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My cat, age 15, had three teeth extracted three and a half weeks ago. One was a pre-molar, but the other two were canines: upper right, lower left, so now her mouth must feel really weird.
At her two-week checkup her mouth looked "really good."
Obviously, without those teeth to help her close her mouth and to guide her tongue, she is drooling a lot, but it has increased in the past few days, and I suspect it may be because of the strange sensations in her mouth. The biggest problem is that she seems to find eating more difficult.
A healthy weight for her would be 7-9 pounds; she is 5 lb 4 oz. She will usually only eat if I feed her by hand. (Unfortunately, this is a problem that already existed for other reasons, and this isn't the time to break her of it. It is very easy to spoil an underweight kitty.) While she is eating, she will suddenly pull her head down and start pawing at her face with one or both paws. This has been since the surgery, not before. I don't know for sure if it's pain or if food is getting caught in her mouth in uncomfortable ways.
For the first few days she would stop eating after pawing. Then she got to where she would continue eating about 20% of the time. This led me to think it was not really pain, but frustration. She doesn't seen to quite know how to use her tongue effectively without those canines there. What bothers me is that she is having more trouble now than a week or two ago.
My goal is to get her to eat 5 ounces of canned food/day. Some days she eats just a little; occasionally she'll eat 7-8 ounces. Saturday was one of those good days. Sunday she ate 2-3 ounces, but today she had eaten almost nothing until this evening. I gave her a dose of buprenorphine that was left over (after checking with vet), and a while later she ate a little more. Tomorrow I might get a refill of that medication if the vet thinks it will help.
Before the surgery she had lab work that indicated the rest of her body was working well (as far as blood and urine tests can tell).
She is not withdrawn and hiding, nor is she playing and seeking interaction. (She is disappointed that her beloved summer sunshine has been replaced by cold and rain.)
Anyone have a cat that went through this after dental surgery?
Anyone have an idea of how to help her?
Did she have stitches? I'm wondering if the 'dissovable' stitches are not dissolving and something is poking her in there. I'd have her back to the vet for a look.
One of my former kitties used to lose a tooth every year or two -- the vet said it was likely genetic. Occasionally I would see it happen (e.g. she'd be eating and would suddenly freak out as a tooth would loosen and come out) -- she would then be so confused/scared that she wouldn't eat much for a day or two. After that, even missing another tooth, she'd be eating heartily again (she was quite tubby).
My point is that your kitty will likely get used to it relatively soon (within a couple of weeks), but she probably is a bit confused/freaked out as her mouth must feel very different. Poor kitty! I too would take her back to the vet if she's not eating normally in a day or two, though, just to be on the safe side.
Has the vet seen her since the extractions? Perhaps she has an abcess (sp) or something that's causing her pain.
Just for her two-week follow-up, when they said her mouth looked really good. The office has called a few times to check on her, always during some encouraging time when I give a mostly good report.
She did eat some last night after I gave her the medication, and she has eaten this morning. While she was eating she did have several pawing episodes, but she kept at the food.
I think I'm going to get her a medication refill today and ask them if there's a way to reduce the salivation. (This pain med is great! A tiny amount of liquid, absorbed in the mouth. I'm so glad there's no pill!)
Yes, burpenex is great. But if she has a stitch poking at her, the abrasion/irritation and drooling will just get worse. I thought of it because this happened to a cat of mine after dental surgery. Vet gave him a little sevoflurane gas (very fast acting) snipped the stitch and he was back with me in less than 3 minutes, none the wiser, but much happier.
Is she able to drink? A vet once suggested that I blend my overweight kitties food so he could lap it vs chew since he refused to eat canned food. You might want to try that and see if she'll lap food vs. chew it? Cats as you probably know don't like change and aside from a suture poking her she might not like the odd sensation of missing teeth. If she won't lap it from a dish try putting it on your finger or your hand and see if that would work. I hope she feels better quickly.
I talked to the vet tech today and she thinks there's a good chance it's the stitches. (She said they take six to ten weeks to dissolve, depending on which kind were used.) So in a few minutes we'll be going to the vet. Catsmom21, I hope that's how it goes for my kitty, too. Thanks.
I talked to the vet tech today and she thinks there's a good chance it's the stitches. (She said they take six to ten weeks to dissolve, depending on which kind were used.) So in a few minutes we'll be going to the vet. Catsmom21, I hope that's how it goes for my kitty, too. Thanks.
Six to ten weeks sounds like an awfully long time for stiches. Surely they wouldn't need to be in the cats mouth that long for healing purposes. If it were me, I would be getting them out of there asap.
FWIW I had stitches in my mouth after an extraction many years ago, and they started hurting pretty bad as soon as I left the dentists office. A couple of hours later it was even worse, so I got out the old nippers & took them out myself. It was the last time I allowed stitches in my mouth. If your cat is experiencing anything like I did, then it's quite understandable that eating is a problem. I'm sure the stitches were necessary at the time of the surgery, but would question if they still are at this point.
We went to the vet. The tech was wrong; the vet said the stitches would be dissolved by now.
She has a lump that could be swelling from the surgery or could be cancer. They gave her an injection to reduce inflammation and gave me more of the pain medication to give her as needed.
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While she was eating she did have several pawing episodes, but she kept at the food.
