Newly diagnosed with stomatitis... others in the same boat, please share your experience.

MackieMac said:

 
You know, having knowledge and experience with other people's cats is a LITTLE helpful, but it in no way dulls the concern when it's your own beloved baby who's hurting and can't eat...

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True, true.  Like people, every cat is going to react differently to treatment.  But at least you will have INFORMATION at hand   (If this doesn't work, can we try this?)

He's been doing MUCH better for the past several days, and we have a follow-up on Friday now that he's near the end of his Clavamox.  If all is well, we'll probably schedule for his dental next week. I'm probably not going to do the Secret Sauce because only one vet can prescribe it, you have to go through a specific protocol, and with my transportation situation-- it's a tough trip to go to Arlington for several visits. Too bad, because it sounds very interesting.

But I get to thinking about "Grandpa", an 18 year old ginger tabby who had FME. He came to board one weekend when I was still pretty new to the clinic. I was dishing out supper in the cat room and had all the plates made up according to the menu sheet. Grandpa got Hill's c/d dry food. Okay-- until I rolled up in front of his cage and he yawned at me, mouth as smooth as a day old kitten's! I double checked with my partner, who knew Grandpa well... no, that's what he gets. O-kay. I set his plate in front of him and he went right to work. That plate was empty before I finished the row, and he was looking for more. There was no Secret Sauce for Grandpa... yet he did fine. Many cats after him do fine with FME, and I've also seen Sauce kitties do well. I think we are going the surgical route, though, mainly because of the logistics of transporting him back and forth. Plus, if the Sauce doesn't work for him, he would have to have FME anyway. And yes, finances are part of the equation as well. The Wiggs Protocol is quite pricey and failure would simply result in FME. If we can at least extract obvious problem teeth (obvious on X ray at start and finish)... this vet is close enough to go back if he needs more work without the "boutique, specialist" price tag. In a perfect world, finances wouldn't matter. But in the real world, they do. I can afford a pretty good level of care for him, but I'm not a millionaire. Few of us are. And there is a financial limit, sorry to say... but it's not looming just yet. I've also had a very modest "windfall" that will cover a good bit of care.

Yet have you ever noticed that there are some people who think that if you can't afford to spend "five figures" on a pricey treatment for a sick pet that you shouldn't have pets? I know people who can afford those five figure treatments... but I wouldn't trust them to properly care for even a pet rock. I also know poor folks who would give their pet the last crumbs of bread and the last drops of water from a canteen before taking it themselves.

SO  glad he's doing better.  Let's hope the Full Mouth Extraction works for him.  If not, then there's always the "secret sauce", if you can get the logistics worked out.  But I'm getting way ahead of myself.  There is no reason to think the extractions won't work.  Lots of times that does the trick. 

Keep us posted.

Wow, what an improvement in his energy and spunk! Last night he was playing and being the funny, spunky little boy he always is. 

I know, the pain meds and AB's are helping now-- but I take it as a hopeful sign that once we fix the problem "for real"... he'll be just fine. He was cruising the house, eating his soft food like it was going out of style. He was playing with his toys-- something he hasn't done much lately-- rubbing and butting for attention, he's talking to me again... Siamese types are never  chatty or raucous; they're never vocal and they never  sass back... and I have some beachfront property in the Mojave Desert for sale.   He seems to feel much better than he had been for the past 2-3 weeks. I think it's genuine, because I see him asleep in between play breaks, and he certainly looks like he's comfortable-- relaxed and sometimes even sprawled out instead of lumped up like a loaf of bread with parted lips and heavy vacant-looking eyes . I think he's in significantly less pain and discomfort. Of course he still needs his teeth fixed, but it's a relief to know that we'll get him over this hump. He was in a very bad way before. He's much better off now, and will only be better still once the problem is fixed for real.

Whisker kisses today. Follow-up tomorrow.

I'm befuddled now. He has been recovering well from the stomatitis and we had a great follow-up visit yesterday. His WBC count was normal again. He's been eating and drinking and playing well. He's been doing MUCH better...

Until last night and now... puke, puke, puke... mope, mope, mope... and now hiding and will not eat.

TOTALLY out of the blue and a complete 180! There is nothing he could have gotten into. He doesn't go outside. I don't get it. He JUST finished his antibiotic last night. He had a round of Laxatone, about a "finger length" dose yesterday evening. It's definitely possible that he's  pushing something through and his gut's just irritated. He did have some "material" in his gut, but not seemingly a whole lot since we upped the Laxatone on everyone. But with all he's been through lately, and the not-eating thing due to stomatitis and JUST getting him to eat well again... this seems like a setback, and I don't know what caused it.

I am going to watch him closely, though. If he doesn't eat today or by tomorrow morning, it's off to the 24 hour vet.

sounds like he ate something that he should not have?

Last night was stressful-did he pick up on your stress?

Hoping nothing more goes wrong..

