Worried About Tooth Extraction

[melaniewa]

Hi, so our kitty Mica is almost 17 years old. She is doing well at the moment and is on various medications to help her appetite and health (cyproheptadine, cerenia, pred and subq fluids, her ultrasound showed signs of pancreatitis).

At her last checkup she has a sore spot on her gum. I do not think the tooth is infected. The vet did not say anything about having the tooth pulled at the time. However I called and asked the question several days later and asked what they recommend. They recommended pulling the tooth.

I am nervous about getting her tooth pulled, partly because of her age but I am also concerned she may stop eating if the extraction causes pain. I wish I had never followed up and asked the question now!

Just wondering what other people's thoughts and/or experiences are. Any information would be much appreciated, maybe I am worrying about nothing!

 

[Emily234]

Hello! I was in the same boat as you a few weeks ago! Sounds like you're really good about her medical care which is awesome. May I ask, is she eating well at the moment? And she ever had a dental before or within the last few years, with radiographs?

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ The only thing to worry about is the anesthesia for older cats. I had this done to an old 15-16 y/o kitty and it was great. Cleaning and an extraction. She was much more comfortable afterwards. She lived to about 20 !
Good luck with everything ...

 

[alzycat]

My kitty had a lot of teeth pulled when she was 8 years old, & she was totally fine with eating afterwards. If anything, she seemed happier after the extraction because her mouth didn't hurt anymore! She had to eat wet food for a week or two afterwards (she was normally on dry), but when she did go back to eating dry she had no problems (she did experience a slow weight loss since her extraction to now, which I assumed was because it could be harder for her to eat the dry food without any teeth, but we now know the weight loss was caused by a different issue). If your kitty normally eats dry food, it may be easier on them to switch to wet depending on how many teeth they have left, but discuss this with your vet to be sure.

As said before, I would just ask about the anesthesia. Usually if they have no heart problems then they can be a good candidate.

 

[melaniewa]

Thanks for all of your replies!

To answer your questions Emily234, yes she is eating well at the moment. She has never had a dental cleaning or radiographs before. The mobile vet I had coming out until about a year ago never really recommended anything. Looking back, I wish I had had dentals/rediographs done when she was younger.

What happened with you and your kitty may I ask? You said you were in the same boat several weeks ago?