Grieving those canines

[Cate1124]

My 13-year-old girl is losing her upper canines today, two of four FORL teeth my dental specialist recommended removed. She said they are becoming porous -- resorption is well along -- and will eventually break, likely resulting in an infection. Those were the teeth I most hoped she would keep, so it's clouding the relatively good news that 4 teeth out of 30 isn't bad for a senior cat who previously had not had a dental cleaning or extraction

Anyone else feel like crap after approving extractions, particularly canines? It feels like depriving a cat of some of their essential catness. That said, it would be foolish to leave them in and invite another anesthesia/extraction procedure should they break, apart from whatever discomfort they are causing her now.

Really sad.

 

[daftcat75]

My angel kitty, Krista (avatar kitty), had FORL. It's an awful chronic condition that will get worse with time. Maybe I felt bad after the first round of extractions. But after the third set of extractions, I was begging for them to take more. Push came to shove and the vets said, "She needs a dentist. We don't feel comfortable trying to extract any more teeth in her mouth." She saw a dentist and I told him, "make this the last round of extractions she'll ever need." It was such a huge relief to never have to worry about asking her to eat through pain until I can get an appointment and a vet willing to do yet another dental even though we just did one in the previous six months.

My recommendations to you are:

1. Cats are adaptable. Don't grieve the missing teeth. Celebrate that they will no longer be a source of pain and possible infection for her.

2. Because not all four canines were extracted, there is a possibility that the remaining canines will bite into her lip or gum while eating or even just in her resting cat mouth. For this reason, I recommend a checkup in three to six months to see if this is happening.

3. General practice vets don't like doing any kind of proactive extractions and they don't have the education or expertise to fix lip entrapment or gum ulceration (the problems that can arise from asymmetrical canine extractions.) I highly highly recommend getting her a dentist appointment. Do it now while you don't think she needs it. The wait times for a dentist can be three to six months and those don't change with need. So make the appointment with the dentist now because you'll never get it if you wait until she needs it. Even if all four canines remain, I would still recommend a dentist appointment with a chronic degenerative condition like FORLs.

4. The dentist may recommend a full mouth extraction. If s/he does, I would go with that. Trying to treat FORLs as the individual teeth go bad is miserable for the cat and heart-wrenching for you watching her go through the pain and the extractions over and over again. Don't let it go as long as I did where the general vets refuse to do any more dental work and force you into the dentist office.

5. Make the dentist appointment now. This is important enough to repeat. FORLs isn't a one-and-done condition. This is likely not the last you have seen of it. By getting proactive with a dentist, s/he can discuss the best plan to manage this for the long haul. That might include a full mouth extraction. Or it may require some corrective actions beyond the skill level of your general vet to prevent the problems of asymmetrical canines.

If you're in North America, you can use this registry. Otherwise, call specialty animal hospitals or vet schools for a dentist recommendation.
Find A Veterinary Specialist | AVDC.org

 

[Cate1124]

Thank you for the time and energy you took in responding. I actually took her to a dental specialist -- the only game in town and the one to which all general vets refer -- because of her age and the possibility that extractions might get complicated. So my specialist already has slightly blunted and sealed the lower canines as a guard against what you describe. Upper lip ulcerations occurred with her brother Spot when he had upper canines but not lowers removed, and though it eventually resolved without the blunting step, it was upsetting to see and something I had not been told might happen.

What you say makes me really happy that I chose a specialist up front -- also got the most highly recommended anesthesiologist -- as I feel Puff has had the best care I could arrange. And the vet said her other teeth look good, though I am aware that once FORLs present, they are apt to recur. That may or may not happen during her lifespan. (She'll be 14 in June.) For now, I am glad she still has 26 teeth, as she has been wanting to hunt -- mice in the chicken coop!-- since I moved her over to a raw diet. She should still be able to experience her catness in that way with her remaining teeth.

I especially liked this: Don't grieve the missing teeth. Celebrate that they will no longer be a source of pain and possible infection for her.

Thank you for talking sense.