How long after dental extractions to advance diet?

Hi, new Kitten on the block.

My 5 year old love, Buddy, had 7 teeth extracted 4 days ago.  He is doing well and eating pureed food, but only when finger fed 

Wondering how long to continue the nearly liquid diet before letting him try pate or soft foods on his own.

And how long before he can try dry cat food.

Unless your vet has told you otherwise I would go ahead and try regular pate food now.

Thanks, will try it.

Is he still on painkillers? My experience has been a week of wet food plus painkillers, a follow-up vet visit, then another week of canned food, and after that wet and/or dry food. Mogli had all but his front teeth extracted a couple of months ago, and several of the shelter cats had to have full-mouth or partial extractions and were fed according to the above pattern. Some cats insist on eating dry food right away, though, because they don't like wet.

jcat said:

Is he still on painkillers? My experience has been a week of wet food plus painkillers, a follow-up vet visit, then another week of canned food, and after that wet and/or dry food. Mogli had all but his front teeth extracted a couple of months ago, and several of the shelter cats had to have full-mouth or partial extractions and were fed according to the above pattern. Some cats insist on eating dry food right away, though, because they don't like wet.

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His last dose of pain med was yesterday morning.  Since then he has acted like his "old Self"  playful and energetic and doing things cats should do.

I think he's become more spoiled by our hand feeding the pureed wet food - to save me from bending over, I let him sit in my lap at the table and he licks the food from my fingers.   .  No interest in licking the plate.  Was hoping he may eat on his own with a juicy pate'. 

But, I think the soreness he may still have is loads less than the pain he was in before his extractions.  And those attempts to eat on his own may still causing some fear of food?

Use a wide plate and offer his food on it, to tempt him to eat on his own.  7 extractions are a lot, and if any of the canine teeth were removed, this could slow his healing slightly, as that area tends to be more painful after extraction.

He may not be ready for heavy textured or chunky canned food yet, but do offer it every day in case he's interested in trying.  I wouldn't offer dry food for at least a week, it depends on what teeth were extracted, his pain tolerance, etc.  After a week you can certainly offer it to him to see if he's ready.

cat-tech said:

 
Use a wide plate and offer his food on it, to tempt him to eat on his own.  7 extractions are a lot, and if any of the canine teeth were removed, this could slow his healing slightly, as that area tends to be more painful after extraction.

He may not be ready for heavy textured or chunky canned food yet, but do offer it every day in case he's interested in trying.  I wouldn't offer dry food for at least a week, it depends on what teeth were extracted, his pain tolerance, etc.  After a week you can certainly offer it to him to see if he's ready.e - 

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Buddy made his own decision   .  

He was hungry but just refused the pureed venison cat food we have been giving him.  So I pulled out a chicken pate, mashed it up and he ate like a little piglet.  

Started slow with tiny tastes with finger feeding and then took over the plate and ate the whole serving.  



Thank you for the response and the tip about a Wide Plate  -  He used to eat off coffee cup saucers - but have been using small paper plates with his finger feedings.  He can't handle those moving around....

I'll try a  desert sized plate with his next meal and hope he can return to self feeding very soon.  Although I admit I have enjoyed it . 

** He lost molars and incisors - still has those lovely canines.

** will not plan to let him have any dry food for at least another week

Yes, believe it or not, the whiskers are an often little-understood problem in some conditions, particularly oral.  They are "weighted" on the muzzle, so those muscles tend to twitch if the whiskers hit the edges of too small plate or bowl, it's called "whisker fatigue".  Such a tiny little tip, but a huge difference for cats!

Glad to hear he's eating on his own!

cat-tech said:

 
Yes, believe it or not, the whiskers are an often little-understood problem in some conditions, particularly oral.  They are "weighted" on the muzzle, so those muscles tend to twitch if the whiskers hit the edges of too small plate or bowl, it's called "whisker fatigue".  Such a tiny little tip, but a huge difference for cats!

Glad to hear he's eating on his own!

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Thanks, I never knew about the whiskers issue.  Have had cats for decades and still learning

I am so glad that he is eating on his own.  Sometimes it seems to take kitties a while to go back to eating well again.