Stomatitis / Full mouth tooth extraction / oral surgery

[michele spontak]

Our kitty Charlie has Stomatitis and is advancing to where he slowed down considerably on eating.  We got him an anti-inflammatory, anti-biotic and a pain medicine.  He is eating pretty well again for now.  

Next Friday, we have him scheduled to have all his teeth extracted.  This is actually the last resort only cure for this condition that he has.  For those unfamiliar, the body's immune system recognizes the foreign objects, thereby the gums become very red and inflamed.  

My question is about after care.  After a major oral surgery, how long is it before the cat starts eating again?  Right away?

If not, could he be force fed liquid etc?

What is a good plan of after care for a cat after something like this?  

 

[foxxycat]

I don't have experience with this but wanted to send you healing vibes!

 

 

 

 

I have heard of a few cats who ate that night or the next morning. I would guess you could try feeding canned A/D that is sold at the vets. And of course making sure they do pain meds during and after surgery. It sounds like they will do this. Normally pain control is done for 3 to 5 days post surgery so I imagine it will help.

Hoping all goes well. Sending hugs and vibes to you!

 

[michele spontak]

Thank you!!!

 

[Primula]

As you say, the only thing you can do now is a full teeth extraction. He will be fine without any teeth & will eat the same day or the next. No need to force feed.

 

[catwoman707]

 
Our kitty Charlie has Stomatitis and is advancing to where he slowed down considerably on eating.  We got him an anti-inflammatory, anti-biotic and a pain medicine.  He is eating pretty well again for now.  

Next Friday, we have him scheduled to have all his teeth extracted.  This is actually the last resort only cure for this condition that he has.  For those unfamiliar, the body's immune system recognizes the foreign objects, thereby the gums become very red and inflamed.  

My question is about after care.  After a major oral surgery, how long is it before the cat starts eating again?  Right away?

If not, could he be force fed liquid etc?

What is a good plan of after care for a cat after something like this?  

I have had several cats over the years in rescuing had to have full mouth extractions, in fact I have a resident feral now who lives here due to my having all teeth removed.

The biggest, most critical part here is that the vet is very experienced in this because it's success requires ALL roots and pieces of root be removed as well, 100%.

Otherwise, his system will continue to attempt to get rid of the pieces.

As soon as awake and back home kitty can and should be fed canned pate cat food for the next week or so while gums heal.

After this adding dry food is fine, ever notice a cat's vomit of food is mostly whole pieces of dry anyway? They don't chew it so much and do fine once healed with dry and canned.

 

[bamagpie]

We just had this done for our FIV+ lodger, GT. My husband brought GT home this morning and reports:

"They said he had been fed at 7:30, although they didn't say how much,

so I gave him a small can's worth of food (with water and lysine) and
figured I wouldn't worry if he didn't eat it.

He dived into the bowl like he hadn't eaten in weeks.  Looks like he's
figured out how to eat without chewing already (though I did add 1.5
oz of water to make it easier). Good."

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Charlie will have a similar experience!

 

[lorikat]

Hi, my 3 yr old Stanely was diagnosed with gingivitis stomatitis in April. We adopted him when he was 1 1/2 yrs old and we didn't find out until then. I see you have experience with cats with this disease so maybe you can give me good advice. It's getting harder for him to tolerate food. He was on Nutro dry food duck and potato but has stopped eating it. I switched to same brand canned but he doesn't want it or something in it hurts because he backs away and sometimes screeches after a few licks. Other brands of grain free canned also rejected after a few licks/bites. He can, for some reason, eat Sheba perfect portions but it upsets his tummy because it's not grain free. Do you think allowing him to eat Sheba along with some baby rice cereal (to help bind) is ok? He has an appointment with surgeon in 5 weeks (first available) so I'm just trying to keep him eating/healthy until then. He is getting laser treatments to help the immflamation but no pain meds from vet, yet. Thanks.

 

[gilmargl]

I am sure there are plenty who will disagree with me, but when one of my cats stops eating I will give the poor starving creature anything  (even Sheba)!

