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- Oct 13, 2012
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Summary: 20+ year old Cat may have dental problems requiring tooth extraction, but second opinion vet says the extraction is a bad idea. I don't know what to do and need to make a decision by Monday. Apologies for the lengthy description below but I wanted to get all the potentially pertinent info out there.
Hello all,
I've only just stumbled upon your site this afternoon whilst searching for internet answers- have had a chance to read quite a few threads but as our situation is slightly different I thought I would ask for some help.
My cat is roughly 21 years old (we've had her for 20 and she was an adult when we adopted her) and has been going downhill for the past few months. She is half siamese, so a small cat to begin with (approximately 2.7 kilos).
She has been on a diet of high quality dry food, wet food and steamed turkey breast and fish. In august she began refusing the wet and dry cat food. Her weight began to drop, so we went to the vet for blood work. Blood work came back clear, she does not have thyroid issues, diabetes or kidney problems. Her liver levels were slightly elevated but not alarmingly so.
As she continued losing weight, we began feeding her baby food (We live in Switzerland- the human baby food she receives what is basically extremely pureed calf or chicken or cow and rice with a small amount of sunflower oil. She still eats the steamed turkey as well and also receives kitten milk replacement as a treat.). She liked this and the vet approved it as acceptable.
One week ago she stopped eating almost entirely (still drinking normally, but only halfheartedly taking a few licks of the baby food). We went to the vet after two days of this behaviour. The vet said that she likely had an infection in her teeth and that he would like to put her under and take an x-ray next Tuesday. He then gave her a shot of antibiotics in the office. He also gave us antibiotics and pain pills to administer (this was Wednesday). She proceeded to vomit the antibiotics about ten minutes after every dosage, eventually vomiting blood on Friday. Our normal vet was not in until Monday so we took her to a different one, who told us that he thought it was pointless to do x-ray of her teeth and that it would just unnecessarily stress her, and that the subsequent likely tooth removal would be horrible for her at this advanced age (her heart and vitals are all normal as are her blood levels though). He suggested a monthly shot of cortisone and didn't seem to think that controlling or treating the infection in her mouth was particularly necessary- he said her teeth looked like a 20 year old cat's teeth and there was not any cure for old age.
I am a mess now as I do not know what to do- I just want her to be happy and NOT SUFFERING. I don't want to put her through anything that will make her feel more pain, and I want to help her, but I don't know what to do- I don't want to prolong her life if it is going to be of poor quality or lived in pain but I don't think she is ready to go yet either- she is still playing and running around the apartment when not napping (granted, sleep is more frequent these days). Should I risk the sedation and x-ray as the first vet wants or should I go with the second vet and just try the cortisone therapy?
We are American (kitty and I) and we are in a strange country with strange vets so it's all a bit much.
Please help!!! Any advice greatly appreciated.
Hello all,
I've only just stumbled upon your site this afternoon whilst searching for internet answers- have had a chance to read quite a few threads but as our situation is slightly different I thought I would ask for some help.
My cat is roughly 21 years old (we've had her for 20 and she was an adult when we adopted her) and has been going downhill for the past few months. She is half siamese, so a small cat to begin with (approximately 2.7 kilos).
She has been on a diet of high quality dry food, wet food and steamed turkey breast and fish. In august she began refusing the wet and dry cat food. Her weight began to drop, so we went to the vet for blood work. Blood work came back clear, she does not have thyroid issues, diabetes or kidney problems. Her liver levels were slightly elevated but not alarmingly so.
As she continued losing weight, we began feeding her baby food (We live in Switzerland- the human baby food she receives what is basically extremely pureed calf or chicken or cow and rice with a small amount of sunflower oil. She still eats the steamed turkey as well and also receives kitten milk replacement as a treat.). She liked this and the vet approved it as acceptable.
One week ago she stopped eating almost entirely (still drinking normally, but only halfheartedly taking a few licks of the baby food). We went to the vet after two days of this behaviour. The vet said that she likely had an infection in her teeth and that he would like to put her under and take an x-ray next Tuesday. He then gave her a shot of antibiotics in the office. He also gave us antibiotics and pain pills to administer (this was Wednesday). She proceeded to vomit the antibiotics about ten minutes after every dosage, eventually vomiting blood on Friday. Our normal vet was not in until Monday so we took her to a different one, who told us that he thought it was pointless to do x-ray of her teeth and that it would just unnecessarily stress her, and that the subsequent likely tooth removal would be horrible for her at this advanced age (her heart and vitals are all normal as are her blood levels though). He suggested a monthly shot of cortisone and didn't seem to think that controlling or treating the infection in her mouth was particularly necessary- he said her teeth looked like a 20 year old cat's teeth and there was not any cure for old age.
I am a mess now as I do not know what to do- I just want her to be happy and NOT SUFFERING. I don't want to put her through anything that will make her feel more pain, and I want to help her, but I don't know what to do- I don't want to prolong her life if it is going to be of poor quality or lived in pain but I don't think she is ready to go yet either- she is still playing and running around the apartment when not napping (granted, sleep is more frequent these days). Should I risk the sedation and x-ray as the first vet wants or should I go with the second vet and just try the cortisone therapy?
We are American (kitty and I) and we are in a strange country with strange vets so it's all a bit much.
Please help!!! Any advice greatly appreciated.