Facial Swelling After Dental Surgery

[Auzora]

Hey guys, as the title implies, my girl had dental surgery/extractions (yesterday) and I'm pretty sure one of her cheeks is swollen now. Is this normal? I figured it would be due to the nature of the surgery but I looked it up and there was really nothing mentioning it, surprisingly. Most of my other cats have had the same procedure and I didn't notice any swelling (their faces just looked a bit different because of the missing teeth obviously). If it helps, she's acting normal at this point in time, even rubbing her fluffy cheeks on things when she's happy lol. I haven't been able to give her the painkillers due them needing to be taken with food (and she's only eaten a kibble here and there so far).

I'll be calling the vet tomorrow but I'm such a worrywart so I would like some input on whether it's normal or not before then! Thanks

 

[verna davies]

It could be from the extractions but I would give the vet a call just in case. Dry food might be difficult for her, do you have any wet to give her so she can have the pain relief.

 

[Auzora]

V verna davies yeah I'll be calling as soon as I wake up tomorrow! She unfortunately has never had an interest in anything other than dry food. I tried giving her wet food anyway though, and then I tried tuna. No interest in either. I'll be softening the dry food a bit next and see if she's interested in that.

 

[verna davies]

Please let us know what the vet says

 

[white shadow]

.
Hi Auzora.

That swelling really should be looked at. Some swelling can be expected after surgery, but it might also suggest that there was an earlier infection that's now 'blossoming'. I would be very inclined to just bring her back in this morning.

There's another reason to get her back.....when she was discharged, she still had the benefit of the pain medication used for the surgery, so that euphoria you were seeing last night was the residual benefit of the anesthetic drugs. The usual protocol is that your use of the at-home pain med continues the pain control without interruption.

Without your giving the pain meds, she will quickly 'come out' from under the anesthetic and probably be in quite some pain. Once that happens, it's more difficult to bring it back under control.

If you bring her back, they could both examine the swelling (and determine if she needs an antibiotic) and administer immediate pain relief - and then do a more thorough job of ensuring that you are better prepared to continue the pain med at home. One of them should have carefully walked you through those directions and spotted the problem before she went home.

There's a very appealing wet food that's often used for cats after surgery and available from the Vet [Hill's a/d] and the pain med could be mixed into a teaspoonful of that (I'm presuming you were given Metacam suspension.)

Hope that helps - let us know how this turns out.
.

 

[Auzora]

Hey guys. So I brought her to the vet and she has a slight fever and there is a bit of swelling. The vet didn't really say whether the swelling was normal or not but based on her comments it sounded like it was normal for the most part because she just had teeth removed. The vet suggested keeping her overnight so she could get fluids, meds, etc. so that's what I did. I'll be getting a call sometime tomorrow about how she's doing, and if she's doing well then I'll be able to pick her up then as well.

 

[verna davies]

Its good that she is being kept in. They will keep an eye on her, give her pain meds and make sure she is ok.. I hope she comes home tomorrow so you can make a big fuss of her. Thanks for updating us.

 

[Auzora]

No problem V verna davies ! I hope she can come home tomorrow as well

 

[denice]

The fluids should also give her a pick me up. Hopefully she will eat when she comes home and you will be able to continue the pain meds. The slight fever may have been from being a little dehydrated.