Cat with diabetes now has gingivitis and possibly reabsorption lesions

Hello! My beautiful healthy Bow (10 years now) crashed last year and I almost lost him. Luckily I have a great vet, he was diagnosed with diabetes and was put on insulin. Google is my best friend and I found info about cats going into remission with a canned food diet. I was able to get him completely off insulin and he has been only on canned food since and has been doing great.

I have noticed awful breath from him and took him in. He was put on antibiotics and came back for a dental. Our vet did a cbc panel just to be sure he was safe to put under and he was fine. After the dental, the vet thought maybe he had reabsorbtion lesions and had me keep a close eye on him. He ended up pulling one tooth and one fell out on it's own.

His red gums continued and his breath was still horrible. So I made another appt. During the exam the vet asked the guy who does a lot of dentals for a second opinion. The new vet things he has gingivitis from an auto immune disease. And he needs all of his teeth pulled. He says he could have reabsorption lesions under the gums but he won't know til he does the surgery.

So back to google I went. I don't want all his teeth pulled, I'm looking for a "cure" or way around pulling those teeth.

I've read vaccinations don't help autoimmune diseases and there is a way to detox his system. If I did this I'd likely have to stop fostering.

I've read about a special syup.

Is there a different diet I can try?

I've read you have to be pretty proactive and get this done soon, howlong do I have to decide?

Please please help me somehow! I'm afraid to pull all those teeth and it not help him.

THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Diabetes is an autoimmune disease, so it's not surprising that he's developing other autoimmune disorders.  I don't know anything about the other issues, though.  Hopefully someone will come along who's more experienced with that. 

I sure hope so I'm quite confused!

TLS79 said:

 

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Auto immune illnesses like FIV and FeLV can cause mouth and gingivitis problems.  Has he tested negative for both?

He's been tested in the past and vx for both. However I stopped vx him for fiv since it seemed pointless because he's a house cat.

TLS79 said:

He's been tested in the past and vx for both. However I stopped vx him for fiv since it seemed pointless because he's a house cat.

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OK thanks.

Sounds like stomatitis to me, and stomatitis does very well with long-acting cortisone.  In the past they did pull all the teeth because they claimed cat was allergic to its own tartar.  Still, that was only 50% effective.  I have been through this with several cats over the years -- even did the tooth pulling thing years ago, which cured one cat and not the other.  Unlike dogs and humans, cats do very well on cortisone over the long term.  Most older vets know this but the young ones fresh out of school often do not.  I have one that has been on it for four years -- he used to get terrible attacks of the stomatitis and could not eat.  Now he only needs the cortisone (dexamethasone) every few months instead of every 3-4 weeks.  Try it.  It's much less radical than having the teeth pulled, and it brings very fast relief from any pain in a flare up.

Steroids can cause real issues with diabetes because it raises blood glucose levels.

The syrup you are talking about is from a clinic in Dallas.  We have had a couple of people here who have used it, many couldn't continue on it long term because of it's effect on organ function.  I forget now which functions if effects but many cannot tolerate it. 

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I'm thinking the vet who gave a second opinion is wrong.

Oops. I sent photos to the Dallas vet, they're suppose to get back to me today. He really doesn't have the stomatitis sores etc in his mouth. I do see a tooth that looks like the absorbic lesions online. So I'm really confused.

If he has FORL the tooth with the lesion has to be removed.  My kitty has had 2 teeth removed because of lesions, so far he hasn't had anymore but he probably will.  My vet told me that some vets have tried filling them with no success.  She said they were actually found in the kitties that were in ancient Egyptian tombs so they have been with kitties since domestication if not before. 

To me that looks like a lesion. I'm still waiting on the dentist, she should be letting me know by tomorrow now. So you just have them removed and if a new one pops up pull them as they appear then. What can I do about gingivitis?

If it just gingivitis then a cleaning will take care of it for awhile any way.  One of my kitties, not the one that had two FORLs so far, has more issues with gingivitis build up.  The vet can also check for FORLs while doing a dental.  They tend to start below the gum line.  There is a product called Plague Off that is supposed to help, I hadn't tried it.  People with kitties that have Stomatitis have had good luck with it.   

If you can get your kitty used to having her teeth brushed that would help.  That is usually really hard to do with an adult kitty, it usually has to be started when they are kittens.  They do have finger brushes that have a rough edge on them.  Some kitties will allow that where they won't tolerate a brush.

I don't want to be brushing in his mouth now because it's way too painful. I'll check that stuff out ty.

I still haven't heard, I'll call tomorrow.

Does anyone know how many carbs ate in that plaque off? Bow can't have too many or he'll get sick again.

TLS79 said:

I still haven't heard, I'll call tomorrow.

Does anyone know how many carbs ate in that plaque off? Bow can't have too many or he'll get sick again.

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 It's basically alage and brewer's yeast so I don't think the carbs are too much: http://www.plaqueoff.com/animal/Animal-FAQ.html You may want to post over on the FelineDiabetes.com messaege board or at least search there for similar questions.

It looks like some diabetic cat owners on FDMB use Plaque Off: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=site:felinediabetes.com+and+"plaque+off"&start=0 It seems to be ok for diabetic cats.

I can't get that second link to work but I'll try googling it. I really can't rely on what other diabetic cat owners do because mine isn't on insulin so too many carbs could kill him. I have him on a low canned food diet only. He's not needed insulin since I started this diet. So I have to be very careful. Thanks everyone for the help so far!