My 15yo cat recently died from renal failure caused by a tooth infection. It was probably one of the most awful situations in my life. I had to take her daily to the vet for checkups and antibiotics because the vet said it would be too risky to pull the tooth given her age. She kept getting weaker every day and finally died while hooked up to an IV in the vet's office. I was a few minutes too late getting there to say goodbye. We had grown up together all our lives.
I have another cat who is about 10-12 years old. She's always had bad teeth, but her teeth now are really awful. They're covered in tartar and her gums are red and receding. The vet, once more, says it's too risky to sedate her to give her a proper cleaning. The vet doesn't have gas anesthesia, which is supposedly our only option, so I have no idea what to do.
I live in a little town in Mexico, and so far, I haven't found any vet who uses gas anesthesia.
I don't want to just let this go and risk her having kidney damage as well, but if she dies during the cleaning—as the vet keeps warning me about—I couldn't bear it. I've looked into non-anesthetic cleanings and heard only about how cruel and ineffective they are. I've looked into anti-tartar sprays and read they don't work (and the vet hasn't heard of them). I asked my vet (and read around) if I could brush her teeth, but she said this was only good for keeping them already clean and would do nothing against the tartar. The vet has recommended switching her over to Royal Canin Mature Cat to care for her teeth. But if a toothbrushing and basic scraping isn't able to save her health, how is a change of diet going to do it?
Does anyone have any ideas? Suggestions? Should I, at least, pressure my vet into giving her a blood test to check her kidneys? I've been writing in to vets all over the areas, but they all say about the same thing: gas anesthesia.
I feel absolutely awful about neglecting their dental health like this. I honestly had no idea I was supposed to routinely check their teeth and clean them. I adopted them when I was around 7, so I figured I did a good job simply feeding them, cleaning their litter boxes, etc.
When I initially took my 15yo cat to get a lump on her nose checked (that turned out being an infected tooth), the first vet pretty much sent me home with nothing. She told me to keep an eye on it and bring her back in if it got any bigger, since it was likely a benign growth. This ended up delaying her treatment until I got her to the second vet, who figured out what was wrong, and started giving her antibiotics. But while she had been acting completely normal, as soon as she began treatment, she started deteriorating rapidly. She was dead within a week. I feel like I can't trust even the medical professionals to know what they're doing, honestly.
I don't want to make any more mistakes, but I'm stumped right now.
I have another cat who is about 10-12 years old. She's always had bad teeth, but her teeth now are really awful. They're covered in tartar and her gums are red and receding. The vet, once more, says it's too risky to sedate her to give her a proper cleaning. The vet doesn't have gas anesthesia, which is supposedly our only option, so I have no idea what to do.
I live in a little town in Mexico, and so far, I haven't found any vet who uses gas anesthesia.
I don't want to just let this go and risk her having kidney damage as well, but if she dies during the cleaning—as the vet keeps warning me about—I couldn't bear it. I've looked into non-anesthetic cleanings and heard only about how cruel and ineffective they are. I've looked into anti-tartar sprays and read they don't work (and the vet hasn't heard of them). I asked my vet (and read around) if I could brush her teeth, but she said this was only good for keeping them already clean and would do nothing against the tartar. The vet has recommended switching her over to Royal Canin Mature Cat to care for her teeth. But if a toothbrushing and basic scraping isn't able to save her health, how is a change of diet going to do it?
Does anyone have any ideas? Suggestions? Should I, at least, pressure my vet into giving her a blood test to check her kidneys? I've been writing in to vets all over the areas, but they all say about the same thing: gas anesthesia.
I feel absolutely awful about neglecting their dental health like this. I honestly had no idea I was supposed to routinely check their teeth and clean them. I adopted them when I was around 7, so I figured I did a good job simply feeding them, cleaning their litter boxes, etc.
When I initially took my 15yo cat to get a lump on her nose checked (that turned out being an infected tooth), the first vet pretty much sent me home with nothing. She told me to keep an eye on it and bring her back in if it got any bigger, since it was likely a benign growth. This ended up delaying her treatment until I got her to the second vet, who figured out what was wrong, and started giving her antibiotics. But while she had been acting completely normal, as soon as she began treatment, she started deteriorating rapidly. She was dead within a week. I feel like I can't trust even the medical professionals to know what they're doing, honestly.
I don't want to make any more mistakes, but I'm stumped right now.
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