Stomatitis , Metacam, full mouth extraction

Hello,, I am new here,,, and so happy  I found this site.

My sweet Kismet,, 2 year old female tabby is FIV positive.

She was diagnosed last year after taking her to the vet,, with a very sore inflammed mouth.

I have been giving her Convenia injections as needed, they worked,, but no this last time .

Back to the vet,, now on Metacam. syringing into her mouth,, ( which is not easy ).

Also ,, she had a Metacam injection at the vet this past Monday.

So,,, after the vet examined Kismet,, she agrees a full mouth extraction would benefit her.

I  am in Ontario , Canada,, and recommended a Dental Specialist vet in Guelph.

They block off a window of 4 hours or so,, take cat in they exam,, do the extractions, all in one visit.

My vet could do the extractions,, but they don,t have dental xray .I have researched this procedure,, knowing that all fragments have to be removed ,or the surgery is pointless, and flares will happen again.

My questions to you are,, if any of you folks have had to do this procedure,,what was the outcome,, price, etc.

I know long term use of meds are not the answer,, I absolutely love Kismet ,,, want to do whatever I can to help her have a quality of life.

Any thoughts or your experiences would be so appreciated. 

I'm sorry you have to go through this.  I'm dealing with a totally different oral issue.  However, my friend had a couple of cats who've had this done, once was older and slowed down after the teeth were removed, they said depression set in, and one about 4ish, who bounced back and adapted to life without teeth.

In the end you know your little one.  For me with any surgery I always worry about anesthesia.

One thing  the people of this site are very helpful, I hope you find some answers to help guide you to make the best decision for you and your precious Kismet.   Best to you.

Thank-you !! 

We have had several members here who have experienced the same thing. The good news is that the cats that have had full extractions recovered and are doing well!

I will likely be going through something similar with one of the kitties in my rescue. He has had stomatitis since he was a kitten and was nonresponsive to Clindamycin nor oral Prednisolone. Our vet and specialist wanted to wait to discuss full extraction until he was 2 years old. Well, we are nearing that point and will be there in 2 months.

He had a very serious illness 2 weeks ago that he is getting over. We were unsure of the nature and used Convenia first. He was nonresponsive to this after a few days and his temp got very high. We decided to try a different antibiotic and ended up using Clindamycin. This did the trick AND cleared up his stomatitis (for the time being). I was surprised by this since he hadn't responded to 3 courses when he was younger. We opted to extended the Clin since it is helping and he has a few days left. Curious to see if the stomatitis returns or not.

I am unsure of cost, especially in Canada. But, I'm sure someone will come along and offer their insight to this.

I have a cat rescue and have had several cats' teeth removed due to stomatitis.

I can't help regarding cost since my vet who gives me fab prices for the rescue charges $100.00 for full mouth extractions.

Yes, I know. Who is he and where can you find him !

Takes kitty in, does the surgery, paying very close attention that every bit of root is removed, gives a shot of 2 day pain med, a couple more days worth of metacam comes back with the cat, and a week later they are pain free and going for the dry food!

Amazing, and I have never had any problems come from any of these done.

I currently have one of my resident ferals that lives here with me with no teeth, and she is perfect and happy, weight fills out fast, etc.

I just had my cat diagnosed with the same problem. I'm in the US but the estimate is at $2500 for xrays & removal of all the teeth past the canines. It was like $1200 for just the removals. Keep reminding myself that life is so worth the money. My vet said 70% chance she'll live a full happy life after. Sending you prayers and luck! Our kitties got this <3

DemoMom89 said:

 
I just had my cat diagnosed with the same problem. I'm in the US but the estimate is at $2500 for xrays & removal of all the teeth past the canines. It was like $1200 for just the removals. Keep reminding myself that life is so worth the money. My vet said 70% chance she'll live a full happy life after. Sending you prayers and luck! Our kitties got this <3

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Wow......did you by chance do any comparison shopping?

That is ALOT.

catwoman707 said:

 
Wow......did you by chance do any comparison shopping?

That is ALOT.

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I've only found one dental specialist and I don't have the money to take her from vet to vet for the preliminary visit. Do you think other vets would give me an estimate over the phone if I have a diagnosis? That price tag has devastated me and I'm not sure how to pay it

I think any reputable vet should be able to give you at least a rough estimate. They should also be able to give you an itemized list, not just a price.

Exactly.

That is one whopping bill.

You know, I have found that, if a vet is not told that money is a struggle, and you can't just eat an enormous bill like that, and ask for a breakdown in details, on paper, there are many expenses added in that don't need to be there at all.

