Need Help: Cat with dental problems.

My dental problems are not that serious yet.

Toro had some gingivitis that the vet discovered last year, at the same time that he was tested for renal problems. There ws some redness at his gumline and so we have the biogel which he still has even now. His gums are ok but his teeth has some discolouration. Our vet does not rec scaling as it is not that serious and he has renal issues and so anesthesia may be a probelm for him.

Megat had some very bad teeth pulled out when I took him to the vet prior to my adopting him. He had FIV and renal issues but as he was a community cat, the vet decided that we should pull out his bad teeth in case I had to put him back and then he would not be cared of 100% of the time. He has only 1 canine left and some of his other (very sharp) teeth that he uses to grind my fingers if he gets too irritated with me at medicine time.

Question:

Hi, i have a community cat (siamese) of about 8 yrs old who has this gum/teeth problem for past 2 mths. I am thinking of sending him for scaling & polishing at the vet. Need ur advice whether it is safe for him. He last visited a*** (name deleted by san) & after finishing the med, problem came back again. You seems to have experience on this with your other cats, so thinking if you can have some advices...... Very worried!

Dear anonymous

I have very little experience with this. I do know of some cat moms with some experience. I hope they can give advice through this blog. But if you will leave your email with us, I may be able to send your appeal to them. Please email us at animesanzo at yahoo dot com. My only advice is for you to ask your vet if its safe.

Mera The Lucky Kitty

Here I am relaxing in bed. Don't I look great?

Mera@cat_aunty went to the vet for some dental work. The vet said he had NO cavities. THAT is one lucky kitty in my book as he is getting on in years. He also had a clean bill of health from the last blood test that she took of him.

He had inflamed gums though and they had been giving him a lot of grief. They bleed spontaneously and so he had to have some work done on them. The great shock was that he had hyperplasia, two growths next to his airways which may grow but the vet did not want to remove them as this may lead to severe blood loss and they may come back again!

He has 10 days of antibiotics and prednisolone for the swellings. Other than that, he is a little fed up of being cooped up :) Behave lah Mera! Life would be so much better for you.

FatBoy Update

Hmmm...Will life never be the same again?

FatBoy is doing well and is taking his meds regularly. We tried to give him some Flax but he just sniffed at his food suspiciously and ran off so we have abandoned that idea. We were thinking that apart from the meds and SubQ, we should try to give him some supplements to strengthen his system but have yet to come up with anything that he would eat. He also refused to eat some cat vitamins yesterday.

I am glad to see that he has come four days in a row for his morning breakfast of Waltham's renal. I just bought a new pack of this formula and discovered that the kibble is darker and smaller. They are also a little softer to the crunch. Therefore even with his very bad teeth, Fatboy can eat this quite easily.

Dental Care

There is nuffing wrong wif ma teef...

The tooth gel and toothbrush

Finally the vet was able to give me the tooth gel for Toro. I don't need to use the toothbrush, only my clean fingers or some gauze to make sure that all of his gums get the treatment. He has one back tooth on his right that is giving him problems and his gums were also a little swollen at that site. I bought that small toothbrush from a store that sells baby products. I had tried to use it on his other teeth and he took that well. I think he likes the gel and didn't mind tooth brushing. I clean his teeth everyday and am not not so anxious about his plaque problems.

I should be less enthusiastic when rubbing the gel on that side of his mouth as yesterday we had a little accident and there was blood. So today I would be gentler.

He takes the whole operation quite well and does not struggle when either grandma or Cousin R holds him while I put the gel on his gums. Rather he licks at the gel quite enthusiastically. Grandma asked me whether it tasted sweet and yes it did as I decided to taste the gel myself yesterday.

We also have a spray for the water bowls so all the amigos would benefit from clean teeth.

Vet Appointment

I wonder what will happen to me tomorrow...

Tomorrow we are going to MP at Katong. It is a friendly practice and the place is big and airy. FatBoy would be in very good hands.

A new plan for FatBoy

Megat's set of teeth after his teeth got extracted. I wonder if FatBoy's teeth would look like this afterwards.

FatBoy: I am not helping you as I do not want to go to the v_e_t!

After discussing the pros and cons with grandma about putting FatBoy outside , I decided to send him to another practice that has boarding facilities. The first practice is the one all the amigos go to and there is no problem. If we want boarding, we would have to go to the hospital at B. B is very far away from home and there would be much stress for everyone. Since I cannot have FatBoy at home and the auntie cannot have him in her home, I decided that I would have to ferry him to and fro. This would be better as he would be boarded at the clinic itself when it comes to his surgery.

However since he is going to another practice, he would have to be re-examined and I think he would have to take some antibiotics for a week. This is ok as he is an amiable kitty and we can put the pills in his food.

So next Tuesday, we have an evening appt for him to see his new vet and then we take it from there. Grandma was pleased as she was afraid he would make alot of noise outside and disturb the neighbours. She was also afraid someone would release him when he was outside the house.

Of cos, on afterthought (aiyah san, sometimes you are furry silly!), I could have put him in a shelter for the night but then it would be very inconvenient to get him early for the surgery as the shelter is also far from my house :)

So that is that. We only have to wait for next Tuesday.

Toro and the vet

Grandma told Toro that he had to go to the vet as its time for his vaccination...