My ex-feral Katy stopped eating and became petrified of me because I was giving her food which hurt her. Before her teeth were removed she had to take painkillers and antibiotics to reduce the inflammation. I had to get somebody else to entice her to eat a small portion of tuna fish laced with painkillers followed by another portion with antibiotics. She was eating very little and it was a huge problem for me to get her into her carrier to go to the vet. She hated me although I had been her best and only friend for a long time.

After the OP we had the same problem: painkillers and antibiotics, She became a tuna fish junkie and I thought I'd never get her back on a healthy diet. The whole process took more than a year - the tuna fish was replaced first of all by a cat food based on tuna fish and rice. She was offered other brands of food, cooked fish and chicken and eventually I found something else she would eat. We are now the best of friends again - much to everybody's disappointment. Katy is a one person cat and a one-food cat.

I am sure Stanely will not be such a problem. But he needs to eat. Once his teeth have been extracted you can start getting him back on a healthier diet. 5 weeks seems a long time to have to wait so I wish you lots of patience and Stanely a quick recovery.

 

[bamagpie]

 
I am sure there are plenty who will disagree with me, but when one of my cats stops eating I will give the poor starving creature anything  (even Sheba)!

My ex-feral Katy stopped eating and became petrified of me because I was giving her food which hurt her. Before her teeth were removed she had to take painkillers and antibiotics to reduce the inflammation. I had to get somebody else to entice her to eat a small portion of tuna fish laced with painkillers followed by another portion with antibiotics. She was eating very little and it was a huge problem for me to get her into her carrier to go to the vet. She hated me although I had been her best and only friend for a long time.

After the OP we had the same problem: painkillers and antibiotics, She became a tuna fish junkie and I thought I'd never get her back on a healthy diet. The whole process took more than a year - the tuna fish was replaced first of all by a cat food based on tuna fish and rice. She was offered other brands of food, cooked fish and chicken and eventually I found something else she would eat. We are now the best of friends again - much to everybody's disappointment. Katy is a one person cat and a one-food cat.

I am sure Stanely will not be such a problem. But he needs to eat. Once his teeth have been extracted you can start getting him back on a healthier diet. 5 weeks seems a long time to have to wait so I wish you lots of patience and Stanely a quick recovery.

No disagreement here! In cases like this, getting the cat to eat is the absolutely crucial thing -- getting them to eat better food can wait. The Sheba website says that their Perfect Portion foods are "Formulated without grains or corn" -- might Stanely be sensitive to something else in them?

As I reported in my earlier post, mixing some water or broth into the canned food to make something more porridge-y may make it easier/less painful to eat (I'm surprised and rather annoyed at your vet for not giving Stanely some pain meds). It may be easier to do this with a pâté style food (looks like Sheba makes a pâté-style Perfect Portions). My go-tos have been Fancy Feast classic/pâté style and meat baby food. I also recently discovered Hartz Delectables Lickable Cat Treats -- we were putting GT's antibiotics into some of the bisque-style Tuna & Chicken and he slurped it right up.

Best wishes to you and Stanely!

 

[blueberrygirl]

Howdy.  Just had most of my kitty's teeth out.  Second day after surgery.  Just wanted to contribute my post-op instructions here for others who may be wondering.

Soft foods only for the next 14 days.  No kibble.  I had to take all her chewable toys away, so no mice or her favorite go-cat chaser.  Don't want her to bust off her stitches before they're ready.

Only fed her 1/2 portion of her regular canned food when she got home because the anesthesia slows her digestion and bowels.  Next day I could feed her regular portions.

She licked and licked and licked once she woke up--pby weirding out to the missing teeth.  Totally baked--super affectionate and fell off the couch twice.  I really wished I could give her a Dorito just watching her.  But.  She wasn't drinking.  I had laid in a supply of those Inaba Churu tubes and she's been sucking them down.  I think a batch of glop would serve as the same thing.  The tubes are just really handy.