Sure they will throw it all in but it doesn't mean it's all necessary. People tend to trust what the vets say since most people wouldn't know the difference or what is not needed so they give you that total. Asking for a breakdown and letting them know you don't have that big money tree growing in your backyard helps, it really does.

Even the teeth removal alone seems high too.

There's no reason why other vets can't give you a rough estimate too, tell them you understand that you're not going to get an exact figure quoted sight unseen, but an idea will be helpful.

Thank-you to all that have replied .

The vet I was referring to ,, has quoted $2000 to $2800,, plus HST .

The Vet blocks off a 4 or so hour window ,, does the consult,, procedure all in one day. That is what there clinic does,  and what the receptionist said in an email. .  

So,, basically you really don,t have a defined price till they have done their consult,, and you are there anyway. So,, to save you another trip,, they want to do everything in one shot.  Guess I feel that they ( vet ) has your emotions ,,

I think I would just like to take Kismet for a separate consult first.. then go from there.

Our local dental specialist and surgery special group work in a similar manner. However, I have never been denied a consult-only visit. I just tell them upfront that that is all I want and will schedule a surgery day later.

Right, you should get 2 estimates, a low end and a high end, depending on what may occur during the process of it all.

However, believe me, there will be things listed on both that are not necessary, and costly.

I would go for a consult first, good idea to do.

That's no different then anything else that you would buy, you need to review, etc.

1234kismet said:

 
Thank-you to all that have replied .

The vet I was referring to ,, has quoted $2000 to $2800,, plus HST .

The Vet blocks off a 4 or so hour window ,, does the consult,, procedure all in one day. That is what there clinic does,  and what the receptionist said in an email. .  

So,, basically you really don,t have a defined price till they have done their consult,, and you are there anyway. So,, to save you another trip,, they want to do everything in one shot.  Guess I feel that they ( vet ) has your emotions ,,

I think I would just like to take Kismet for a separate consult first.. then go from there.

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Which would be about $1444-2022.10 in USD, unless you already accounted for that. Though I have no idea what standard costs are in Canada so it'd be hard to guess if that is 'reasonable' locally.

I think with all things, call around.

My cat Luke just had this procedure done a few months ago. It was $1200 for us, but that was also with a discount (happened to need this done during the right month lol) and he was already missing about half his teeth by that point. The procedure itself took around 2 hours and they ended up keeping him overnight for free so they could keep an eye on his stitches for a little longer. He did incredibly well when he came back home and acted like he hadn't just lost the rest of his teeth. I mean he was running around and playing like normal. He'll still try to chew and bite things, and being gummed on by a cat feels super weird. I won't know for sure whether it cured the stomatitis for another 2 weeks or so when he has his next visit, but things look pretty good. His breath has certainly improved; it was nauseating before.

I definitely second the suggestion to ask for a breakdown. My vet was cool and gave us a full breakdown way in advance, and there were certainly things on there that weren't totally necessary.

RampionRampage said:

 
Which would be about $1444-2022.10 in USD, unless you already accounted for that. Though I have no idea what standard costs are in Canada so it'd be hard to guess if that is 'reasonable' locally.

I think with all things, call around.

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I didn't realize it was in Canada, so that helps, but still as poster above mentions there are always things that can be cut out and are not needed.

catwoman707 said:

 
I didn't realize it was in Canada, so that helps, but still as poster above mentions there are always things that can be cut out and are not needed.

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Yeah, I made that post because I figured some people might not have caught the location.

My animal hospital/vet is the kind of place that asks me if I want an itemized receipt for everything, including when I need one item - which is how much they care about transparency. I save the trees and turn down the single-item estimates/costs, lol.

catwoman707 said:

Exactly.
That is one whopping bill.

You know, I have found that, if a vet is not told that money is a struggle, and you can't just eat an enormous bill like that, and ask for a breakdown in details, on paper, there are many expenses added in that don't need to be there at all.
Sure they will throw it all in but it doesn't mean it's all necessary. People tend to trust what the vets say since most people wouldn't know the difference or what is not needed so they give you that total. Asking for a breakdown and letting them know you don't have that big money tree growing in your backyard helps, it really does.
Even the teeth removal alone seems high too.

There's no reason why other vets can't give you a rough estimate too, tell them you understand that you're not going to get an exact figure quoted sight unseen, but an idea will be helpful.

Click to expand...

I have found another more vet in my area that does the procedure and waitin for a call back with the estimate. I was in tears over the price at the first office and all they did was ask if I had carcredit (yes but still paying off a dog attack ) They did give me an itemized list but honestly besides the X-ray & Removal I don't know what's needed and what's not.

Are you able to scan and post it here?