Vibes for me and my old cat, Bright

cocoa cream

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My first cat was a long-haired calico from my grandma's farm. I got her when I was thirteen, and loved her so much...even though she was a bit cranky and difficult to deal with. When I moved out and got married, my parents had to keep her because she was 10 years old and we didn't want to stress her out by moving her into our little apartment. Now she is 14, and still happily living with my parents.

But this past week, my mom told me that she was drooling and her breath was very bad...they took her to the vet, and she had 5 teeth extracted, and one more fell out! That's alot of teeth to lose all at once! Thankfully, they did a blood panel, and her organs and everything appear to be very healthy for a senior cat. I'm just worried about her now because she has always been a finicky eater and has never liked wet food. But I don't see how she'll be able to eat dry food now with so few teeth! I'm going to see her at Christmas, Lord willing, and I hope she will be in good health when we get there. If my mom hasn't gotten her eating some wet food by then, I'm going to try my best with her. I just need some good thoughts and wishes until then, because I hate being so far away and wondering how my little Bright-eyes is doing.
 

mews2much

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She can still eat dry food also.
My 16.9 year old Coco eats wet and dry but prefers the dry.
She hardly has any teeth but some how eats it.
 

jscole

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instead of giving her wet, maybe try adding warm water to her dry food, thus making it wet lol, but this way she's still getting the same food, it's just easier to eat... that might make the transition to wet easier if your parents decide that they want to feed her just wet...

here's some
 

the_food_lady

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Originally Posted by jscole

instead of giving her wet, maybe try adding warm water to her dry food, thus making it wet lol, but this way she's still getting the same food, it's just easier to eat... that might make the transition to wet easier if your parents decide that they want to feed her just wet...

here's some
That's a great idea!

My old boy Taco has very few remaining teeth, mostly just the front ones.......the rest have been extracted over the years....but that's certainly never EVER stopped him from eating dry food....though he admittedly only gets it as a treat now (he's diabetic and feeding him canned only, along w/ his twice daily insulin shots is the best way to keep his blood sugar regulated). He goes nuts when I give him a small handful of dry, he thinks he's in heaven!
 

ronit

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Try choosing a dry food that has small kibbles ! It will surely be easier to swalow.. anyhow many cats do not chew their dry food
 

jscole

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Originally Posted by the_food_lady

That's a great idea!
thanks

I used to work at a pet store and that's what we used to do for the puppies that didn't want to eat their dry food and they used to go nuts for it, same food, just easier for them to eat lol
 

sillyitiliangrl

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Originally Posted by jscole

instead of giving her wet, maybe try adding warm water to her dry food, thus making it wet lol, but this way she's still getting the same food, it's just easier to eat... that might make the transition to wet easier if your parents decide that they want to feed her just wet...

here's some
I would be careful adding water to the kibble, if you leave it out too long like that it can start growing bacteria really quickly, so it would have to be a "meal time" thing IMO.

Hope she does well!
 
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cocoa cream

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Well, I talked to my mom last night, and she said Bright is doing well, all things considered. She will be on antibiotics and pain meds for a couple more days, so she and Mom and having fun when it's time to give her the meds!
The vet must have put IV's in both her front leg because Mom said she's favoring them a bit at times, although she can still hop up on the couch and everything. She's drinking plenty of water, which is good, and she has been eating a little.

Mom was in a hurry at the store, so she didn't take time to look at the canned food much. She ended up bringing home a couple cans of sliced/shredded in gravy, so Bright mostly just licked up the gravy. She also did try wetting down some dry kibble and giving her that, although it didn't sound like she really ate much. I suggested she try pate style next time, so she's going to buy some of that when she is in town next. I have a feeling Bright will probably eat it, if she liked the gravy. She's just always been finicky, and she's one of those cats that will eat too much/too fast and go throw everything up...so they've always let her free feed instead of having regular meal times. I guess that will have to change if she can't eat the dry food, though. We'll see. I will be happy to go visit and see how she's doing next week!
 

mews2much

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My Coco still eats dry food with hardly any teeth.
She gets wet also.
I tried putting water in her dry and she will not touch it.
I hope yourcat will be able to eat both.
 
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cocoa cream

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Oh, I almost forgot...I found this picture of Bright on my computer. It's from Christmas a couple of years ago, but it's the only one I have in digital form. She looks kinda chubby, but it's really just all that fur!
 

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i have had completely toothless cats who have still been able to eat dry food - Ginger sulked if he didn't get his supper biscuits. He could also eat raw meat too, as long as it was cut up small enough for him. I have had a couple of cats this year who have had more teeth out in one go than Bright, and they have done fine, all have managed dry as well as wet - Rolo even ate the dental biscuits, despite the fact he had just had 11 teeth removed!!
 
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cocoa cream

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Originally Posted by booktigger

i have had completely toothless cats who have still been able to eat dry food - Ginger sulked if he didn't get his supper biscuits. He could also eat raw meat too, as long as it was cut up small enough for him. I have had a couple of cats this year who have had more teeth out in one go than Bright, and they have done fine, all have managed dry as well as wet - Rolo even ate the dental biscuits, despite the fact he had just had 11 teeth removed!!
Wow! No teeth and still ate dry food! I guess when they're hungry, they'll do what they have to do to get food! That's encouraging!
 

darlili

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I was just reading in a cat journal that it's eating with bad teeth than can be painful - that after extraction, lots of cats will happily munch away on any texture food.

I wonder if you might try some new foods, just in case your cat associates the smell of the old food with the pain she had been in.
 

booktigger

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Originally Posted by Cocoa Cream

Wow! No teeth and still ate dry food! I guess when they're hungry, they'll do what they have to do to get food! That's encouraging!
It was nothign to do with that, they both enjoyed it and wanted it, even though they had wet food as well - it was small enough for them to swallow though. I actually put Snowys through the food processor for a few weeks after her dental (all out in one go), until I caught her eating some of Ginger's!! They just adapt to what they want to eat, I didn't even really change them to supermeat style food - i did when Ginger had one of his dentals, and he went straight to the dry food, ignoring the nice supermeat I had gone out of my way to get him!!
 
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cocoa cream

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Over Christmas I got to go home and visit my old kitty and see how she was doing. Her "fangs" are gone, along with several other teeth, so she is messy and a bit slow about eating. She does, however, really like the wet food Mom is giving her...so that is good. She apparently had lost alot of weight before having the teeth removed because she just didn't feel like eating (I think she was down to about 5 lbs!) but now is putting a little back on. She is such a fluff ball that you'd never know she was really so very skinny under all her fur! She has slowed down alot from the last time I saw her, but Mom said that she seems to be gaining energy as she continues to recover from the trauma of surgery and all that. I also noticed that she is losing the fur off the tips of her ears, poor thing! They had to shave a patch of fur off each of her front legs for the IV's, as well as a patch off her neck that had gotten matted from her drooling...so she looked a bit undignified. But I was glad to see her again and to get to spoil her a bit while I was visiting. Here's a pic of the old girl resting on my parent's messy bed at Christmas:
 

snake_lady

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Awww, she's gorgeous.

I'm glad to hear she's starting to feel better. I hope she continues to do so.
for a speedy recovery
 

pami

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Awww what a gorgeous Calico girl

I hope she continues to gain weight and feel better everyday.
You know Natalie's got Twitch that is completely toothless and does just fine.
 
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