Blocked Salivary Gland

[rhian]

I did try to soak the food in some warm water but it didn't go over so well. After about half an hour of soaking it was still fairly hard and didn't break apart very easily. I feed Nature's Variety Instinct chicken meal formula for dry cat food, so I'm not sure if that doesn't absorb water well or what.

The swelling went down quite a bit in Sadie's mouth! It's still pretty swollen, but is definitely much improved over what I saw early yesterday morning where it went all the way up the side of her jaw and started to wrap around the front of her tongue. It's now more targeted towards the area where the surgery took place. Hopefully this means I won't have to take her into the vet this week.

I bought a few new cans of Merrick and got a few of the old flavours I know Sadie liked before (I'm having such a hard time finding all of the flavours from them, they were everywhere a few months ago!) and I guess I just didn't have the minced varieties before now? They're much smoother than the other chunky varieties they have, without being full pates. Sadie shows some interest and can eat probably 1/4 of a can before giving up instead of a couple of bites! Still not a huge amount at one time, but anything's better than not eating at all.

I just want this whole blocked salivary gland nightmare to be over! This surgery better work after all of this misery.

 

[rhian]

It's been a few days and the swelling has really gone down! Sadie is looking a lot better now too, she finally started to clean up around her mouth, she's been playing with the other cats, and I've seen her sleeping in her usual weird spots (like bags that were left on the floor, I guess that's comfy?). I did run out of metacam, so hopefully that doesn't affect her healing going forward.

Food, as always, is still a struggle. Her mouth looked good today (to where I couldn't really see anything by just opening her mouth, her tongue wouldn't cooperate and move!) so I did give her a bit of dry stuff. She's looking like she lost a bit of weight. She was eating maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of a can of wet this last week, so I guess it was bound to happen. She ate all of the dry food I gave her in no time (of course) and it didn't seem to irritate her mouth. I'm going to wait a bit and see if she starts poking at it, but hopefully she can move on to small meals of dry food!

 

[mservant]

It sounds like Sadie's mouth is healing and she is feeling much more like her usual self.  :-D    What a relief.   I would feed her the dry if that is what she wants, and hopefully she will get a healthy weight back pretty quickly.  Nice to offer her a little wet food and see if she will take it but if she's anything like Mouse anything more than a little teaspoon will be too much and go to waste.  Always worth trying though.

I really hope for both of you that this surgery keeps her mouth clear, at least for a good long while.  What a trauma to go through.

 

[rhian]

There haven't been any issues lately! Thankfully. I can't quite get a good look under her tongue anymore, which I'm hoping is a good thing. At least it means there isn't a huge lump lurking under there anymore. She is the tiniest bit drooly now, which the vet did warn me about so I'm guessing that will be the new normal.

She's eating her hard food again, which is amazing. No more chasing her around with a plate full of never-to-be-eaten canned food.

Now all I have to do is hope that there are no more kitty mouth-lumps in my future!

 

[rhian]

It's been a little over three months and things are still looking good for Sadie! I haven't been able to spot any new lumps forming, so I'm cautiously hopeful that no more will form there. I can't even tell she had surgery there anymore, thankfully. No abnormal drooling has remained either! Sadie has even gotten a tiny bit better about food, I can finally get her to eat about half a can of wet food a day now! Though we're still stuck only eating Merrick minced varieties and no other varieties of canned/raw food whatsoever. Oh well, tiny steps.

 

[mservant]

Nice update. 

    Thank you for letting us know how Sadie is doing.  That is great she is eating half a can of wet now, I don't think I will ever manage that with Mouse.  Even if she doesn't increase the range of food she will eat this is a great thing as it really widens options for things like medication when it needs to be given, and helps to increase her fluid intake.

I don't think you ever fully relax when a cat has had a problem with their mouth as it is so hard to see and check what is going on, but I am so happy for you that she is doing so well now. Hugs for Sadie. 

 

[hesko]

LEMON JUICE THERAPY.

My cat had the same issue. His sublingual gland was so swollen that he wasn't able to eat or drink. It was so sad to watch him becoming less energetic and playful. He would look at the food, try to eat, but not been able to eat. After I talked to my cousin, who had the same kind of problem, his salivary gland was swollen due to stone obstructing the salivary duct. And he was advised by a doctor to eat foods like lemon to increase the salivation. Increasing the salivation would increase the pressure inside the gland and would push the stone out and it worked. SO I FILLED THE SYRINGE WITH THE LEMON JUICE AND SPRAYED 1-2ML INTO MY CATS MOUTH, AND I DID IT EVERY 3-4 HOUR. BELIEVE OR NOT, WITHIN A DAY THE GLAND STARTED TO SOFTEN AND 2 DAYS IT DISAPPEARED. What a relieve!