cat dental cleaning/cat miserable
luvdogs
13 years ago
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DelightYourScents
13 years agospedigrees z4VT
13 years agoRelated Discussions
Vet Bills for Dental Cleaning
Comments (29)Oh, Barb, what a sad and sorry tale. Poor little guy. I shudder to think. I think it is SOP to be on antibiotics after a procedure like that, though. I guess it didn't work on whatever bug had him sick. : ( I would die. I had a few tooth abscesses growing up, on my back molars, and the dentist would just slice them open and drain. Wonder why they just remove the tooth on these guys. Certainly, an abscess needs to be taken care of. Abscesses can cause systemic blood poisining too (whatever the correct term is). As far as routine care, it probably is a good idea to wipe the teeth down periodically. My vet recommends gauze and hydrogen peroxide to get the scum off, esp the back teeth. Two of my kitties would probably tolerate that well. Well, my cats get better medical care (and food!) than I do. I hadn't had my own teeth done in about 15 years. Ha, when I had them done this Summer, the hygienist looked like a deer caught in headlights when I answered that question! She was also in shock when my gums/teeth came up at 3's and 2's (very good). And I only had two cavities to be filled. Maybe that doesn't speak, overall, for what gets into my blood from chewing, but my teeth and gums are in good shape from daily care. One of the big reasons I had stopped getting my teeth done, though, was after reading about disease transferance through the dental drills and other tools. And I also remember how our family dentist had died of some weird (blood, as I recall) disease. Even with all the cleaning they do, there can be remnants from other patients stuck on or lodged in the tools. And, as I recall, there is specific difficulty in managing cross-contamination, in dentistry, with respect to prion diseases. I wonder if they're as careful with the instruments for animals as they're learning to be with people. Will have to ask my vet! They did have a new way of cleaning teeth, though, which I really liked! and the tool would seem safer. Forget the name, but it was with a strong water jet. They just blast the gums and teeth, like a power wash. Wouldn't want to take a blue light to that exam room or tech, though, lol....See MoreCat died days after teeth extracted
Comments (44)Had a routine check-up for my 14 yr. old cat, Chloe in Oct. Her blood tests were all normal, but she had gingivitis and needed some teeth removed. We felt we should do this and could prolong her life. Never were we told of what the consequences could be. She was perfectly healthy. Had good appetite and was loving her KD. She almost died 4 yrs ago, of some kind of poisoning. This could have affected her kidneys. They brought her back then. After surgery, they gave her the opiated meds, stayed over night, no antibiotics. She was lifeless when brought home. Two days later, I knew something was not right. She didn't move. Sat. we took her to vet again. They administered G-SubQ fluids, and noticed the suture had come out. So, they gave her antibiotics then and gave us the meds to take home. She was a basket case. They had said to give the pain meds 12hrs apart but after 7 hrs. at home they said give her more. We didn't want to but we did. By Sunday, she was still not responding. Brought her in again on Mon., they gave her fluids and more meds and this time a shot of anti-biotics that lasts 12 days. By Tues, we brought her in again and she stayed over night where they put IV in and did blood tests and had an ultra sound to see what was going on. They thought she had kidney stones blocking but it turned out to be an enlarged heart. How did this happen? We brought her home on Wed. and had questions for the Dr. Called 4 times and never returned a call. She had pooped and peed and we thought maybe thats a sign. We stopped giving her the opiate. We administered a different antibiotic they sent us home with. Meanwhile she had stopped eating the whole time. By this time we felt we should feed her through a syringe, since the vet never mentioned anything about feeding her. Later we gave her the fluids at home and then gave her the antibiotic they had given us. By this time she was lifeless. Thurs., and Fri came and went. No call from the vet asking how she was doing, NOTHING!! We were on our own. Chloe passed Sat. morning peacefully at 4am. She became so weak couldn't even stand.We were with her till her last breath. We are so sick now. We brought her in to prolong her life and this is what happened. Never did they tell us what the consequences could be. Doing research now and the opiate meds they gave her, say not to give to cats with kidney problems. I feel they overmedicated her and gave her the wrong meds. She was great before we brought her in. Had a healthy appetite, showed nothing of any pain. Still no word from the VET!! I think they know what they did. I truly believe this was malpractice. We miss her so much. It's so hard....See MoreWhat do you pay for cat teeth cleaning?
