Cat had dental now chewing air and pawing at mouth

[dreamingofdeltas]

Wow. That’s disappointing, to not have an answer. Maybe it’s been mentioned, but they ruled out muscular skeletal pain right? They didn’t use a mouth gag right? I think you had said they didn’t.

I find it hard to believe this isn’t related to the dental. It started right after didn’t it?

Be careful with the Onsior. This is the link to FDA it’s boring but read to the end where it mentions Onsior.

How long has it been since the Prednisolone? You can’t use them together and there is a wash out period.

I am sorry you and your cat are going through this. It must be so frustrating. I wouldn’t be doing more diagnostics if it were my cat. He’s been through so much.

Very disappointing, indeed. Forgive me, but how would they determine musculoskeletal pain? He did have head xrays which showed nothing but unsure if that would show what you're referring to. You are correct, no mouth gag as I did ask our vet that.

Yup, it started right after the dental. The vet dnetist today also said it is quite odd but maybe it is a strange coincidence. However, in my research and reading the FOPS facebook group, it looks like dentals can be a "trigger" for FOPS. So who knows.

It is frustrating and disappointing nevertheless. I told sweet Bentley tonight "no more vet visits" unless absolutely necessary. I'm sure the stress doesn't help things.

He stopped the Pred on Sunday 5/22. I hope that is enough time in between...the vet dentist was aware when he was on it. They just mentioned today I couldn't give a steroid with the NSAID.

Interesting about the Onsior, I appreciate that info. Makes me nervous so I will certainly take caution. Thank you.

 

[Molly Girl]

Very disappointing, indeed. Forgive me, but how would they determine musculoskeletal pain? He did have head xrays which showed nothing but unsure if that would show what you're referring to. You are correct, no mouth gag as I did ask our vet that.

Yup, it started right after the dental. The vet dnetist today also said it is quite odd but maybe it is a strange coincidence. However, in my research and reading the FOPS facebook group, it looks like dentals can be a "trigger" for FOPS. So who knows.

It is frustrating and disappointing nevertheless. I told sweet Bentley tonight "no more vet visits" unless absolutely necessary. I'm sure the stress doesn't help things.

He stopped the Pred on Sunday 5/22. I hope that is enough time in between...the vet dentist was aware when he was on it. They just mentioned today I couldn't give a steroid with the NSAID.

Interesting about the Onsior, I appreciate that info. Makes me nervous so I will certainly take caution. Thank you.

Hi there. I just found your post and saw your Bentley has exactly what my girl is going through. The situation is identical. She is very responsive to 50mg gabapentin twice a day and that helps control it. I was wondering if you might have had any updates since your last post? Thank you!

 

[dreamingofdeltas]

Hi there. I just found your post and saw your Bentley has exactly what my girl is going through. The situation is identical. She is very responsive to 50mg gabapentin twice a day and that helps control it. I was wondering if you might have had any updates since your last post? Thank you!

Hi there! I'm so sorry to hear your girl has the same issue. After further testing, he was diagnosed with FOPS. He also was diagnosed with an incidental brain tumor after we had an MRI done in July of last year to ensure it was nothing in his neck or anything visible in his face/head (the tumor is a suspected ependymoma) that is very tiny, which shattered my heart but it is completely unrelated to the FOPS so I do not want you to worry about that.

Thankfully, the tumor is tiny so we are just doing regular neurological checks to see if he has any neuro changes and he has been stable. The first neurologist told us he had 6 months to live, a year with radiation. But we are already 7.5 months in with no changes and our current neurologist at OSU is amazing and told us there's no data really on these tumors this small in cats so we will just monitor.

For the FOPS, we had a rough road finding the right medications and were up to 100mg 3x/day. The neurologist said Pregabalin would be the next med to try and we started that a couple months back and it has been a game changer. He is on 12.5mg twice a day and hasn't had any teeth grinding episodes or pawing at the mouth for the past month. When we switched, the frequency immediately went down but until it reached a stable concentration in his blood, I think it took time to completely dissipate the attacks. I noticed stress (if my husband or I travel for work or vacation) can cause a teeth grinding episode which makes sense as the neurologist shared stress can impact FOPS. We have Feliway in the house, as well.

