Hi everyone,
My poor cat is about two weeks post-op for a full mouth extraction of all of his teeth due to stomatitis. I have been feeling very alone in dealing with this, besides having a knowledgeable vet and dental specialist who performed the surgery, and stumbled across a thread from 2012 where it seemed like some other posters here had cats with the same condition. I was hoping to get some advice.
My cat had been acting very strangely about this time last year, what I call having "attacks" while eating. We had recently gotten a border collie, so I mistakenly thought he might have had just some behavioral issues going on. By spring, he had lost 3 pounds, had atrocious breath, and had gotten increasingly lethargic. I took him into my vet and stomatitis was suspected after she noticed redness/inflammation, along with all the classic symptoms. The first step was to have him undergo a cleaning along with a steroid shot, to see if this would be effective. At this time, a tooth that had resorbed was extracted as well. Detour did really well for about 2 months, and then the attacks returned. At this point, we then tried a steroid along with antibiotics to see if this would clear it up. As you can imagine, I did an insane amount of research, and knew that this probably wouldn't help, but we wanted to try in the event my cat was one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately, he wasn't, and two months later, the symptoms arose again, with surgery recommended, as he is only 5 and steroids over his whole life span would have eventually gotten to be unsafe/ineffective.
My cat underwent surgery with little complication. He was monitored the whole time, and had dental x-rays taken pre and post-op. I know I won't see if the surgery was a success until a few more weeks when the steroids clear his system. My concern is how to help him in the meantime. Before the surgery, his diet was a mixture of mostly dry food and wet food as he would tolerate. He loves dry food, but was extremely finicky when I tried to find a wet food to supplement him with when he was dealing with all of his symptoms. After the surgery, he initially ate a whole can of wet food and I was extremely pleased. Well, after the pain patch was taken off, things got worse. He would no longer take his antibiotic that was hidden in a pill pocket (I suspect it was very hard for him to grip on to, but he has since lost interest in even soft treats). I don't know if the lack of appetite is due to the surgery itself, or because we had to switch him to an oral antibiotic, which he is not taking well. He really dreads taking it, but I can't stop giving him the dosage until we go for our post-op check up due to risking infection. Ever since we've switched to the oral antibiotic, my cat has been hating me. This whole experience is so agonizing, but he shrinks away in fear whenever I approach him. I've tried to be very calming when administering the antibiotic, but his whole demeanor towards me is so changed because of this. I am sure he's still adapting and that things still feel weird in there (thinking back to my wisdom teeth days), but now the lack of him eating is really worrying me in addition to this. He stopped eating the wet food as much (he will now lick it once or twice before losing interest), and did not take to his dry food moistened after one initial time. In desperation, I returned him to dry food before the recommended time (only a few days), but he's showing pain when trying to eat this. I threw in the towel last night, and gave him tuna, which I know is not good for a cat's diet long term, but he thankfully ate this. I also tried to give him cat's milk, which was a big no go. Our follow up is in a few days, but I'm just hoping to seek some advice in the meantime.
I'm sorry for the book, but am hoping I can find someone with the same/similar story who can help. I feel guilty enough that he's been living with this problem a year, and for subjecting him to the surgery, but I know that it will be for the best regardless of whether or not he makes a full recovery. Him not eating/avoiding me is really causing me a lot of misery. I would do anything for my cat, and I just don't know how to help him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Stomatitis is a painful, awful disease, with little known about it, and I feel like it can be just as draining for the owner.
My poor cat is about two weeks post-op for a full mouth extraction of all of his teeth due to stomatitis. I have been feeling very alone in dealing with this, besides having a knowledgeable vet and dental specialist who performed the surgery, and stumbled across a thread from 2012 where it seemed like some other posters here had cats with the same condition. I was hoping to get some advice.
My cat had been acting very strangely about this time last year, what I call having "attacks" while eating. We had recently gotten a border collie, so I mistakenly thought he might have had just some behavioral issues going on. By spring, he had lost 3 pounds, had atrocious breath, and had gotten increasingly lethargic. I took him into my vet and stomatitis was suspected after she noticed redness/inflammation, along with all the classic symptoms. The first step was to have him undergo a cleaning along with a steroid shot, to see if this would be effective. At this time, a tooth that had resorbed was extracted as well. Detour did really well for about 2 months, and then the attacks returned. At this point, we then tried a steroid along with antibiotics to see if this would clear it up. As you can imagine, I did an insane amount of research, and knew that this probably wouldn't help, but we wanted to try in the event my cat was one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately, he wasn't, and two months later, the symptoms arose again, with surgery recommended, as he is only 5 and steroids over his whole life span would have eventually gotten to be unsafe/ineffective.
My cat underwent surgery with little complication. He was monitored the whole time, and had dental x-rays taken pre and post-op. I know I won't see if the surgery was a success until a few more weeks when the steroids clear his system. My concern is how to help him in the meantime. Before the surgery, his diet was a mixture of mostly dry food and wet food as he would tolerate. He loves dry food, but was extremely finicky when I tried to find a wet food to supplement him with when he was dealing with all of his symptoms. After the surgery, he initially ate a whole can of wet food and I was extremely pleased. Well, after the pain patch was taken off, things got worse. He would no longer take his antibiotic that was hidden in a pill pocket (I suspect it was very hard for him to grip on to, but he has since lost interest in even soft treats). I don't know if the lack of appetite is due to the surgery itself, or because we had to switch him to an oral antibiotic, which he is not taking well. He really dreads taking it, but I can't stop giving him the dosage until we go for our post-op check up due to risking infection. Ever since we've switched to the oral antibiotic, my cat has been hating me. This whole experience is so agonizing, but he shrinks away in fear whenever I approach him. I've tried to be very calming when administering the antibiotic, but his whole demeanor towards me is so changed because of this. I am sure he's still adapting and that things still feel weird in there (thinking back to my wisdom teeth days), but now the lack of him eating is really worrying me in addition to this. He stopped eating the wet food as much (he will now lick it once or twice before losing interest), and did not take to his dry food moistened after one initial time. In desperation, I returned him to dry food before the recommended time (only a few days), but he's showing pain when trying to eat this. I threw in the towel last night, and gave him tuna, which I know is not good for a cat's diet long term, but he thankfully ate this. I also tried to give him cat's milk, which was a big no go. Our follow up is in a few days, but I'm just hoping to seek some advice in the meantime.
I'm sorry for the book, but am hoping I can find someone with the same/similar story who can help. I feel guilty enough that he's been living with this problem a year, and for subjecting him to the surgery, but I know that it will be for the best regardless of whether or not he makes a full recovery. Him not eating/avoiding me is really causing me a lot of misery. I would do anything for my cat, and I just don't know how to help him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Stomatitis is a painful, awful disease, with little known about it, and I feel like it can be just as draining for the owner.