Dental Issues In 2 Yrd Snowshoe

[MissMoxieFoxie]

My Luca Lou has started to have some teeth issues. We have seen 3 different vets and all differ in opinions.

This started at the end of January 2018. He had a sore throat and could barely meow. When he did, it was extremely gravelly or wouldn't meow at all which is unusual because Luca loves to talk. He eventual stopped eating and we rushed him to our vet. The first vet said he had the calicivirus and had ulcers down his throat. He was given an antibiotic shot, a steroid shot, and an oral medication to coat his ulcers and stimulate his appetite Relief, he was eating again and talking! 2 to 3 weeks later he went downhill. Gravely meows again.. 2nd visit to the vet. Gave another steroid shot and more oral medication. Luca gradually got better but not 100%. 3rd visit to the vet. He thought Luca had stomatitis and wanted to do a full mouth extraction. At the time Luca just had a red line above his gums. We thought the full mouth extraction was a little extreme and searched for a 2nd opinion.

The 2nd vet said tested his blood for a variety of things and everything came back good. They said he was a healthy boy and they believed he didn't have the calicivirus.... Also the oral medication the first vet gave us was an antidepressant and they didn't understand why he prescribed it. Spent close to $500 to get the answer we have a healthy cat.

After much internet research, I decided to find a dental specialist who is now our new vet. He doesn't believe it was the calicivirius as well. He believes he has gingivitis and needs a dental cleaning. The stage of his teeth is reversible. It's also common in Siamese breeds.

Luca current symptoms: red line across his gums, very swollen chin with sores, and his lymph nodes are the size of acorns. The vet gave us clin drops and it seems to be improving his overall mood and appetite. We ate scheduled for a dental cleaning July 30th. I may just be an anxious cat mother but is there anything I can do for him? Any suggestions? Thank you.

 

[silkenpaw]

Ouch, that chin looks painful. Did he have that rash on his chin all along or is this something new? Is it part of his disease?

My Ford has plasmalymphocytic gingivostomatitis. It happens when the immune system attacks dental plaque. The treatment is to keep the teeth clean but some cases require immunosuppressants. Is this what your vet thinks your cat has? Ford never had an eruption on his chin, but then he seems less severe than Luca Lou. He’s on Atopica (cyclosporine) and is doing well.

 

[Furballsmom]

I'm trying to understand, the third vet believes that gingivitis is causing the hoarse throat? What did this vet say about the super swollen lymph nodes?

It might sound like an odd question or two, but since blood tests came back clean;
Are you using all ceramic food and water dishes? Re the chin
Have you changed his food? Is he getting canned food? Re the hoarse throat
Do you-all have mold?

 

[MissMoxieFoxie]

Ouch, that chin looks painful. Did he have that rash on his chin all along or is this something new? Is it part of his disease?

My Ford has plasmalymphocytic gingivostomatitis. It happens when the immune system attacks dental plaque. The treatment is to keep the teeth clean but some cases require immunosuppressants. Is this what your vet thinks your cat has? Ford never had an eruption on his chin, but then he seems less severe than Luca Lou. He’s on Atopica (cyclosporine) and is doing well.

The rash on his chin is new. No one has given him a diagnosis but more it could be this or that. We took him into the vet over a week ago. At that point it was just his chin and lymph nodes were just swollen. Of course the next day is when the rash started. He still eats, drinks, and uses his litter box regularly. We called the vet and he advised us to continue the Clin Drops. We ran out last Thursday and called the vet Saturday to update them. We explained all of his symptoms again and they prescribed us more Clin Drops.

Honestly, I didn't get a straight answer beside he needs his teeth cleaned and it should reduce the swelling in his lymph nodes. Also, that it's extremely common for Siamese to have bad teeth... Basically we were going to get his teeth cleaned and see where it leads us.

He was tested for B Feline Profile (WBS,T4, FeLV, FIV) FEP4 which came back negative.

I'm trying to understand, the third vet believes that gingivitis is causing the hoarse throat? What did this vet say about the super swollen lymph nodes?

It might sound like an odd question or two, but since blood tests came back clean;
Are you using all ceramic food and water dishes? Re the chin
Have you changed his food? Is he getting canned food? Re the hoarse throat
Do you-all have mold?

Luca no longer has any hoarseness and his meows have returned to normal. He's still having eating issues though. I feed him some soft and hard food. It tends to fall out of his mouth and we can tell it hurts but he also a VERY picky eater.

The lymph nodes should return to normal after his dental cleaning.

We have a ceramic water fountain that we started adding dental fresh (vet recommended). He has some metal dishes we bought from Walmart and I have started to question them...

 

[Furballsmom]

Try using something other than metal for all his dishes for a week or two, it might have a positive difference for his chin etc.

 

[MissMoxieFoxie]

Try using something other than metal for all his dishes for a week or two, it might have a positive difference for his chin etc.

I will, I am ready to try anything. I just want my poor furrbaby to feel better.

 

[Furballsmom]

.

 

[MissMoxieFoxie]

Got some more news from the vet. He is concerned that his lymph nodes haven't gone down from the Clindrops so he switching to clavamax to see if it helps. He moved his apointment for teeth cleaning up to next week and now wants to take a lymph node sample... with his lymph nodes still swollen they are concerned about cancer. I'll keep you updated. It disheartening but I'm going to stay optimistic. We are switching food bowls to see if it helps and hoping it just allergies.

 

[Furballsmom]

I'm keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers!

 

[Sister midnight]

Any updates?

 

[theflash82]

I know this thread is from a while ago, but how is he doing?

 

[Daisy6]

This looks like a weird case to me. Because the first symptom was a voice change I would think it started in his throat, then crawled up to the mouth area. It can be lymph node cancer if this is the case but I don't want to panic. I would want Vet 3 to combine dental work with a lymph node biopsy.

 

[Sister midnight]

Could it not just be a throat ulcer that caused that. I hope he's doing okay