But things are so much better now for Bentley (even though we unfortunately found he has a tiny brain tumor while trying to diagnose the FOPS.)

Feel free to message me if you have any other questions!!

 

[Rysiek]

Hmm, sounds like something I have been going through since the dental cleaning...He cannot process any dry food...they also think to is FOPS but I do not see clear symptoms...
They want him on gabapentin twice a day, and I am unsure ..

We have a dental appointment in the end of August ..

CT scan and biopsy have not shown any sinister. I sometimes think that they may have damaged a part of a nerve and that hopefully this will heal with time ..

How is you boy doing now?

 

[dreamingofdeltas]

Hmm, sounds like something I have been going through since the dental cleaning...He cannot process any dry food...they also think to is FOPS but I do not see clear symptoms...
They want him on gabapentin twice a day, and I am unsure ..

We have a dental appointment in the end of August ..

CT scan and biopsy have not shown any sinister. I sometimes think that they may have damaged a part of a nerve and that hopefully this will heal with time ..

How is you boy doing now?

Hi there, I'm so sorry to hear that your boy may have FOPS, too.

I think the dental appointment is wise, to ensure that there isn't anything else dental in nature causing issues with him eating dry food.

My Bentley is doing okay! The FOPS ended up being a blessing in disguise, believe it or not - as it led me to the path of wanting to get a diagnosis for him to see if anything would help. While everything else was excluded and he has FOPS, he was diagnosed with an incidental brain tumor that we wouldn't have caught early otherwise. It was 2mm small when he had his MRI last July when diagnosing FOPS and by early April it was 1.5cm and causing neurological symptoms. He had stereotactic radiation (3 radiation treatments in total, one every other day) mid April and we just had his repeat MRI this month and it shrunk by 1/3.

He gets his next MRI in October - this type of tumor will regrow and typically within a year to a year and a half but we do have the option to possibly re-radiate one more time. I'm just hoping the radiation will stunt the tumor for a while.

For the FOPS, Gabapentin was not super helpful for us. It worked at first but we had to keep increasing the dose. We finally switched to Pregabalin in late December/early January and he has been very well managed since. He is on 12.5mg twice a day and only has FOPS attacks when he is stressed (as stress is a trigger) ... typically he has flares when we go out of town or after vet visits.

As crazy as it sounds, I think if he wouldn't have developed FOPS after his dental last May, we may not have been able to give him to best shot at treating the tumor early.

I highly suggest joining the FOPS Facebook group if after the dental they still think that is it. I received so much good info there early on in his diagnoses journey since it is so rare and many vets aren't familiar with it.

Feel free to message me directly if you have anymore questions!! I'm sending good vibes to your sweet boy!!

 

[Rysiek]

Hi there, I'm so sorry to hear that your boy may have FOPS, too.

I think the dental appointment is wise, to ensure that there isn't anything else dental in nature causing issues with him eating dry food.

My Bentley is doing okay! The FOPS ended up being a blessing in disguise, believe it or not - as it led me to the path of wanting to get a diagnosis for him to see if anything would help. While everything else was excluded and he has FOPS, he was diagnosed with an incidental brain tumor that we wouldn't have caught early otherwise. It was 2mm small when he had his MRI last July when diagnosing FOPS and by early April it was 1.5cm and causing neurological symptoms. He had stereotactic radiation (3 radiation treatments in total, one every other day) mid April and we just had his repeat MRI this month and it shrunk by 1/3.

He gets his next MRI in October - this type of tumor will regrow and typically within a year to a year and a half but we do have the option to possibly re-radiate one more time. I'm just hoping the radiation will stunt the tumor for a while.

