Cats getting stomatitis one after the other

[david68]

I have one cat that started battling stomatitis in 2020. She eventually had to have all her teeth out, but I still have to medicate her to keep it under control. Then, a second cat of mine started experiencing it last year, resulting in another full mouth extraction. I took another one of my cats to the vet today for a checkup, and it also revealed dental problems. He won't let me check his mouth easily, but with the vet tech helping, I could see lesions on his gums that look just like those on my first cat. And he's lost some weight

This has been absolutely devastating both personally and financially. I feel like I'm in some kind of horrible slow-motion trainwreck and can do NOTHING to stop it. I still have one cat that's unaffected, but I'm now worried that he will get it, too. And I don't know how to prevent that.

I've tried reading up on it, but there's all sorts of contradictory information. At this point, I can't help but think that it's somehow contagious. Some sources blame a calici virus, but there seems to be no definitive proof.

Has anyone else seen this disease pass from one cat to another in their household? I'm to the point of feeling like after these cats age and pass away, I will never have pets again. It's too awful trying everything vets tell you to do and still having them suffer from this.

 

[Fergusboy]

Oh, yes, this happened to my cats, too. My vet also said dental disease is not contagious from one cat to another. Vet thought my situation of so many cats with severe dental disease was so unusual that she consulted with two veterinary dental specialists ( they were no help). They lamely attributed my cats' dental plague to stress from "having too many cats". Here's what I think happened: I adopted a new shelter cat and within a day or two ALL of my other cats began sneezing, coughing, etc. Eventually, every one of them also got bad dental disease. New kitty never had upper respiratory symptoms, but did eventually have bad dental disease, too. I think new kitty brought in a different strain of calici virus, and gave it to all the other cats. My 8 cats were a variety of ages, from kittens up to 11 years. And they ALL had major dental issues. There are many strains of calicivirus and it is known that the calici vaccine our cats get isn't all that effective. I spent so much $$$ on dental procedures for my cats and it was so difficult to get an appointment (it was 2020-21 and vet appointments were so hard to get!!). With stomatitis, the only thing that really works is total extractions, which my 2 who had it recovered from just fine.

 

[david68]

I'm so sorry that this happened to you, too. And the vets DON'T warn you that it may spread.

One bad part of this is that I have one very old cat with multiple health issues who may not live much longer. There is one friendly cat left at my TNR colony. I had thought of bringing this friendly cat indoors, but now, I'm afraid that if I did so, she would get infected with this same "plague."

 

[FeebysOwner]

I've read a number of articles on the internet that say there is a direct correlation between dental disease/stomatitis and FCV. It is all about the immune system. I have no idea if it would prevent the dental disease from happening, supplements like DMG, that boost the immune system might be something to consider in case it could help any.

Even though the FCV vaccination can't prevent infection 100%, it is still one line of defense that should benefit the cat. The vaccination will lessen the impacts of an infection, and that should mean it would also reduce/lessen the odds of dental disease occurring.
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