Hello All! My dear Juliette (15 yo, Ragdoll) had a dental cleaning a week ago, and unfortunately, had six teeth extracted. I have a very difficult time brushing her teeth, but I've been able to use dental rinses, gels, water additives -- no such luck. Poor kitty, I feel like I've let her down, but alas on to more immediate issues.
My concern is we are a week out from the procedure, and she does not have much appetite and still appears to be in pain. We were sent home with Onsior (2 days) and buprenorphine (enough for a week). I am able to get her to eat small amounts, but likely only 1/3 to 1/2 her normal intake. A few days ago, I reached out to our vet as she was not eating well and had noticed that the buprenorphine made her lethargic and generally out of it. She would sniff food, but walk away. The vet said we could try another pain medication (metacam), but we would only be able to use that for three days. Since the metacam, she is no longer lethargic and seems to be partially interested in food, however, yesterday was our last day of metacam. Today I have seen her jerk her head and paw at her mouth while eating, so I know she is still having some pain. On the bright side, she does seem to be perking up a bit and getting back into her normal routine, so I'm hopeful she is recovering.
Any thoughts on where to go from here? Do we simply need to tough it out until the pain subsides? Any previous experience with how long that could possibly be? I think I would be able to get her to eat better if it were not for the pain. I have tried blending her food (she looked at me like I was crazy), attempting to syringe assist (it was stressful and messy for us both), warming food, different types of food, flavors, gravies, soups. Currently, the winners are wet food with fortiflora sprinkled on it (thank you to other posts for that tip!) and moistened dry food. Even so, it's still much less than her normal daily calories, which worries me because I read kitties can easily go into liver failure if they don't eat. She means the world to me, and I'm so worried. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
My concern is we are a week out from the procedure, and she does not have much appetite and still appears to be in pain. We were sent home with Onsior (2 days) and buprenorphine (enough for a week). I am able to get her to eat small amounts, but likely only 1/3 to 1/2 her normal intake. A few days ago, I reached out to our vet as she was not eating well and had noticed that the buprenorphine made her lethargic and generally out of it. She would sniff food, but walk away. The vet said we could try another pain medication (metacam), but we would only be able to use that for three days. Since the metacam, she is no longer lethargic and seems to be partially interested in food, however, yesterday was our last day of metacam. Today I have seen her jerk her head and paw at her mouth while eating, so I know she is still having some pain. On the bright side, she does seem to be perking up a bit and getting back into her normal routine, so I'm hopeful she is recovering.
Any thoughts on where to go from here? Do we simply need to tough it out until the pain subsides? Any previous experience with how long that could possibly be? I think I would be able to get her to eat better if it were not for the pain. I have tried blending her food (she looked at me like I was crazy), attempting to syringe assist (it was stressful and messy for us both), warming food, different types of food, flavors, gravies, soups. Currently, the winners are wet food with fortiflora sprinkled on it (thank you to other posts for that tip!) and moistened dry food. Even so, it's still much less than her normal daily calories, which worries me because I read kitties can easily go into liver failure if they don't eat. She means the world to me, and I'm so worried. Any help would be greatly appreciated!