My girl 3 weeks post dental surgery

Bitsy is coming along very well post dental cleaning with 12 extractions including upper canine. She is leaning more toward wet food I think more cause the extractions were all on one side of mouth. She tries the dry but It seems she gives up. May be too soon. She has some stitches left to dissolve. The black dot on her face is the stitch to raise her upper lip some so the bottom canine does not poke the top. Something the vet automatically does and seems to a wise choice. Some dental pics below of the procedure. Wanted to post if anyone is worrying about the teeth extractions. She stayed on liquid pain med for about 6 days due to the number of extractions and antibiotics a shot given that lasts 2 weeks.


Upper canine that was a swollen socket from infected bone called alveolar osteitis

this was what really alerted me to something was severely wrong


Right after surgery that's the upper lip raised with stitch 


BITSY TODAY DOING WELL  

Glad to hear that Bitsy is doing well after dental surgery. Since wet food as a general rule is better for cats (due to both moisture and animal protein content), can you keep her on an all wet diet?

Thank you for posting, I'm sure it will help others. And great she's doing so well!

Yes, the wet food is so much better for her anyway! :rub:

Have you seen this site, written by a vet? It's an easy-to-understand overview of feline nutrition. http://www.catinfo.org

Thank you for that site....I don't know why the vets did not question that i was only feeding dry. Is it different for dogs? I remember the vet in the past saying about the dog that it didn't need wet food being he was on the heavy side. So somewhere in my mind I just fed dry. One of my cats will not even touch the wet which is weird. I will have to find a way to encourage some wet. Thanks I am going to read the material on that website. 

You can crush up the kibble and use it as a "topper" on the wet food. :nod:

And no, dogs aren't different. They're also carnivores, though they have adapted better to the carbs that would be in dry food, and they have a thirst drive, which cats do not. But the issue boils down to vets not receiving much in the way of nutrition training, and whether or not they keep current on nutrition research. When we first started rescuing cats 12 years ago, the vet said "feed them any dry food." The thinking was that cats should eat many small meals, so free feeding was good. Well, here we are 12 years later, and that same vet now recommends that wet food exclusively be fed to cats if one can afford it, otherwise just feed as much wet food as you can afford. It feels like a bit of a betrayal, but I'm glad that others are now getting better advice.

ETA: It's not weird that cats that have eaten primarily or only kibble prefer kibble. They spray it with fat prior to bagging it, and so if choosing between kibble and canned, it's kind of like asking a kid to choose between eating bacon and a can of stew. :lol3:

I have been putting extra water in her food for now so she could eat her food easier without the teeth. And then I am using the Healthy Mouth stuff in the water for the gingivitis as well. Is there such a thing as too much water? I don't see her at the water bowl much like I see the boys drinking. My dog drinks a lot of water but she has been checked and they don;t find anything wrong. Maybe now with teh wet food she won;t look for water so much.

There is such a thing as drinking too much water (cats with kidney issues for example). Your cat who is eating mostly wet food with extra water is getting plenty of water, but not too much. Remember wet food is about 80% water. So she probably doesn't feel the need to drink extra water. Cats have a low thirst drive which is another reason wet food is important.