Ulcerative Stomatitis

Hi all, I am new to the site and I am searching for some advice.  I have a 3 YO female cat that was recently diagnosed with ulcerative stomatitis.  During her examination, our vet said that our cat has a small cavity type injury to one of her teeth along with a good deal of redness and swelling throughout her mouth.   The vet recommended starting a course of azithromycin (antibiotic) to reduce the inflammation, then extracting her teeth from the K9's back. I am a little concerned about going through with the procedure and I wanted to see if any others have had similar problems with their cats.  I suppose it just seems a bit extreme to me.  According to the vet, the antibiotics will "cure" her, but only for a limited amount of time because of the void in her tooth.  He said that eventually the problem will return, which is the reason for the teeth removal.  So, lets say that I allow the vet to extract her teeth, but it doesn't fix the problem.  What would be the next course of action?  Has anyone here had their cat's teeth removed?  what are the pitfalls of having the procedure done?  What are the dietary limitations for caring for a cat that is missing a great deal of teeth?  Sorry for all the questions, I am just trying to make an educated decision about our little fur face.  Thanks for any advice.  I appreciate it.

By the way, is $500 (approximately) a fair price for this type of procedure?  Thanks again.

I had this done on 2 cats years ago.  It worked for one, but not the other.  His stomatitis returned and the pain was so bad he was miserable and I put him to sleep about a year after the tooth removal.  The other one did fine and lived to be 19 with no further problem.  I have 2 stomatitis cats now, one age 15 and the other about 7.  They get steroid shots about once a month and that keeps the pain away.  They still have their teeth.  I am abot to try adding lactoferrin to their food and see if that helps at all.  It can't hurt.

Hi, I also have 2 kitties with stomatitis. My one kitty Jasper had the teeth extractions and it returned 3 months later so back to the vet for the usual steroid shot, antibiotic and pain shot and meds. I put her on a 90% wet food diet and lysine. She has been free of stomatitis for 7months now. With our Gretel we decided to take her to a holistic vet as we didn't want to do or have her go through the extractions. It's barbaric and only 70% success. The holistic vet gave her a antibiotic shot, steroid shot and a pain shot .

She also put her on lysine, a probiotic and a herbal tincture formula ( which is mixed with tuna as it smells horrible and she won't touch it otherwise) Plus no grain wet food only diet. She also gave us morphine to inject her for pain. Please pm me if you would like more info as I could go on and on. I pray your kitty gets feeling better. This is a horrble condition.

Buy the way it's more like 2000 + for the procedure!

Sorry I meant to say it's 70% chance it WILL return!

I had a cat years ago with this, we extracted all but his canines and he didn't have a recurrence.  There are several great threads that talk about a Stomatitis Syrup you can get that helps with stomatitis

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/260047/stomatitis   This thread talks the most about it, as in what types of ingredients are in it etc.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/258947/stomatitis-syrup-from-dallas-texas

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/262512/does-interferon-help-with-stomatitios

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/257668/does-the-dallas-dental-service-animal-clinic-still-exist

Thanks for the advice everybody.  I have taken a few days to think it over and I still am not sure what I should do.  I know something has to be done, but I still don't know if having the teeth extracted is the best course of action especially if it is not a 100% success rate.  It's always something isn't it?....lol    Thanks again everyone.

Unfortunately, with stomatitis you will not find any treatment course with a 100% success rate. Stomatitis is often an auto-immune issue, the body is overreacting to something. The big question is what that "something" is. Is it plaque causing your girl's stomatits? Could be, as that's believed to be a common cause, but who knows? My Simon had all of his lower teeth behind the canines, and all upper teeth except the canines, removed in June 2013 (cost about $800).

Unfortunately, his symptoms returned within 2 months and we went back for another steroid shot. Later, I found out that this was not an uncommon experience with the extraction procedure, but that's not to say that it wasn't successful. Many stomatits kitties do immediately relapse post-extraction, but then clear-up for an extended period. I'm hoping that's what our experience with Simon will be. I have also altered his diet as there is some possibility that certain foods can cause stomatitis.

A few years ago there was some research indicating that Bartonella spp. (Cat Scratch Disease) may cause or exacerbate stomatitis. Modern thinking seems to have discarded this theory, but I have no idea why. I bring this up because azithromycin is one of the few antibiotics that will effect CSD (not "cure" it). If Simon's symptoms do return, azithromycin treatment is probably the next thing I will try. So, why not try that, along with diet change and regular oral cleaning (if she'll allow you to do it), prior to extraction?

One more thing that I would like to stress is if you decide to do the extractions please take her to a dental specialist. I did not do that and, though I have every confidence in the vet that did Simon's procedure, I wish I had taken him to a specialist. Post-op was no big deal for Simon. He's always loved his kibble and being almost toothless has never slowed him down.