Hello all,
I'm new to the forum and would like to get some dental advice regarding my 14 year old male kitty named James. I've had James since he was 7 weeks old and he's been and he's been a joy to have in my life. I've had his teeth cleaned 4-5 times since I've had him, mainly because he tends to get a lot of plaque buildup on his teeth. Each time his teeth were cleaned everything went as planned without any problems "EXCEPT" for the last time. On this occasion, the vet, explained that while retracting the endotracheal tube from his trachea the balloon cuff may have damaged part of trachea. That wasn't very good news to hear. I knew something was wrong as soon as I picked james up from the vet. He was glad to see me and he was purring, but his purr had a different sound. it was much lower in tone and very throaty. The vet told us to feed him just canned food and add water to it to make a slurry, and to do this until his throat healed. James, prior to this incident ate only dry food.Well, I continued with the slurry diet for 2 weeks and then tried to give him some dry food. He ate some of it and quickly vomited it all up. I went back to the slurry diet and tried the dry food again about a week later, the same thing happened he ate some and then vomited it all up. I was in close contact with my vet while this was happening and she said she didn't know why. But suggested adding water to the dry food to make it softer and see if he will keep it down. It didn't work, James ate some and he immediately threw it up, just like he had the other times. Eventually,he was able to eat and keep down the canned food without the water, but it had to be a very fine and smooth canned food. Any canned food that was bulky or had bits and pieces in it, he couldn't keep down. It's now 2 1/2 years later, since the disastrous teeth cleaning that damaged his trachea and he can only eat soft canned food anything other than that he can't keep down. And, now I'm very worried about his dental health. Because of his history, and because now he only eats canned food, which is not as good for his dental health as dry food was , I worry that his teeth need to be cleaned again. Also his breath is very bad. But because of the damage he suffered to his trachea from the last time he had his teeth cleaned, I don't want to put him through another general anesthesia. My vet doesn't recommend getting his teeth cleaned because of what happened last time but doesn't provide any alternatives. So, what should I do. Doing nothing, doesn't sit right with me and I'm concerned by doing nothing, his teeth will only get worse and may begin to bother and hurt him, if not already. Please let me know what are some alternatives to this problem. I'd appreciate and and all suggestions and advice. thank you timon
I'm new to the forum and would like to get some dental advice regarding my 14 year old male kitty named James. I've had James since he was 7 weeks old and he's been and he's been a joy to have in my life. I've had his teeth cleaned 4-5 times since I've had him, mainly because he tends to get a lot of plaque buildup on his teeth. Each time his teeth were cleaned everything went as planned without any problems "EXCEPT" for the last time. On this occasion, the vet, explained that while retracting the endotracheal tube from his trachea the balloon cuff may have damaged part of trachea. That wasn't very good news to hear. I knew something was wrong as soon as I picked james up from the vet. He was glad to see me and he was purring, but his purr had a different sound. it was much lower in tone and very throaty. The vet told us to feed him just canned food and add water to it to make a slurry, and to do this until his throat healed. James, prior to this incident ate only dry food.Well, I continued with the slurry diet for 2 weeks and then tried to give him some dry food. He ate some of it and quickly vomited it all up. I went back to the slurry diet and tried the dry food again about a week later, the same thing happened he ate some and then vomited it all up. I was in close contact with my vet while this was happening and she said she didn't know why. But suggested adding water to the dry food to make it softer and see if he will keep it down. It didn't work, James ate some and he immediately threw it up, just like he had the other times. Eventually,he was able to eat and keep down the canned food without the water, but it had to be a very fine and smooth canned food. Any canned food that was bulky or had bits and pieces in it, he couldn't keep down. It's now 2 1/2 years later, since the disastrous teeth cleaning that damaged his trachea and he can only eat soft canned food anything other than that he can't keep down. And, now I'm very worried about his dental health. Because of his history, and because now he only eats canned food, which is not as good for his dental health as dry food was , I worry that his teeth need to be cleaned again. Also his breath is very bad. But because of the damage he suffered to his trachea from the last time he had his teeth cleaned, I don't want to put him through another general anesthesia. My vet doesn't recommend getting his teeth cleaned because of what happened last time but doesn't provide any alternatives. So, what should I do. Doing nothing, doesn't sit right with me and I'm concerned by doing nothing, his teeth will only get worse and may begin to bother and hurt him, if not already. Please let me know what are some alternatives to this problem. I'd appreciate and and all suggestions and advice. thank you timon