I need help, desperately seeking answers and little to no help available for me .... calicivirus/sus

My Cat, Mia, recently became ill ... he wasn't eating and the vet suspected he had stomatitis. I took him to the vet clinic and they extracted a tooth, hoping it would resolve the issue. Unfortunately, it didn't. I have since had to take Mia back and forth to the vet for the past 8 weeks. He got tested for calicivirus and the tests show that he does have the virus. The vet now wants me to take Mia to get a biopsy. All of this is coming straight out of my bank account and I am now in debt. I don't know what to do and everything seems so 'iffy' ... this may help, that may help, but nothing to help me determine Mia's actual quality of life. I'm of course, quite selfish and biased - I want Mia to be here forever, but it's his best interests that concern me most of all. I just want to know what to do - some direction. Please, if there is anyone out there that can actually help me, then please do ... because no matter how much I research on the net, or talk to my vet, there is no set answer.

Bek Peach said:

 
My Cat, Mia, recently became ill ... he wasn't eating and the vet suspected he had stomatitis. I took him to the vet clinic and they extracted a tooth, hoping it would resolve the issue. Unfortunately, it didn't. I have since had to take Mia back and forth to the vet for the past 8 weeks. He got tested for calicivirus and the tests show that he does have the virus. The vet now wants me to take Mia to get a biopsy. All of this is coming straight out of my bank account and I am now in debt. I don't know what to do and everything seems so 'iffy' ... this may help, that may help, but nothing to help me determine Mia's actual quality of life. I'm of course, quite selfish and biased - I want Mia to be here forever, but it's his best interests that concern me most of all. I just want to know what to do - some direction. Please, if there is anyone out there that can actually help me, then please do ... because no matter how much I research on the net, or talk to my vet, there is no set answer.

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Calicivirus is an upper respiratory illnes and if your cat had it he would also have a variety of URI symptoms, sneezing, mucous discharge, etc, and with clici he would likely also have sores inside his mouth. Also your cat would need contact with another cat to get calici.  Has your cat contacted other cats?

What are your cat's symptoms other than loss of appetite?

What is your vet wanting to biopsy (what type of tissue?)? And what for?

http://stomatitisincats.com/treatment-for-stomatitis

A second opinion may be in order.

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, Mia used to be an outdoor cat because when he was younger he simply wouldn't stay inside ... so I allowed him to be outside during the day. He has been in a couple of fights, but hasn't shown any symptoms of the calicivirus until a few weeks ago. And, the only symptom he has exhibited is his extremely red and sore gums. So it was a shock to me that he had it. He's been tested for feline immuno virus and the results were negative. The vet recommended he has a biopsy from the tissue  in his gums because she suspects that Mia also has plasma cell stomatitis - he has already had one tooth removed in the hopes it would relieve his symptoms and also had his teeth cleaned to remove all the plaque. Unfortunately the issue is still persisting. I've had Mia on steroids, anti-inflammatory's  and antibiotics but nothing is working. The next step is the tissue biopsy and potential full mouth extraction to confirm whether this will relieve his symptoms. But I'm hesitant and because it is going to cost a lot for this ongoing issue and the treatment it requires, and thinking of Mia's quality of life, I just don't know what is the best thing for Mia. It's agonizing that money would even factor into the equation but the reality is, if I keep proceeding, I am literally going to bankrupt myself ... and I just keep thinking, what if I get the biopsy and have all his teeth extracted and it still doesn't help, then I've put him through all that for nothing and not to mention the past tooth extraction and weekly visits to the vet, etc.

I guess I'm just reaching out here because the vet obviously have a duty of care to let me know all the treatment options available for Mia, but no one is giving me a straight answer about what is best for Mia, and I was hoping somewhere out there has experience with this type of issue because a lot of the information is conflicting on the net and I have found my vet to be evasive and I'm still confused.

Oh, and I forgot to mention ... Mia's other symptoms are: red sore bleeding gums, drooling, not eating without pain medication (when I first noticed he wasn't well he wasn't eating and lost a fair bit of weight when he was not on medication for his pain after his medication ran out after surgery and until the vet gave him more), he occasionally throws up, he's lethargic ... basically, from what I understand, is that without surgery (having most or all teeth extracted) or a life of medication, he will starve to death because his gums make it too painful to eat, but that extracting his teeth does not guarantee that the the stomatitis will go away ...and then we'll be back to square one.

Bek Peach said:

 
Oh, and I forgot to mention ... Mia's other symptoms are: red sore bleeding gums, drooling, not eating without pain medication (when I first noticed he wasn't well he wasn't eating and lost a fair bit of weight when he was not on medication for his pain after his medication ran out after surgery and until the vet gave him more), he occasionally throws up, he's lethargic ... basically, from what I understand, is that without surgery (having most or all teeth extracted) or a life of medication, he will starve to death because his gums make it too painful to eat, but that extracting his teeth does not guarantee that the the stomatitis will go away ...and then we'll be back to square one.

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It doesn't sound at all like calici and much ore like stomatitis.  I wonder what sort of test your vet did for calici, but testing positive doesn't mean a cat is actively sick with it.  many cats test positive for the corona virus (responsible for URI's) but they will test postie long after recovery.  There are people where with experience in stomatitis, until they come along here are some links. 

http://stomatitisincats.com/treatment-for-stomatitis

http://www.mypetsdentist.com/feline-stomatitis.pml

http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...06/dr-becker-discusses-feline-stomatitis.aspx