Hello, I have a 16 year old senior cat that recently had dental surgery due to tooth resorption and had 2 extractions. The x-rays were looking pretty bad and I felt scared for my cat but my vet was able to proceed with the surgery and it ended fine. It has been over 2 weeks since the surgery and my cat has been in recovery for a while and she is eating and drinking and behaving as usual but I’ve been concerned because she still continues to drool and I notice she has difficulty sticking her tongue out to lick her food. We keep her on liquid/ wet can food and it takes her a while to finish her food due to her tongue. I’ve already given her all her medications and antibiotics over the past 2 weeks and although she seems fine I’m still worried if anything is infected. The reason I hesitate to book another appointment with the vet is because she is an old cat so recovery might be taking longer (since it was a major surgery) and I don’t see any major signs of pain or difference in her appetite. I will be taking her for a check up eventually but I wonder if I should take her before then since her mouth doesn’t look to be fully recovered. I want to know if anyone else had experiences with older cats healing from dental surgery? Is it normal for them to take longer than 2 weeks to heal? (Continuing to drool, having difficulty using her mouth). I don’t see any swelling so I’m not certain if it’s an infection or maybe something went wrong from the surgery? Any help is appreciated
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16 year old cat had dental surgery and not sure if recovering?
- Thread starter LuluM
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Hello, my 17 year old boy had a couple resorptions removed and he healed up in a shorter period of time with no extra issues. However, every situation is different. Even so, I think I'd call them and have her looked at again. Maybe get a video of her eating, that might help them to see better what your concerns are.
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- #3
I see, I am getting concerned so I will plan to call them tomorrow
Let us know what they say 
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Regardless of cat age, my vets have always booked a two week follow-up on extractions to make sure everything is healing up correctly. Often times the vet can pop and peek (pop open her mouth and have a peek inside) without having to sedate the cat. Sometimes they can do a milder sedation than putting them fully out. And sometimes they prescribe gabapentin for you to give at home to make your cat a compliant bag of Jell-o. It is totally safe and she will be back to herself in eight to twelve hours. You can discuss all of these options with your vet. But I definitely recommend bringing her down for a follow-up--if that's what the vet recommends too.
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- #6
So I just came back from the vet and I’m glad I went because it’s gotten really badLet us know what they say
The vet took a look and found an oral mass that has grown so fast in the span of few weeks (from the day of the surgery to now) so he decided to take a few samples to the lab and hopefully it isn’t cancerous. Her other teeth and vitals are all fine it’s the mass that’s very concerning. Until the lab results come back the vet gave us some gabapentin, mouth wash, and prednisone to help her in the meantime. Vet suggested regular check ups but didn’t tell us specifically when, just whenever we feel the need to. Worst case scenario is that it’s cancerous which makes my heart feel heavy. Hopefully it’s just an infection to which then the vet can remove it although she would have to be sedated again.I don’t want to freak myself out by googling a bunch of stuff but I’m praying it isn’t cancerous
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- #8
Update: the lab results came back today and unfortunately it is a cancerous tumor in her mouth. The vet said it was one of the more common cancers among cats and considering her age having her go through surgery or chemotherapy wouldn’t be the best. The best we can do is provide her the best comfort for however much time she has left. The vet will provide us with the prednisone and gabapentin as that helps her the most and if her health were to decline we would have to discuss about the quality of her life. I’m not exactly sure how I can go about this as it’s the worst news we can get, all I can hope for is that her health doesn’t decline so soon. I may make another post about this but if anyone has any tips or advice on cats dealing with oral cancer it would greatly help. As of now the medication seems to help her and she’s eating and drinking fine but from here on out I want to provide her the best life I can give.
