Stomatitis

[lovesmycats]

Hi all!

My Lilly has stomatitis. She has had 2 PME’s. She has another flare up and is scheduled to have 2 canines removed in February. She got a steroid shot today.

I’m overwhelmed and stressed. Are there other medications/diets I should try to decrease the flare ups?

I was told about Zyrtec, Solensia, and Atopica but my vet said no to them.

Please help! I just want my baby to be better. I would appreciate any advice. Thank you!

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. As far as I know, the only successful treatment, is full mouth extractions with a dental specialist. Radiographs afterwards are very important to make sure there is no retained bone fragments. The cats that have had this done, did very well.

 

[BellaBlue82]

Before my Casper passed, he was diagnosed with stomatitis. I was lucky that it was well controlled with only 6 extractions. But we pulse dosed with a low grade antibiotic every month and that seemed to help, a long with having lysine on hand (I don't know if there is a correlation but it did seem to help.) My vet did say if the initial extraction did not help, he would need a full mouth extraction but he was 18 and we were trying to avoid that for him due to his advanced age. He passed from something completely different much later. Maybe you can ask about the pulse dosing? All it is is a small amount of antibiotics for 5 days each month to maintain the stomatitis if it's mostly well maintained. After he has his teeth extraction it might be worth discussing if full mouth is not an option for him at the moment.

 

[lisahe]

One of our cats had a tooth extracted because of stomatitis; another was treated to stave off extraction. That was in 2021. When Edwina went in for this year's annual exam, the vet said her mouth and throat (apparently the throat can redden because of stomatitis) both looked good. I think (and the vet agreed) that it's possible that the slippery elm bark syrup that we give her for her stomach may be helping. I've read anecdotal accounts of slippery elm bark reducing stomatitis symptoms so have continued giving her slippery elm bark syrup even though she's getting a supplement with SEB now, too. SEB acts as an anti-inflammatory and is very soothing. (I used it myself when I had a stomachache and it did, indeed, work very nicely!) SEB is thought to possibly prevent full absorption of some other drugs so if your cat is taking pharma meds you'd need to talk with your vet about timing (waiting 1-2 hours is usually recommended) but we haven't seen any reduction in the effectiveness of Cerenia when it's overlapped slightly with SEB.

Good luck! Stomatitis is nasty stuff.

 

[cejhome]

We had a kitty quite a few years ago that had Stomatitis. We adopted Puddin when she was approx 10 years old. We had to take her to the vet the next day, once we really saw how sick she was - liquid poop. Got that sorted out - figured out a raw diet was the only thing she could tolerate. Then came the teeth. During a routine exam, our vet saw the condition of her teeth and gums - stomatitis. Our vet and the dental specialist both feel that allergies can make it worse.

We found out that Puddin was highly allergic to chicken and fish - she started scratching about 3 weeks after I started her on the raw chicken diet (balanced recipe). The raw chicken cleared up her poop issues after her first meal. We felt she had been fed raw in her previous home (owner died) - she "told" me she wanted it and not cat food while I was preparing raw chicken breast for our dinner - came into the kitchen and started yelling (part Siamese). I figured "why not" - couldn't make her tummy worse than it was. Scarfed down almost 1/2 a chicken breast (chunks). She was so very happy - her eyes just lit up. Never had a sick tummy again.

So...after the scratching started, I switched her to rabbit. (Worked with my vet on the diet.) Her mouth improved, but not enough. Started her on prednisone. I can't remember the dose - it's been probably close to 14-17 years now. That helped a lot, but not enough. Scheduled with the dental specialist for a possible full mouth extraction. She took out all Puddin's teeth except her fangs. The vet felt at that point we could see how Puddin did with her fangs left in.

Puddin recovered just fine. Her mouth did even better. She remained on prednisone, but at a much lower dose. When Atopica came out, our vet wanted to try that. We put her on that and were able to reduce her predisone further.

We did notice that during ragweed season, her mouth would flare and we would need to increase her dose of predisone.

