Acting Strange after Dental Surgery

[Lisaalc]

Hi all,

My cat Alfred got dental surgery two days ago. He had to get two teeth removed. The vet took his vitals a week before and everything was clear. He had the surgery and everything seemed to have gone well. They sent us home with antibiotics and pain meds. But ever since he's been home he has just not been acting himself. He's a ragdoll Siamese and he's normally very chill, loved to be picked up and come to bed and cuddle, but he refuses to be heald, doesn't come on the bed. He usually comes to a whistle but he won't come. When I do pet him he seems to really want to be pet but other than that he isn't himself. He seems on very high alert and I don't think he's sleeping much. He has ate and been taking his medicine but he isn't eating alot. I don't know if I should bring him back to the vet because I'm scared that might stress him out more but I'm also very worried for him and am not sure what I should do.

 

[ArtNJ]

Dental surgery can hurt for days, just ask my wife. My guess is that he is still in pain. Call your dental vet, describe what you are seeing; hopefully they verify my hunch.

 

[daftcat75]

Vets often give a long lasting pain medicine injection with dental procedures to make it easier on both the cat and the owners. The alternative is a shorter duration oral medicine which you can imagine might not be so welcome after a dental procedure. It may show up on your invoice as Buprenorphine SR where the SR stands for sustained release. You can also call your vet's office and ask if that was given to him. If so, he should be back to normal in 72 hours. Right now, he's probably stoned and that's disorienting enough for him to act oddly.

 

[gilmargl]

Cats react very differently to dental surgery. One of my cats had most of her teeth removed, and, although she was certainly not happy with the situation, she was soon back to normal. Another young cat had dental surgery on two occasions, and each time it was a drama. She refused to have anything to do with me and wouldn't even take food from me. She fled and hid as soon as she saw me. My food was causing her pain. I had to find someone else to try to coax her to eat. Painkillers, which I put on her food, evidently taste quite nice, so the other cats were very keen to steal her special meal.

A few years previously, she had been trapped successfully using tuna fish as bait, so I tried to tempt her again with tuna. She became a tuna fish junky and it took a long time to get her out of that habit.

I imagine Alfred is somewhat disorientated; he has toothache and just doesn't know what to do with himself, poor boy. If you are still worried, call the vet and ask his advice. Both of my cats were given painkillers during (or immediately after) the surgery but it was only effective for 24 hours. On the following days I had to administer Meloxicam once a day.
Good luck!

 

[maggie101]

My cat had her teeth cleaned. It took 5 days for her to eat and play like she used to

 

[terestrife]

My cat acted funny and the vet realized the medication he gave her was making her nauseous. she was back to normal once she was done with the pain meds. Always call in to verify with the vet after a procedure like that. Leave a message with the front desk, or ask if theres someone you can talk to. theres usually a knowledgeable person the in office ready to take calls while the vet is busy.

 

[jen]

He had a huge ordeal a couple days ago. Give him some time to recover.