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TL;DR - Is 2+ months too long to wait to have decayed teeth extracted?
We took ten-year-old Kitty to the vet yesterday after noticing he'd been gradually losing interest in his kibble over the past few months and it had reached a point where we realized it wasn't just pickiness.
The bloodwork and urinalysis are still in process, but the vet did a thorough physical exam and said everything looked great except that Kitty has a few teeth that need to be extracted because of cavities. (And I guess this makes sense with the list of Kitty's symptoms.)
The earliest appointment we could get for extractions and dental cleaning is mid-August, so we booked it.
Until then, he's eating pate-style or mashed-up wet food mixed with water or tuna water. We're also still putting out a small amount of kibble since he's sometimes eating a tiny bit when he feels like it; I figure any food he's willing to eat right now is a good thing. As long as he keeps eating and drinking, I'm trying not to panic about his calorie intake. (And when I'm trying not to worry, what I really mean is I'm monitoring obsessively to make sure his food intake and litterbox output stay on par and he doesn't have any significant weight loss.)
In the meantime, should I be freaking out and calling around trying find another vet who can do the extractions and cleaning sooner? I know all the local vet clinics are overwhelmed now with taking care of all the COVID lockdown companions everybody adopted last year, and none of them are currently accepting new patients, so August might be the best we can do unless we're lucky enough to get moved up due to a cancellation.
Or will Kitty be okay to wait until August and I should just chill out? I know it's not unusual for us as humans to have to wait a couple months (or longer) to get our own teeth fixed when the dentist finds a cavity at a checkup, but I don't know if cavities are a more urgent situation for cats than they are for humans.
Anyway, I guess I just need a reality check: on a scale of CHILL to PANIC, where should I be?
(Also, I just have to say that I feel terrible about this. I'd always had the impression that dental cleanings were an unnecessary upsell some vet clinics pushed just to make more money, so Kitty's never had one. I realize poor Kitty has to be pretty miserable to have reached the point that he doesn't want to eat his normal food, especially since cats tend to hide their pain until it gets so bad that they no longer can hide it. My ignorance and irresponsibility put my poor cat in misery. Please learn from my mistake!)
We took ten-year-old Kitty to the vet yesterday after noticing he'd been gradually losing interest in his kibble over the past few months and it had reached a point where we realized it wasn't just pickiness.
The bloodwork and urinalysis are still in process, but the vet did a thorough physical exam and said everything looked great except that Kitty has a few teeth that need to be extracted because of cavities. (And I guess this makes sense with the list of Kitty's symptoms.)
The earliest appointment we could get for extractions and dental cleaning is mid-August, so we booked it.
Until then, he's eating pate-style or mashed-up wet food mixed with water or tuna water. We're also still putting out a small amount of kibble since he's sometimes eating a tiny bit when he feels like it; I figure any food he's willing to eat right now is a good thing. As long as he keeps eating and drinking, I'm trying not to panic about his calorie intake. (And when I'm trying not to worry, what I really mean is I'm monitoring obsessively to make sure his food intake and litterbox output stay on par and he doesn't have any significant weight loss.)
In the meantime, should I be freaking out and calling around trying find another vet who can do the extractions and cleaning sooner? I know all the local vet clinics are overwhelmed now with taking care of all the COVID lockdown companions everybody adopted last year, and none of them are currently accepting new patients, so August might be the best we can do unless we're lucky enough to get moved up due to a cancellation.
Or will Kitty be okay to wait until August and I should just chill out? I know it's not unusual for us as humans to have to wait a couple months (or longer) to get our own teeth fixed when the dentist finds a cavity at a checkup, but I don't know if cavities are a more urgent situation for cats than they are for humans.
Anyway, I guess I just need a reality check: on a scale of CHILL to PANIC, where should I be?
(Also, I just have to say that I feel terrible about this. I'd always had the impression that dental cleanings were an unnecessary upsell some vet clinics pushed just to make more money, so Kitty's never had one. I realize poor Kitty has to be pretty miserable to have reached the point that he doesn't want to eat his normal food, especially since cats tend to hide their pain until it gets so bad that they no longer can hide it. My ignorance and irresponsibility put my poor cat in misery. Please learn from my mistake!)