Comments (36)As some others have mentioned, teeth cleaning is absolutely unnecessary if animals are fed properly (a raw, species appropriate diet). And I disagree with one poster who said the cost is probably the same as dental work. What s/he fails to factor in is the suffering the animal must endure, not only from dental disease but from periodic anesthesia (which is not harmless), cleanings and extractions, not to mention other very common health issues that result from the same causes (primarily, commercial pet foods) like UTIs, liver disease, FIV, and the like. Even if you just consider the financial cost, you're way ahead feeding raw. Dental cleanings are big business in the vet industry, and a vet will never tell you how to avoid them. They are not taught this information in school, because the system that trains them would fold up and die if it taught vets how to keep animals healthy and illness-free for life. Feeding cats raw is the easiest thing in the world. Cut a leg off a cornish game hen and put it on a plate. That's dinner. If your cat won't eat it that way, cut it in small bites or use some of the transition strategies that are published in various places on the web. Here is a link that might be useful: No More Vet Bills...See MoreCat-complications dental work/lack of appetite, pancreatites
Comments (12)Thanks everyone for your responses!! Actually I'm pretty familiar with pancreatitis - our IBD cat was diagnosed with it. The web pages you mention are really good too. What I didn't really follow was the connection between dental work and pancreatitis. On one of the webs I had read something about trauma being a cause - could that be it? Or something about the drugs they give during the dental work? He did have three extractions in addition to the teeth cleaning. Just to keep this straight - Bo is the cat currently having problems. Cougar is the IBD cat previously diagnosed with pancreatitis. With Cougar we did all the blood work and an ultrasound. His condition is maintained with pred and pepcid ac. He flares up every winter so we have to be more careful then. Most of the time Cougar insists on eating the same prescription diet food the other two cats eat but seems to know instinctively when to eat his Low Residue food. One thing we have learned with Cougar, is you give him what he will eat, just roll with it or he will starve himself (or vomit and loose weight that way). The vet has been OK with that. For a while he ate ID food, but he turned his nose up at that. We will always bring him to the vet early if he flares up and we can't seem to control it. Our vet actually said she thought Cougar was going to die when he first got sick, but that was a few years ago and although he needs care he is doing really well. Cougar is a small tabby, but we have always suspected that he has some siamese in him. Some place I had read that digestive track issues are more common with siamese. Bo is showing some of the same eating signs. Over the last few weeks he has got more and more picky about his food, more distracted when eating. Thursday was the 'last straw'. It took me 40 minutes to get him to eat that morning and he didn't even eat 1/3 a cup of food. He was an 18+ lb cat!! In the evening he would not eat. I pulled out Cougar's Low Residue and he finally ate some last night. (I had actually tried a couple weeks ago to give him some - but it was mixed in with his normal food and he didn't go for it.) This morning I was so happy when he ate 1/4 a cup of the Low Residue and then asked for more. But then he wouldn't eat again this evening - this the cat that normally is always hungry! Just before bed I did get him to eat some. The vet says he needs to eat just over 3/4 cup to maintain his weight. He had lost about a pound since he was there in January - and I think most of it was this week. So, we are watching him closely. I did give him pepcid ac this evening so perhaps that is why he finally ate. It's hard to know for sure as he did seem like he was having problems with the large kibble - lots of it falling back into the bowl half chewed, acting like it was getting stuck in his mouth. Either way, the vet thinks it's good food for him because it is bland for his digestive track, plus small size. The Low Residue is dry food that he ate, but did also try giving him some of the canned and he ignored it completely. Regarding blood work, he had everything (blood, urine) before his dental work. There was some blood showing in his urine at the time - we tested again and the vet determined it was OK. We did take blood today for a CBC so she can compare the white blood count. Will know results on Monday. Will go from there to see if he needs more blood work, or an ultrasound if he isn't eating. I will probably continue to give him the pepcid this weekend. The vet knows we have tried it but not continued it before. Nothing found with the physical exam - mouth healed OK, no tenderness in the abdomin. He had a premolar pulled on both sides so perhaps thought that could give him issues with the large food. So, any thought about why the rare link between the dental work and possible pancreatitis? Thanks for your input. You all are a great group! (And did I mention Wilson - the cat we think has allergies and sores at the corner of his mouth that haven't gone away since last spring. Currently on pred and antihistmine. Will continue with that for another couple of weeks and then more testing for him if he still doesn't improve. We had tried both pred and the antihistamine before, but never together. Talked about allergy testing today with the vet - at least it isn't the same pin prick method I had done on me!! His sores do not look like the granuloma I've seen pictures of. )...See MoreAnne_Marie_Alb
13 years agoluvdogs
13 years agodabunch
13 years agocalliope
13 years agoluvdogs
13 years agospedigrees z4VT
13 years agoannzgw
13 years agostir_fryi SE Mich
13 years agocalliope
13 years agospedigrees z4VT
13 years ago
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