Took my six-year-old cat to the vet. Vet looks at cat and immediately says, "All those teeth will have to come out." (Five years back, almost all of the cat's teeth were pulled because of stomatitis. They left the front four--two fangs at top, two on bottom--intact at that time because they were not affected by the stomatitis but told me that they'd probably fall out.)
To be sure I was remembering correctly, I looked up stomatitis online. Symptoms: very bad breath, bloody drool, loss of appetite, lack of grooming, swollen gums. The standard narrative is that stomatitis is excruciatingly painful.
Okay. The cat's breath is fine. There is NO blood. He's eating fine. He grooms himself (and the other cats) with no discernible difference from past performance. His gums are swollen and reddish at the two top fangs (not the bottom ones). When I touch his gums however, he does not react in any way.
I am strongly resistant to have his remaining teeth removed. He enjoys grooming his claws very much, and those remaining teeth are how he does it. I am also told that once those teeth come out, he may have trouble keeping his tongue in his mouth. If it's stomatitis and if the cat was in pain (which I do not accept at this time) then yes, I would have the teeth removed, but I don't think it's stomatitis.
Has anyone encountered this? A situation that looks like stomatitis but isn't? I don't think it's a food allergy, as I haven't changed his food in years. It certainly isn't eosinophilic granuloma. Squamous cell carcinoma tends to appear sublingually, and the vet looked right at the cat's mouth; I have a lot of trouble thinking that a vet couldn't spot mouth cancer. Uremic gingivitis doesn't seem likely either; the cat is not drinking excessive water, and he isn't losing weight.
Any ideas?
To be sure I was remembering correctly, I looked up stomatitis online. Symptoms: very bad breath, bloody drool, loss of appetite, lack of grooming, swollen gums. The standard narrative is that stomatitis is excruciatingly painful.
Okay. The cat's breath is fine. There is NO blood. He's eating fine. He grooms himself (and the other cats) with no discernible difference from past performance. His gums are swollen and reddish at the two top fangs (not the bottom ones). When I touch his gums however, he does not react in any way.
I am strongly resistant to have his remaining teeth removed. He enjoys grooming his claws very much, and those remaining teeth are how he does it. I am also told that once those teeth come out, he may have trouble keeping his tongue in his mouth. If it's stomatitis and if the cat was in pain (which I do not accept at this time) then yes, I would have the teeth removed, but I don't think it's stomatitis.
Has anyone encountered this? A situation that looks like stomatitis but isn't? I don't think it's a food allergy, as I haven't changed his food in years. It certainly isn't eosinophilic granuloma. Squamous cell carcinoma tends to appear sublingually, and the vet looked right at the cat's mouth; I have a lot of trouble thinking that a vet couldn't spot mouth cancer. Uremic gingivitis doesn't seem likely either; the cat is not drinking excessive water, and he isn't losing weight.
Any ideas?