Hi everyone, looking for advice on what to do here. Our 12 year old girl has had bad breath for quite some time as well as some breathing issues. A previous vet had said that she probably just had a touch of asthma and needed me to brush her teeth on occasion.
Well, after we switched vets, I decided to double check on this. Not only did she have several really bad teeth that had to be extracted, she had such severe stomatitis that there's a hole going up through the roof of her mouth into her nose. The vet stitched it up but the stitches came loose, apparently because the tissue there is so degraded that it can't really hold a stitch anymore. While I understand there's a surgery that installs a flap over a hole like this, our vet isn't experienced in doing that, it's possible that due to the degradation of the tissue that wouldn't work either, and I'm honestly not sure if we could even afford it. We're already very slowly paying down her and another cat's dental extractions due to stomatitis.
At this point it's horrible to see her try to eat because she snuffles and sneezes constantly. She picks at her food because it's clearly causing her discomfort, and when she breathes you can hear her nasal passages are stuffy. I tried giving her broth, and I also tried softening up some dry food on the vet's recommendation to see if that would work better than the pate I was giving her. She seemed to still have issues but I just started the dry food today. I guess I'm wondering if anyone else here has had to deal with this, and if there's any way to help her eat and be more comfortable. I'm having the horrible feeling that we may have to let her go soon but I want to try what we can to help her get better first.
Well, after we switched vets, I decided to double check on this. Not only did she have several really bad teeth that had to be extracted, she had such severe stomatitis that there's a hole going up through the roof of her mouth into her nose. The vet stitched it up but the stitches came loose, apparently because the tissue there is so degraded that it can't really hold a stitch anymore. While I understand there's a surgery that installs a flap over a hole like this, our vet isn't experienced in doing that, it's possible that due to the degradation of the tissue that wouldn't work either, and I'm honestly not sure if we could even afford it. We're already very slowly paying down her and another cat's dental extractions due to stomatitis.
At this point it's horrible to see her try to eat because she snuffles and sneezes constantly. She picks at her food because it's clearly causing her discomfort, and when she breathes you can hear her nasal passages are stuffy. I tried giving her broth, and I also tried softening up some dry food on the vet's recommendation to see if that would work better than the pate I was giving her. She seemed to still have issues but I just started the dry food today. I guess I'm wondering if anyone else here has had to deal with this, and if there's any way to help her eat and be more comfortable. I'm having the horrible feeling that we may have to let her go soon but I want to try what we can to help her get better first.