For the FOPS, Gabapentin was not super helpful for us. It worked at first but we had to keep increasing the dose. We finally switched to Pregabalin in late December/early January and he has been very well managed since. He is on 12.5mg twice a day and only has FOPS attacks when he is stressed (as stress is a trigger) ... typically he has flares when we go out of town or after vet visits.

As crazy as it sounds, I think if he wouldn't have developed FOPS after his dental last May, we may not have been able to give him to best shot at treating the tumor early.

I highly suggest joining the FOPS Facebook group if after the dental they still think that is it. I received so much good info there early on in his diagnoses journey since it is so rare and many vets aren't familiar with it.

Feel free to message me directly if you have anymore questions!! I'm sending good vibes to your sweet boy!!

Happy for Bentley that the tumor was discovered early enough...I hear your point that if not fops you would not have found it early enough to be treated and have a good response to his treatment...

I have joined Facebook group yesterday, very informative. So sad to see the little videos with the cats suffering such a trauma...u cannot even imagine the pain they are going through...

I just hope it will not develop to such extent with Rysiek. Somehow I think that his habit of biting a box, so extreme in times, may serve a function of soothing something in his mouth...

I am a bit tempted to have a medication free period, as he has been really good and much happier. I ordered CBD oil for cats and I may consider more herbal option of sedating products, he did respond well to one of them in the past...

I am in two minds with the dental appointment, as this is a huge stress (2 hours journey one way) + general anaesthetic again...since April he had been going through a lot of this...He will never allow anyone to assess him with no prior sedation...

I wonder what may have happened to him when he was a little, as I got him when he was 1 year old. He used to live with a woman who worked long shifts, so he was left on his own for hours, apparently she saw him on her home video and heard that he was constantly crying...also she fed him only two sachets a day of a poor quality food, so additionally he must have been hungry...Hungry and lonely, abandoned...
When he arrived to my place, he loved it, never showed any signs of missing his former place and human...
But he did not like any strokes, he would just get up and walk away...it was almost as if this was too much for him...now he is great, not really a lap cat, but stays close to me and loves strokes around his head and chin and ears...he has become really trusting as well...

One vet suggested to take his box away, as we were looking for the roots of the swelling under his tongue...but I gave it back to him and he was so grateful...somehow I think it may be almost like "painkiller" as it definitely increases blood circulation in his mouth and head...

Just a question, if you know, would tumor show in CT scan, or this requires MRI scanning?

Thanks

 

[fionasmom]

In humans, CT scans and MRIs can both detect tumors. However, they may not be entirely interchangeable depending on which part of the body or what is being sought. Some cancers don't show up on a CT scan. CT scans are good for finding boundaries of tumors but MRIs can differentiate finer points that might make a difficult to see tumor or cancer easier to see if it is "hidden" in other tissue.

 

[dreamingofdeltas]

Happy for Bentley that the tumor was discovered early enough...I hear your point that if not fops you would not have found it early enough to be treated and have a good response to his treatment...

I have joined Facebook group yesterday, very informative. So sad to see the little videos with the cats suffering such a trauma...u cannot even imagine the pain they are going through...

I just hope it will not develop to such extent with Rysiek. Somehow I think that his habit of biting a box, so extreme in times, may serve a function of soothing something in his mouth...

I am a bit tempted to have a medication free period, as he has been really good and much happier. I ordered CBD oil for cats and I may consider more herbal option of sedating products, he did respond well to one of them in the past...

I am in two minds with the dental appointment, as this is a huge stress (2 hours journey one way) + general anaesthetic again...since April he had been going through a lot of this...He will never allow anyone to assess him with no prior sedation...

I wonder what may have happened to him when he was a little, as I got him when he was 1 year old. He used to live with a woman who worked long shifts, so he was left on his own for hours, apparently she saw him on her home video and heard that he was constantly crying...also she fed him only two sachets a day of a poor quality food, so additionally he must have been hungry...Hungry and lonely, abandoned...
When he arrived to my place, he loved it, never showed any signs of missing his former place and human...
But he did not like any strokes, he would just get up and walk away...it was almost as if this was too much for him...now he is great, not really a lap cat, but stays close to me and loves strokes around his head and chin and ears...he has become really trusting as well...