Dr BL said his bladder was not swollen but that was not to say that nothing 'bad' was happening. I admitted that this was true but he just had a urine test in March and I did not want him to undergo any more prodding and tests. I told Dr BL that he is urinating as usual and is not in any discomfort. He is drinking as usual too.

After his vaccination, Dr BL took a look at his teeth as he had plaque the last time. After some scrutiny, he was diagnosed with one tooth that needed scaling and a little swollen gum where the tooth was. Dr BL did not feel that he needed any major scaling and I thought we would have to try other means as scaling means anesthesia. So we went home with some tooth gel that I have to smoothen over his gums, especially the swollen side and something that I can put in his drinking water. We will try this first.

Toro was a little unwell in the evening but managed some canned food for dinner, a request for some scritching and a small bout of investigation over the carrier that we had used to put FatBoy. I had to disinfect and clean it for Bujang. He is now asleep in the middle of the living-room.

FatBoy at the vet

After the vet visit.
The assistant was very taken with fatBoy and thought he was very pretty. So she asked Cousin R if it was possible to open the cage so she could pet him. FatBoy was very amiable and allowed her to do so :)

The auntie did not manage to catch Fatboy this morning. She said she just managed to put half of his body in the carrier but he got wise and ran off. So I came down and tried to entice him into it. He was hiding under a car but came out when he heard me call him. I pretended to give him some food (he had already eaten) then asked Cousin R to quickly bring over the carrier. I pushed him into it quickly. DONE!

We had to bring him to the vet as he has been losing weight these past 2 months. Many people have been asking the auntie why he had lost a lot of his weight. I was afraid he was sick but he eats his food and does not drool. His temper is also as calm as ever.

But he yelled so loudly in the cab. I have never heard such an unhappy cat. He yelled in the cab, yelled on the way to the vet, yelled at the vet and grumbled when he saw the vet.

But once he was on the table, he suddenly transformed into the very friendly kitty that everyone loves.

FatBoy: How can you say those things about me? I am very friendly and I love everyone!

He weighed at 5.53 kg and had a mouthful of very bad teeth. The vet , Dr BL said he would have to pull some blackened ones out and do some major scaling! So he has another appointment on Tuesday. I really don't know where to keep him before that as the auntie is not strong enough and she is afraid he would yell her house down. So Cousin R said we could catch him on Monday night and put him in a cage outside of my house. This seems the only way out. I would have to put a blanket on the cage and write a note to everyone not to let him out. Then on Tuesday morning, Cousin R would bring him to the vet as he needs to be there about 9 am and I would be at work by then.

I hope this plan works.

How to brush your cat's teeth...

You must be kidding me...

I was reading the Fanny Syufy article Clean Your Cat's Teeth and thought it would be better to reproduce it here for my reference as I know I would need to read it several times over.

Dental health is every bit as important to cats as it is to humans. A regular program of teeth cleaning will ensure your cat will enjoy his senior years with all his teeth intact

Difficulty: Average (Hmmm..maybe for me not so average but not insurmountable)
Time Required: 5 minutes (plus 20 - first to persuade Toro that he can trust me, to get him to open his mouth long enough for the whole operation, to cope with his struggles as he is rather strong and can be stubborn)

Here's How:

Assemble supplies: sterile gauze, scissors, cat toothpaste (available at pet stores) or a weak sterile solution recommended by your veterinarian.

Directions:

1. Wrap a strip of gauze around the index finger of your dominant hand and either dip it in the sterile solution, or apply a small amount of toothpaste to your fingertip.

2. Holding the cat in your lap, open his mouth

3. Gently rub your 'finger brush' in a circular motion on his teeth, concentrating on the area next to the gums. Gently massage the gums at the same time. It's not necessary to do the back sides of the teeth.

4. Once your cat will tolerate this procedure, you can graduate to a small child's toothbrush.
Give kitty a few loving pats and kind words, along with a little treat to polish off with his shiny clean teeth.

Tips:

• You might want to experiment with flavored toothpaste for cats. There is a fish-flavored one that is quite tasty.
• If you start practicing examining your cats teeth at a very young age, this process will be much easier. See 'How To Gentle a Kitten' for suggestions.
• Bleeding of the gums is a sign your cat needs professional dental scaling by your veterinarian, so attend to that as soon as possible.
  
• What You Need:
  Sterile gauze
  Cat toothpaste / solution
  Opt: small toothbrush
  Scissors
• Suggested Reading
  How to Examine Cat's Teeth
  Dental Health in Cats
  Dental Care Plan for Cats
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  The Importance of Dental Care For Pets - Veterinary Medicine

Who sez I has no teef

Wohrrrrrlll.....

I sez I has teef!

san: I said YOU have no teeth that would allow to chew grass. If you have teeth, you would be able to pronounce your 'th' properly.

Megat: Oh yeah...I has teef but not fur grass. Anyway I dun likes grasses. I likes chicken and tuna and salmon and nutro and ....

Megat only has 1 canine left from 4 (2 extracted by the 1st vet at TK and one more extracted by the vet at ARC)and a good few of his other teeth have fallen out. So he may growl and snap and bite to little effect. So he uses his shaolin prowess (aka nimble hands with hard claws) to push the other cats around :) He tried to chew grass once but it did not work out for the poor kitty - all drool not much else.

Thanks to cat_aunty for reminding me that indeed Megat has teef! :)