Need advice- cat won't eat, losing weight, bad teeth

[TuxieTuesday]

Hi, my 15 year old I posted about before Stormy had vestibular/head tilting well over a month ago. She mostly recovered from that but her appetite went from bad to worse to not wanting to eat at all. I think it's her teeth. She lost a pound in about a months time and she was already small and underweight. I emailed the vet over the weekend asking if I could get a transdermal appetite stimulate and now they've left me a message saying they can give her an injection. An injection of what exactly I don't know. Is there injection of appetite stimulate? Would that be bad for a 6lb cat?

 

[game misconduct]

appetite stimulant isnt gonna resolve anything it would be better. to get her teeth checked and puled out if needed so she can eat normally again if its her teeth as you suspect.longer you put off dental work the more it costs

 

[GranolaLouise]

If you think it is her teeth then take her to the vet and have them look for infection. If pain is making her not want to eat, then I personally think the source of the pain needs to be addressed because no matter how hungry she is from the stimulant, if her teeth are hurting she won;t eat unless it is mushy. JMO
I ditto game misconduct's comment

 

[TuxieTuesday]

I understand. I'm terrified having her under for extraction but wanted something to help her in the meantime to put some weight back on.

 

[GranolaLouise]

I understand. I'm terrified having her under for extraction but wanted something to help her in the meantime to put some weight back on.

Having had an ailing senior cat in the past, I clearly understand your concern and worry.

 

[fionasmom]

This is a guess...your vet may be referring to injectable Cerenia which is really an anti nausea medication and not an appetite stimulant. You are perfectly within your rights to ask for a complete explanation of what they want to do. If they don't want to administer an actual appetite stimulant or prefer Cerenia, ask about it.

I do agree with the others that if she has a painful mouth or bad teeth that it is a bigger problem. With enough pain, she may not eat regardless.

 

[TuxieTuesday]

We leave for the vet in a couple hours. I was told over the phone they might want to give a steroid and/or antibiotics.

 

[GranolaLouise]

We leave for the vet in a couple hours. I was told over the phone they might want to give a steroid and/or antibiotics.

let us know the outcome

 

[TuxieTuesday]

No shot given, only fluids and got sent home with a daily oral antibiotic Zydaclin and Mirataz gel. She has been much more willing to eat last night and today even before I gave her the medicine.

 

[GranolaLouise]

No shot given, only fluids and got sent home with a daily oral antibiotic Zydaclin and Mirataz gel. She has been much more willing to eat last night and today even before I gave her the medicine.

Things are looking up! Hopefully it will continue.

 

[FriendofFerals]

If you think it is her teeth then take her to the vet and have them look for infection. If pain is making her not want to eat, then I personally think the source of the pain needs to be addressed because no matter how hungry she is from the stimulant, if her teeth are hurting she won;t eat unless it is mushy. JMO
I ditto game misconduct's comment

I know everyone's situation is different, but when my (now 19-year-old) former feral was 15, he was a mess with parasites, fleas, inner ear infections etc when I first transitioned him onto the catio and later into the house. His teeth were clearly bad and he was diagnosed with stomatitis and periodontal disease the first time I trapped him and took him to the vet to treat an abscessed leg after he was in a fight.

A year later, after addressing all the other issues, it was time to address his teeth. It was affecting his eating, clearly, he was hurting, I could smell his breath 10 feet away and his gums were bleeding. His pre-op bloodwork checking kidney values were BARELY below the SDMA level that the dental clinic would accept for anesthesia. They said if I waited another 6 months, it may be too risky to put him under for the surgery.

I was scared, of course, but even more scared about the idea of him being in so much pain that he stopped eating. So we did the surgery and they extracted all of his teeth except his two upper canines and one lower.

He made it fine through the procedure, but due to his age, the recovery was slow. My 9 yr old cat who had 14 teeth out was fine in 3 weeks. But old man Squeaky took several months to recover. We needed more buprenorphine painkiller, more gabapentin, and more Mirataz transdermal to stimulate his appetite, and at points, all he would eat was grocery-store rotisserie chicken...that I had to chew up and spit out like Momma bird to Baby bird.

One side problem was he could not groom himself whilst recovering, so when he did finally feel better, he started overgrooming as a way to soothe himself. He's on amitriptyline (Elavil) to control that now and it kicked in after around 6 weeks..

Today, he's fine. He eats dry food (somehow) and is nearly 20 years old. Amazingly, his kidney values have barely changed, but he is now over the limit on SDMA for surgery.

Pics are right after surgery, all swollen and drooly, then 9 months later feeling much better. Third pic is a few days ago.