Blue is a former feral and that plus mouth pain due to her stomatitis means she won't let me anywhere near her mouth.  The antibiotic came in a dropper bottle.  I mixed the (bitter so fridge it and it won't taste so bad) antibiotic with a half tube of the Churu and down the hatch it painlessly went.  Same with the nsaid pill.

She still a little twitchy, but apparently the painkiller they injected her with takes about 3 days to wear off.

She hasn't used the litter box at all, but the vet said to be patient.  Bowel function is slowed and will be slow for the next few days.

Hope that helps!

 

[blueberrygirl]

Oh.  One more thing.  I need to keep her blood pressure constant and low for the next 3 days or so as a spike in blood pressure could interfere with clotting and make her bleed. So. No chasing games.  She is SO bored.  I feel so bad for her.  I am keeping watch for any blood clots falling from her mouth.  Will take her to emergency vet if I see that.  Drooling with a little pink is normal for now.

 

[lorikat]

Hello....thought I'd update on Stanley's condition.  He had the surgery one week ago today, all teeth removed. They kept him overnight and I brought him home last Thursday.   He had a rough time of it the first few days which is expected, I guess.  But he had a nasty cold a couple of weeks before the surgery, it cleared up for 2 days and returned a couple of days before the surgery so immediately following he was so congested and just looked miserable. He slept a lot!!  Ate a little then back to sleep.  He seems to be doing a little better now.  But still only eating 1/2 can or little more twice a day.  I suspect his appetite will return with each passing day.  I'm a little worried though that the cold is coming back again.  Sounded a bit stuffy again. Could this be due to his immune system being comprised from lack of food all those weeks?    After the surgery he was given a 3 day pain med injection and a 14 day antibiotic injection..saved me the trouble of having to bother him with oral meds!   

I really hope we did right by this little guy.  He's just a little sweetie.  This pic was taken on Monday morning.  We think this is his new normal    @BlueberryGirl  how is your cat doing?

stanley.JPG

• lorikat
• Oct 12, 2016

 

[Primula]

So glad Stanley is doing well. My 10 month old kitten died post-surgery after he had the same procedure done.

 

[lorikat]

@Primula  I'm so sorry to hear about your kitten  What caused him to pass away?  Was it immediately following or weeks later?

 

[Primula]

@Primula
 I'm so sorry to hear about your kitten  What caused him to pass away?  Was it immediately following or weeks later?

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/324062/devastated-with-pain

 

[blueberrygirl]

Hey Lorikat!   Stanley looks in the clover--complete with tongue hanging out!

Blue is back to her old self, though howling for food as never before!  That said, the antibiotics are giving her the aromatic squirts.  Delightful.  I still have about a third of a bottle left.

Worth it, though, as she now luuuuurrrrves having her chin scratched now.  Before she would run away if I touched it.  Here's a pic of her during a down moment.  

30231506356_178c9dbd78_z.jpg

• blueberrygirl
• Oct 13, 2016

 

[bella8188]

Hi everyone! I know this thread is several months old, but I just wanted to thank you all for sharing! One of my cats is going in for a full mouth extraction tomorrow to treat her stomatitis, and I'm quite anxious about it! However reading through this thread has made me feel a little better about her surgery tomorrow. Fingers crossed it all goes well!

 

[michele spontak]

My cat ate a little on his first day out.  He was a little stunned and spent a couple of days under the bed, but I left him alone.  He knows what he's doing.  Healing up.  But, he eats dry, wet and all that now.  

Best to the girl tomorrow!  

 

[catwoman707]

 
Hi everyone! I know this thread is several months old, but I just wanted to thank you all for sharing! One of my cats is going in for a full mouth extraction tomorrow to treat her stomatitis, and I'm quite anxious about it! However reading through this thread has made me feel a little better about her surgery tomorrow. Fingers crossed it all goes well!

Hi Bella and welcome!

I hope the vet is very familiar with full mouth extractions due to stomatitis so he is sure to remove every bit of root.

If not your kitty will eventually have issues again at some point.

I believe the success falls greatly on whether or not every piece of root is gone.

Good luck to you!