to.. 2 months later the brother got the same problem and my uncle did not hesitate in having his teeth removed.. he is now a very healthy happy cat without honky breath!!

They usually just remove the little teeth and leave the big fangs.. and they manage very well without teeth.

bethie

cats can do fine without their teeth!


when we adopted mine he had very bad teeth (we didnt know it at the time).

he eventually went in for a scale/polish possible extraction and came out with no teeth except his front ones as the rest were in such poor condition!


however, it did make a difference to him. his gums are no longer inflamed and he certainly was a bit perkier.

he happily munches away on his dry food as well.

gingivitis can get quite bad quite quickly. i do think that if he had been spotted earlier it would have really helped him.

mozzyc

Me again

Does anyone know the price of just a scale and polish roughly?
Thanks!

bethie

can't remember, but it does include general anaesthetic, so it wont be super cheap!

luckily insurance covered Fonzie for his teeth removal so i only had to pay the excess!

rita-rabbit

Try cleaning via another vet & regular application of Logic (there is another post about cats teeth running currently on here!). My cats teeth improved massively with that (& no I'm not selling it or anything).

Good quality food makes a huge difference - sorry but dry is best for teeth.

I have never had a cat needing teeth removed & always insisted they had dried food (oldest cat lived to 21 yrs) - yes I know 100% dried isn't recommended for urinary stuff so changed to 50/50 dry/wet now.

nementai

Thanks for the advice.
We already feed Royal Canin dental biscuits in the mornings and they do sem to help a little.
I'm going to give the logic a go - it does seem to have miracle reviews, I've bought some stuff to put on the wet food as well and I'm going to try brushing her teeth and gums gently.
The vet didn't seem to think it was urgent and actually suggested we wait till she was back off holiday in September to have it done, so I'll see if that makes any improvement over the next month or so and then probably go ahead with it. Poor thing - I don't like to think of her with no teeth, especially when there's no decay in the teeth themselves!

For the poster who asked about cost, I was quoted £2-300, depending on how hard the teeth are to take out, for the whole mouth, barring the canines. From looking on this forum, that seems roughly standard although London is more! My vet said that teeth aren't often covered by insurance (blimming typical!) as most problems are 'wear and tear' to your pet!