One vet suggested to take his box away, as we were looking for the roots of the swelling under his tongue...but I gave it back to him and he was so grateful...somehow I think it may be almost like "painkiller" as it definitely increases blood circulation in his mouth and head...

Just a question, if you know, would tumor show in CT scan, or this requires MRI scanning?

Thanks

I completely agree that the group is very sad seeing all of the kitties with such bad FOPS. I'm so glad he has been doing well and fingers crossed he will continue to do well medication free. I have heard good things about CBD, too, for some instances. Our neurologist did not think there was enough research to support its effects but I have seen a lot of folks have good results.

He sounds so very lucky to have you!!

fionasmom is correct - it really depends. In Bentley's case, the CT scan would not have shown it. Actually, funny enough the radiation oncologist said the CT planning they did after the MRI (as they have to use a radiation CT planning machine) did not show the tumor at all. Even though the tumor was fairly large in his head, the physics folks that used the CT for planning had to go off of the MRI to determine everything as far as the math and everything to ensure the correct radiation was delivered to the right spots.

I want to ease your mind though if you are worried about your boy in that regard - all of the specialists we have seen at OSU (and previously at MedVet) do not think the tumor is related at all to the FOPS. It just was a true coincidence. Most of the time, kitties with FOPS/trigeminal nerve issues have clean scans. We just happened to have found out about the tumor incidentally through the path to diagnosis.

I'm sending such good vibes to you guys and hope you get answers during the dental at the end of August.

 

[Rysiek]

I completely agree that the group is very sad seeing all of the kitties with such bad FOPS. I'm so glad he has been doing well and fingers crossed he will continue to do well medication free. I have heard good things about CBD, too, for some instances. Our neurologist did not think there was enough research to support its effects but I have seen a lot of folks have good results.

He sounds so very lucky to have you!!

fionasmom is correct - it really depends. In Bentley's case, the CT scan would not have shown it. Actually, funny enough the radiation oncologist said the CT planning they did after the MRI (as they have to use a radiation CT planning machine) did not show the tumor at all. Even though the tumor was fairly large in his head, the physics folks that used the CT for planning had to go off of the MRI to determine everything as far as the math and everything to ensure the correct radiation was delivered to the right spots.

I want to ease your mind though if you are worried about your boy in that regard - all of the specialists we have seen at OSU (and previously at MedVet) do not think the tumor is related at all to the FOPS. It just was a true coincidence. Most of the time, kitties with FOPS/trigeminal nerve issues have clean scans. We just happened to have found out about the tumor incidentally through the path to diagnosis.

I'm sending such good vibes to you guys and hope you get answers during the dental at the end of August.

I started gabapentin, as he had a set back and I don't want this to get worse to the extent of auto-mutilation...

At the moment I do not know what to expect anymore...just monitoring his state...

 

[fionasmom]

dreamingofdeltas Thank you for updating us on Bentley. Your care of him is incredible.

 

[dreamingofdeltas]

I started gabapentin, as he had a set back and I don't want this to get worse to the extent of auto-mutilation...

At the moment I do not know what to expect anymore...just monitoring his state...

I hope the Gabapentin helps. If it does not, I recommend asking your vet about Pregabalin (brand name is Lyrica) It is similar to Gabapentin but for many FOPS kitties in the FB group, it works better.

Sending you guys so much love!!

 

[dreamingofdeltas]

dreamingofdeltas Thank you for updating us on Bentley. Your care of him is incredible.

Thank you so much, I will do whatever I can to ensure he can have good quality of life for as long as possible. We are crossing our fingers that the tumor will be stunted for a while. His next recheck MRI is in October.

We appreciate all of the good vibes and prayers we can get!