I adopted Oreo, a grey with white Maine Coon mix, around Thanksgiving last year and he has filled my life with so much affection and joy ever since. He's a sweet, clumsy big boy at almost 14 lbs and he will soon turn 3 on April 9th.
I will say that we had a little bit of a rough start when he first came to me.
When I brought him to his first vet visit and learned that his teeth and gums were in bad shape. Lots of tartar build up and angry red, swollen gums. So the vet scheduled a dental cleaning and during the X-ray decided that 6 teeth needed to come out. This vet didn't have the best bedside manner and was also located an hour away from me, so after the follow-up to the extraction when he suggested that Oreo would need to be on antibiotics for 10-days and if he didn't respond to treatment that all his teeth would need to come out, I freaked out and sought out a second opinion.
The second vet I took Oreo to was so much more helpful in explaining what might be the issue. She suspected that Oreo had Bartonella (cat scratch disease) which is transmitted by fleas and in combination with presence of tartar and plaque on his teeth caused his gums to be so inflamed. A blood test confirmed that he had it, so we started him on a 30-day course of Azithromycin. He did respond well to the antibiotics, but when I took Oreo in for his follow-up, the vet probed his teeth and saw that some were too far gone and needed to be removed.
So last Friday, Oreo had his second dental cleaning and X-ray in 3 months (!!!) only this time the vet could see abscessed teeth, several fractures in his jaw, and recommended full mouth extraction. I was distraught by the news - especially coming to the realization that Oreo had lived with so much pain for so long and at the same time admired at his ability (and cat's abilities in general) to hide his pain very well. I agreed immediately to have the remaining 24 teeth taken out.
During the first 12 hours post-surgery, he was in pretty rough shape. His mouth was still drooling blood and he was very sleepy. Eventually, I managed to get him to eat some soft wet food, about a quarter of what he usually has. He didn't particularly want the pain medicine and I was only able to administer it to him twice in the first 36 hours. I honestly think he didn't want anything going near his mouth that he wasn't familiar with.
It's been five days since the surgery and I've noticed his appetite hasn't quite come back, but he could stand to lose a smidgen anyway.
Personality-wise, he is so much more affectionate and friendly. He had seemed an extremely shy boy whenever I had visitors come over before, but yesterday when he had first visitor, he didn't hide under the couch and instead would cautiously approach the visitor. I hope this is a good sign of a more social, happy boy in the months and years to come.
Anyway, that's my story so far. I've been doing extensive Google searches to help me along this process, but ironically as I was researching different types of litter, I came across this forum and found the information so useful that I decided to join.
Thanks for reading along and see you all around on the forums!
I will say that we had a little bit of a rough start when he first came to me.
When I brought him to his first vet visit and learned that his teeth and gums were in bad shape. Lots of tartar build up and angry red, swollen gums. So the vet scheduled a dental cleaning and during the X-ray decided that 6 teeth needed to come out. This vet didn't have the best bedside manner and was also located an hour away from me, so after the follow-up to the extraction when he suggested that Oreo would need to be on antibiotics for 10-days and if he didn't respond to treatment that all his teeth would need to come out, I freaked out and sought out a second opinion.
The second vet I took Oreo to was so much more helpful in explaining what might be the issue. She suspected that Oreo had Bartonella (cat scratch disease) which is transmitted by fleas and in combination with presence of tartar and plaque on his teeth caused his gums to be so inflamed. A blood test confirmed that he had it, so we started him on a 30-day course of Azithromycin. He did respond well to the antibiotics, but when I took Oreo in for his follow-up, the vet probed his teeth and saw that some were too far gone and needed to be removed.
So last Friday, Oreo had his second dental cleaning and X-ray in 3 months (!!!) only this time the vet could see abscessed teeth, several fractures in his jaw, and recommended full mouth extraction. I was distraught by the news - especially coming to the realization that Oreo had lived with so much pain for so long and at the same time admired at his ability (and cat's abilities in general) to hide his pain very well. I agreed immediately to have the remaining 24 teeth taken out.
During the first 12 hours post-surgery, he was in pretty rough shape. His mouth was still drooling blood and he was very sleepy. Eventually, I managed to get him to eat some soft wet food, about a quarter of what he usually has. He didn't particularly want the pain medicine and I was only able to administer it to him twice in the first 36 hours. I honestly think he didn't want anything going near his mouth that he wasn't familiar with.
It's been five days since the surgery and I've noticed his appetite hasn't quite come back, but he could stand to lose a smidgen anyway.
Anyway, that's my story so far. I've been doing extensive Google searches to help me along this process, but ironically as I was researching different types of litter, I came across this forum and found the information so useful that I decided to join.
Thanks for reading along and see you all around on the forums!
I can't wait to see Miss Puff!