We also figured out that her food allergies were extreme. Our vet said Puddin was not just allergic to chicken and fish, but "exquisitely sensitive to them. I couldn't even use powdered egg shell calcium in her food or fish oil.

She never presented any indication to us that her mouth hurt. but that is probably because she was so used to living with the stomatitis. Both vets felt she had had it for a very long time.

With all that, Puddin wouldn't eat ground meat in her food - I had to cut it into small pieces. Took me about 4 hours every two weeks to make and freeze her batches of food.

Puddin had to see our vet for mouth checks at least once a month. Her file at the vet was huge. I do not regret any of this - she had a great quality of life - our vet agreed. She was so very affectionate and happy! We still miss her.

Puddin live to approx 17 years old. Not bad for a cat that was half starved when we adopted her. Full fever coat - she looked like one of those Siamese with grey "points" and under 5.5 pounds. A year later she looked like a seal point Siamese and was 10 pounds, with the softest fur.

Sorry for the long post!

I guess the shorter version is:

Pay attention to possible allergies - food/environmental that could be making the stomatitis flare up. Don't feel bad about using prednisone if needed. Quality of life is the most important thing. Not sure about the Atopica - maybe they have found that it doesn't work well enough vs. potential side effects? It was very new on the market for pets when we tried it. Puddin's health was very good otherwise. The only issue she had was stomatitis.

Don't be afraid to do the full mouth extraction. Try and find a true Dental Specialist. They have the proper experience and equipment. Before and after dental radiographs are a necessity to make sure all the roots are extracted.

Hugs to you and your kitty. It is a tough disease to deal with. It can't be cured but can be managed.

I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes - I need to get back to chores!

 

[lovesmycats]

Thank you all for the responses!

I didn't get any notifications in my email for some reason.

I'm going to take her to get a second opinion. Her appointment isn't until the 27th. She's eating Fancy Feast Chicken Pate. Is that ok for her to eat? She was eating hard food before.

It's so hard seeing my baby hurt so much. I wish I could take it from her.

 

[cejhome]

If she won't eat the pate, try watering it down a bit into almost a soup. Or try baby food - one with no added anything - chicken or beef, not ham (salt). I think they still make that. Baby food is definitely not a balanced cat diet, but will work for a short time. The vet should be able to give you something to administer for the pain in an oral gel that can go into food or transdermal form, so you don't have to mess with your poor baby's mouth. Does she have a regular vet that can give you a prescription for pain now?

 

[lovesmycats]

She does eat the pate'. I do have chicken baby food (no additives) and other soft food for her to eat. She also has liquid Gabapentin that I give her as needed.

 

[lovesmycats]

Hi all. So Lilly had the rest of her teeth extracted by a specialist (2 canines, left lower canine root (her vet couldn't get it out and was worried she would fracture her jaw), right incisors, and a root that had been left behind since July ..grrrr!) on March 4th. She's still hiding and drooling a lot. She's eating and drinking some. She's on gabapentin and buprenex. She received a Cerenia, Covenia, and Onsior shot. She seems miserable and her quality of life has went down dramatically. I don't know what to do to help my baby.

She does feel better with steroids but I know how dangerous they can be. I don't want her getting diabetes or kidney failure. I was thinking maybe low dose prednisolone to get her through the healing process. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Antonio65]

One of the ferals that I take care of had a full mouth extraction three weeks ago. All teeth but her two lower canines were pulled.
She felt miserable for about two or three days. She was on Convenia and also four days of Meloxycam.
The vet advised that her diet was shredded chicken only, no pate or mousse or chunks, no dry food for the first few days.
On the fourth of fifth days she was perfectly fine, in a week's time she was eating just everything, including the dry food, and she even gained some weight since before the surgery.

Just be patient, Lilly will be fine before the weekend.

 

[lovesmycats]

I sure hope so. She's been miserable for so long. I want my happy, healthy baby girl back.

 

[Antonio65]

I sure hope so. She's been miserable for so long. I want my happy, healthy baby girl back.

You'll have her back soon. Love her and cuddle her, she will feel better,