Feral cat dental work

Hi. I posted alot here a few years ago when I took in a feral cat named Annie. She's doing well, loves to sit in my lap & sleep with me but still has her limits. I can't pick her up and certainly couldn't give her a pill.

I Wonder about her teeth sometimes but am afraid to have them checked because I don't think we could get antibiotics into her at home. She's a very picky eater so we can't sneak it in her food, can't pill her & probably can't give shots.

My vet said maybe she could get a antibiotic shot & then another a week later or he said sometines a tooth will just go thru a process & then fall out.
he seemed unsure.

I was wondering what other people have done when faced with this.
I Imagine many of you have had the same problem.

Thank, James.

p.s. other than worries over things like this Annie is our best cat.
Loves it in the house & is very careful not to do anything wrong.
Looks for me to say it's ok when she tries something new.

I wasn't around when you took Annie in, so belated THANKS and CONGRATULATIONS for that, and I'm happy she's adjusted...it sounds like you don't know for sure if there is anything wrong with Annie's teeth. Does the vet know how to handle scared cats? Could you take her in to just get her teeth checked out?

My mom-cat feral, Myrtle, won't let me dose her or pick her up either (although we're working on it - I can now lift her front end and pivot her without her objecting), but to my surprise she DID eat some of her favorite "treat" food (langostinos) with liquid antibiotic on it. That was a relief! Is there no food Annie thinks is so great, she might take it with a little antibiotic "sauce"?

Thanks for the response. I hadn't heard of liquid anitibiotics. I may try that. I had annie's teeth checked about 2 years ago and they were ok. I just wonder if they're bad now because she's such a picky eater and sometimes her breath is bad. I'm afraid if they do a surgery on her teeth and then she can't get the antibiotics that she could actually be worse off.

I know something will have to be done to her teeth sooner or later.

Thanks again. James

I've taken in three cats with dental issues and observed others in a clinical setting.

The best case I've seen was a stray "dump" cat about a year old with gingivitis--that cleared up with a diet of solid "crunchy" food dusted with Lysine (a nutritional supplement); he was adopted out last night.

Dental problems are prominent in FIV/FELV positive cats--their depressed immune systems make them vulnerable to dental infections worse than mere gingivitis.

I've two such cats at home, and both required tooth extractions--the long incisors and fangs seem to be the most vulnerable. This is expensive and realistically can only be done with cats who will be fostered or adopted--it simply isn't practical with ferals who would otherwise be released.

A cat without fangs is like a declawed cat--unable to defend itself. And a feral cat with such infections faces a slow and miserable but inevitable death--it's better to humanely euthanize them....