I'm sure she's going to be a much happier cat now it's done.
Financially speaking, the effort wasn't that big.I know what a financial and emotional toll this is taking on you, God bless......
Hello. I just read your post and felt compelled to respond. I had a female friendly stray that I took off the steets right before I moved some years back. I was feeding her for awhile and couldn't leave her behind. A few years later at her annual vet visit, it was discovered that she had quite a number of bad teeth. She had 12 of them taking out. Not too long after that at another vet, I was told she has Tooth Reabsorption and needs all remaining teeth removed. The vet told me with that condition and Stomatitis it s best to remove all the teeth. These conditions just progress and makes things worse for the cats. They told me of customers who opted for Rxs, thinking they could slow down the progression, but in the end the only solution was complete removal of all the teeth. Cats can eat food without teeth, even dry food. My cat had no problem eating dry food after all her teeth were gone. The only issues with outdoor cats is it is one less defense they have against attacks from other animals. Also if they hunt, they can't eat their prey.In my yard I have two semi-ferals, a 2-yo boy and a 5 or 6-yo girl, both fixed.
They arrived on their own, they're positively feral, not stray, and are rather friendly.
Last May I noticed that the girl was a little down, she would eat less, she was losing weight and her coat was getting bad. I suspected it could be CKD, so I took the cat to the vet. I would have liked to inspect her mouth at home, but she just does not allow me.
The vet looked into the cat's mouth with no problems (the cat gets paralysed with fear at the vets') and the diagnosis was lymphoplasmacytic stomatitis. It's a condition where, basically, the cat's immune system is rejecting its own teeth.
The first therapy was a shot of Depomedrol with the request to go back with the cat after 3 weeks. Four weeks later I was there again, the situation was slightly improved, so the vet gave the cat another shot of Depomedrol.
At the next visit, because the condition was slowly improving, the vet prescribed to continue the treatment at home with Prednisolone, 1.25 mg a week. We went back 6 weeks later and the situation had worsened, so the prescription was changed to 1.25 mg every other day. Another 7 weeks and the cat's mouth was in a terrible condition. The vet gave her another shot of Depomedrol, and said that this was her last chance, the next step would be the teeth removal, though there's no real guarantee that the stomatitis will heal.
Despite her awful condition, the cat keeps eating regularly and her coat is fine since the first shot. But if the only definitive solution to her disease is revoming all her teeth, I think this is what I should do.
My concern is that I don't know how an outdoor cat can manage her life when she has no teeth in her mouth.
Do you have any exprience or advice?
I'm attaching some photos.
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May 21, 2019 - The situation at the beginning
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June 18, 2019 - 4 weeks after the first shot of Depomedrol, a little improvement.
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July 5, 2019 - 2 weeks after the second shot of Depomedrol, a great improvement.
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August 22, 2019 - 6 weeks after 1.25 mg Prednisolone a week, it has got worse!
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October 11, 2019 - 7 weeks after 1.25 mg Prednisolone every other day, the situation is awful!
Well, all the photos that I posted in this thread have been taken at the vets' practice. The vet would keep the cat's mouth open while I was taking the pictures.Looks so much better. I still haven't figured out how you get the mouth open like that! Thanks so much for keeping us informed, it is reassuring to many that there is a good outcome. All the luck!