If you have any of the pain medication still handy, I suggest you give him some.  Whatever is going on with him, I think it's more than stomatitis.  Not that I have the answer, but the way he keeps having serious attacks of "something" intestinal is not good.  I've had stomatitis cats and they don't have the vomiting, and most cats will hide when they feel really sick.

Yes, stomatitis is an inflammation of the mucous membranes and soft tissues of the MOUTH, including the throat, tongue, gums and lips.  Stomatitis does NOT include inflammation of the intestines, stomach, pancreas, liver etc., i.e. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) pancreatitis, hepatitis etc.  The fact that Schrodie went from feeling fine to feeling miserable overnight after having a good check up is not typical of stomatitis, nor is the persistent vomiting.  Something else is going on with him.

Just saw this and have not read the prior replies.  He's my experience.

I adopted a 6 yo female tortie with extreme stomatitis (I had no idea what that word meant at the time, only that she had "dental issues.").  She had TWO partial teeth removals after being surrender, with many remained roots.  Her mouth was a mess!  After much research I opted for a full mouth extraction rather than regular prednisilone injections.  I had the FME done by a veterinary dental specialist:

http://nevadaveterinarydentistry.com

Her recovery was slow (2-3 weeks) and some inflammation still remained in the posterior fossa of her mouth.  My vet recommended a medication called Atopica for her inflammation.  I slowly weaned her off this over the course of one year.  She is currently healthy (although has other medical issues were currently dealing with) and happy and enjoys a grain-free wet food diet.  All with NO TEETH!

It was a long and expensive process, but I would do it again in a heart beat.  I am a FIRM BELIEVER of FME for chronic stomatitis.

Okay... I forgot that I had given him a pretty hefty dose of Laxatone because he had definite hairballs, and he was kind of constipated from not eating as well as he usually does. The Laxatone must have scoured him out but good  because there were wads of his hairballs all over the place... and he had a MAJOR poop that stunk up the room later on that evening. Ever since, he's been just fine... no more pukes, no more moping around... he's been playing with his toys, pouncing in and out of paper sacks, just having a grand time and eating his canned food really well now. I added a bit of pure pumpkin or a bit of plain roasted sweet potato (I have both... I made a small batch of sweet potato-pumpkin empanadas and used a mix of both. There were leftovers of each, so...) He seems to like the sweet potato with his chicken or turkey flavored food and the pumpkin with fish... okay, we have a gourmet. He must have just been HORRIBLY plugged up and that stuff broke it up... but boy, it was harsh, apparently. He's sleeping on his favorite perch now. No more hiding! Plus-- there was the stress of the vet visit, the dying cat, the "intruder" incident the other day... his little world's been rocked. 

He had no vomiting until that point, but overnight and into the next day... man! Every one of the piles had a bunch of hair., more than it looked like at first because his coat is the same color as the carpet, so his "hairballs" just sort of blended in until I really got to scrubbing... whew! But he is just fine now.    

So far, so good. Everybody had a "spring purge", a date with a brush and comb... or in Tara's case-- the groomer. She's an easy kitty to groom and bathe, and I do comb all of them regularly. They insist on it... we have to! They jump onto the toilet and won't stay down until we give them a few strokes with a comb or brush. It's a toilet tax!  So they do get regular combing and brushing on the commode and as part of bonding time-- but they're just totally dumping everything right now. Skye is almost done and she looks sleek and shiny in her summer coat. Tara's fluffy as usual, just not "AS" fluffy... and Schrodie is still in the transition so looking a bit scratchy!

Everyone's eating well, playing, no more "puke, puke, puke... mope, mope, mope"  (DH thought that phrase was kind of funny-- then again, I suppose it is if you aren't the one cleaning up the mess.) I think we're back to normal for now. 

Everything still good?

I do love happy endings! 

I'm resurrecting this old thread, because I feel like I ghosted on y'all! Schrodie is still around, and unfortunately due to travel and financial difficulties, we have not been able to do the FME. But he's hanging in there, on pulse therapy with antibiotic and prednisolone, Buprenex as needed (not very often), regular check-ins with his rDVM, and eliminating any fish based components from his diet, even fish oil as ANYTHING fishy sets him off. He's now 13 years old and still being a brat, LOL! He has his good and bad days, and we care for him as they come. There is not a vet in my area of Dallas who is comfortable doing the FME, and they ALL refer to the place in Arlington... which is out of reach for us. So, we just do the best that we can, and all that/ He's maintaining a very good body weight so obviously, he eats well, He still messes with our oldest cat, Skye, and he's still pretty much our boy... albeit, slowing up a little with age.

So it sounds like he has many more good days than bad since you don't need the Buprenex very often. That's good. And obviously since he's maintaining a good body weight AND still being a brat, those are both great signs, IMHO.

Thanks for the update. We always wonder when suddenly a thread ends, especially when we've asked for an update and not heard anything