Megan ([info]ladyofmoonlight) wrote in [info]cat_lovers,
@ 2005-09-20 15:41:00
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Teeth Removal
I've been having trouble obtaining information about the total removal of all teeth in cats, and I was wondering if anyone out there knew about this procedure. I'd like some good information backing me before I speak with my vet.

Backstory: My cat Tsuki is anywhere from 8 to 12 years old. We'll never know for certain as she was a feral stray until the shelter took her in 6 years ago. I've had her a little over 3 years now and she's still extremely shy. She's had a number of dentals, the first of which resulted in the removal of her canines. You see she's half persian and she has normal sized teeth in a persian jaw. She couldn't close her mouth with her canines in. Tsuki also has serious gum problems. Her gums inflame a lot and she requires Prednisone every other day to keep her doing well. If she doesn't get her pill her gums swell up and she has a lot of trouble eating, making it very hard to give her a pill (we can't touch her, let alone scruff her or handfeed her a pill). She also does not use her teeth as they cause her pain. I watch her carefully when she's eating and whenever she makes a "crunch" she jumps back and stands there with her mouth hanging open in pain, and usually some spit falls out. This passes within a few seconds but it really bothers me.

My vet wants Tsuki to come in for a dental in November, which we're planning on doing, however I'd like to have all of her teeth extracted. My last vet refused to do it because it was too "extremist". Honestly I think capturing a shy, older cat, driving her to the vets, anesthetizing her, removing a couple teeth, putting her on pain meds for 3 weeks, then doing it again a year later is a little more extremist to me. Anyway, I haven't spoken to my new vet yet about the procedure as I'd like to be more knowlegeable about it, just in case I meet resistance.

Here are the facts I do know about total teeth removal:
-Cats can usually eat perfectly fine without teeth
-Rotting teeth can lead to problems with internal organs, such as the heart
-Some cats have a problem where there gums reject their teeth (I'm suspecting this one)
-Cats shouldn't have there canines removed unless necessary (hers are already gone)

Anyone have any other information about teeth removal for me? Anyone ever had it done?
Cross posted in cat_adoration, cat_lovers and cathealth

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[info]acid_burns
2005-09-20 08:18 pm UTC (link)
I don't have any answers on this one, but I think you're doing a wonderful job with your cat anyway :)

Hope it all works out for you guys.

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[info]ladyofmoonlight
2005-09-21 03:47 am UTC (link)
Oh, thank you! She's not actually all that hard to take care of. She requires a pill every other day, a couple vet visits a year and a nice quiet place to sleep most of the day. I've actually had people question me keeping a cat I can't touch, and I'm surprised really. Out of my six cats, she's the easiest one I've got!

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[info]donnad
2005-09-20 08:37 pm UTC (link)
When I worked at a shelter, we had a cat who had all her teeth removed because she had chronic gingivitis. She lost so much weight because she couldn't/wouldn't eat when her teeth hurt and she was always in a grumpy grouchy don't touch me mood. After the extraction she got along just fine but could only have canned food. She gained weight again and was a much happier and friendlier kitty in the end.

My Lily has no teeth on her upper jaw between her canines, they just fell out. She has some problems with gingivitis and may eventually have to have several teeth removed. Right now she eats just fine as she does have rear teeth but she occasionally has difficulty picking crunchy food up with her teeth. If it sticks to her tongue she is fine and will happily crunch it away, but if it wont she licks it across the room. She gets both canned and dry food.

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[info]ladyofmoonlight
2005-09-21 03:49 am UTC (link)
Yeah, I was told once that she might have gingivitis, but vets never seem to be certain with her. They just know that her gums aren't right. She's lost a lot of weight before (she's naturally about 6.5-7 pounds, so her losing weight is crazy!) and it was so scary. She's in a chubby phase again and I'd like to keep her there.

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[info]ailurophiledj
2005-09-21 05:17 am UTC (link)
I am a vet tech. I did hundred dentals on cats, and once it took me 2 1/2 hours to do 1 dental (I do not personally do extractions..that's the doctor's job)...and it was on my own cat...she belonged to someone else who could care less abt teeth...and her cat ended up having multi extractions. After the owner died, I adopted her...I'll never forget cuz she was my longest dental!
Here's my persepective..

I do not think it's extremist at all. A very qualified vet will take a look at the mouth, take full mouth xrays, and he/she will examine EACH tooth and determine what's wrong. Most of the time, these type of vets are more than willing to do what you ask for.
One reason why some vets would shun from extracting all the teeth is because they're hardly trained in dentistry in vet school...SADLY!! And it can take quite a long time to extract teeth...especialy from a persian. As you already know, the mouth of a persian is very "short", so there's not a lot of room to move around with the dental equipment.
Having your cat yelp in pain after chewing sounds like she has nonreabsorptive lesions beneath the gumlines. The only way to tell that is xrays. There are SOME vet hosptials that do not do xrays at all. Just because a tooth look great on the surface doesn't mean the roots are good. i've seen that quite a bit.
It could also mean that your cat had a terrible dental done on her previously....such as, they didn't close the hole, which could cause more problems...a qualified dental vet will close it with sutures (Cat Gut is used...after a few days, the stutures fall out on their own). They could have just cut the crown and left the roots. (this is horrible, and causes more pain! This is the "easy" way to "extract" a tooth). There's numberous problems...

So, personally, if your cat's teeth is that bad and has a bad history of it, I would not blink an eye if you asked to have them all extracted.
Do you live in NJ? or near Philly area? Cuz there's a dental referral practice in Central Jersey.

Let me know if you have any questions!

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