Stomatitis

[tiggerwillow]

So Tigger's been to the vet today, vet said she has stomatitis (if I spelled it right, alter corrupt on my phone when i came out of the appointment wanted to change it to stomach titis)

Anyone had dealings with this? I'm not familiar with it and I'm worried in case the medication the vet put her on today does not work, will the stomatits mean she'll not live much longer?

 

[di and bob]

It is an inflammation of the gums. It means she may lose some or all of her teeth, but if they put her on medication there is hope it will work since they did not pull any teeth right away. She can live a normal life without teeth, as many cats do. They even still eat hard food by swallowing it which many cats do anyway. I give my cats Oratene, a water additive for cats that helps kill germs and plaque in their mouth. I put it in their water every day when I change it, and it has made a big difference with their teeth. Oratene is the only one they will drink, they can smell the others.

 

[hexiesfriend]

No she will live regular time don’t worry. I had a cat with stomatitis that lived to 17. This is a dental condition that if you stay on top of is manageable with antibiotics and steroids

 

[Antonio65]

I guess you went to the vet with Tigger for a reason. Likely because she wasn't eating as her usual?
Stomatitis isn't a life-threatening issue, if properly treated. Generally a round of antibiotics and cortisone is enough to fix the problem.
Generally the reason for a stomatitis is a bad mouth hygiene, or a bad tooth.

The problem is different ifthe stomatitis is of lymphoplasmatic nature, sort of an autoimmune disease, for which it seems the only solution is a total tooth extraction.
You can see a thread of mine on this issue here
Removing teeth in a semi-feral with stomatitis - Photos

 

[tiggerwillow]

She wasn't able to eat dry food and she wouldn't let me look in her mouth, she even tried to stop the vet from having a look, using her paw to gently push him away to stop hands from getting too close to her mouth

she had a dental cleaning about 3 weeks ago at the vet, and they was happy with her teeths then, i'm worrying over why 3 weeks later she's got this thing now, they said 3 weeks ago her teeths were looking good for her age

 

[Antonio65]

How old is she?

So, three weeks ago she had a dental cleaning and the vets were happy with her teeth, all fine. Now she's a sore mouth, with pinkish or reddish guma and she doesn't let you handle her mouth.
My guess is that your vets did something wrong three weeks ago, like touching, prodding or damaging something.

 

[tiggerwillow]

How old is she?

So, three weeks ago she had a dental cleaning and the vets were happy with her teeth, all fine. Now she's a sore mouth, with pinkish or reddish guma and she doesn't let you handle her mouth.
My guess is that your vets did something wrong three weeks ago, like touching, prodding or damaging something.

she's about 10 or 11 (years, although she would like everyone to think she's still a baby) <3

she did have a bit of plaque on her teeth 3 weeks ago, which is why she had the dental to get her teeths as plaque-free as possible and make sure everything was fine (cause she, like Willow, won't allow teeths brushed,Willow gets angry and bites at the brush to make it go away, Tigger squeals like she's being murdered and thrashes around, same with claw clipping)

 

[Antonio65]

she's about 10 or 11 (years, although she would like everyone to think she's still a baby) <3

Ok, just to put your Tigger in an age frame. Yes, it's alright to have a dental done at that age. It's not normal to have such a reaction 20 days after the dental.
That's why it would be interesting to know whether they did something wrong, but they won't ever tell you.

What you can do is take your cat to the vets, explain them what happened, the timeline of the events, and follow their instructions with cortisone and antibiotics.
I know there are soothing gels or drops to put on sore gums, this could help Tigger eat while she's recovering.

 

[tiggerwillow]

Is it possible they might have trainee's doing procedures like that?

I mean, every vet has to have a first case for anything, so if they did have a trainee learning "on the job", I understand and don't mind them learning "on the job," even with my girls

would they of asked if it was okay to have a trainee do the medical stuff (under supervision), or do they normally just not tell the meowmies and purrpas?

 

[Antonio65]

From what I've been told by someone who worked as a trainee at vet practices, as long as pet owners don't see, vets allow trainees to perform some simple operations on cats and dogs, like inserting IV's, taking blood samples, and probably even doing dentals.
These are very low risk operations, and anyway the trainee is supervised during their activities.

Should one of them do something wrong, the senior vet intervenes and points out for the mistake, but the mistake has been done already.

If the pet owners are in the room, then the trainees just watch and maybe help.
This is what a vet student once told me.

 

[tiggerwillow]

I was reading a bit about it and something I've read has scared me a bit - stomatitis, according to something I've read, could be brought on by FeLV, would the vet of said if he thought Tigger had FeLV?

 

[Antonio65]

I was reading a bit about it and something I've read has scared me a bit - stomatitis, according to something I've read, could be brought on by FeLV, would the vet of said if he thought Tigger had FeLV?

Was your cat ever tested for FIV and FeLV?
If yes, was Tigger vaccinated for FeLV? Can you cat go outside and have the chance to meet other cats?
The vaccine for FeLV does not give the warranty of a total immunity.

Another disease that could lead to stomatitis might be the calicivirus. It's one of the virus that the classic RCP vaccine is for, but again, the vaccine does not fully protect against it.

 

[cejhome]

Stomatitis is an immune system disorder where the immune system attacks the gums. It will not go away on its own, it will not be cured by antibiotics/steroids. It is a life long condition. It is a over-reaction to the plaque/tarter on the teeth. One of our kitties, Puddin had it. It has been many years, so treatment protocols may have changed/improved. Since you have caught it early, it may be managed quite well with dietary changes. It is commonly caused by food allergy/intolerance.

We had to put Puddin on raw home made rabbit or pork. She was highly allergic to chicken and fish - even ground chicken egg (used for calcium source in raw food) and fish oil. We adopted her at approx age 10-12. It is very painful and must be treated immediately. If you aren't comfortable with the diagnosis and/or treatment plan, please get a second opinion.

Puddin had to have all her teeth pulled except for her fangs. We were able to have it done by a dental specialist vet about an hour away from where we lived. That, along with the diet changes helped tremendously but did not eliminate it. She was on predinsone the rest of her life. The tooth extraction and diet enabled us to lower her dosage. The last year or so of her life, our vet had us try something I believe is called Atopica or something like that. It was an oral medicine. That helped too. We would have to up her prednisone during ragweed season - she was also allergic to that.

A cat with no teeth can even eat dry food once the mouth is healed. Puddin loved her raw and would not eat ground meat. I had to dice the meat into small pieces and she loved to gum it.

Puddin led a very happy life, but you must be diligent and do what needs to be done to keep the Stomatitis at bay. You must keep an eye out for flare ups, and get with your vet to see if the prednisone or other meds need to be temporarily increased and you must learn what causes the flare ups. Puddin had been at the rescue we adopted her from for a while and it was not treated. It wasn't a good rescue, they didn't notice anything at all.

Puddin had a good life and she was well worth the bit of extra work on my part to make her food and monitor her condition.

We had to have her put to sleep at 16-17 due to what was probably cancer.

 

[tiggerwillow]

Both Tigger and Willow had all the vaccinations that the vets normally give, they are up to date with everything

Tigger had a bit of dry yesterday, but is completely refusing it today and begged for the wet (which I gave her)

She's not normally picky, she'll eat almost every brand of food (the only one she flat out refused since the day I adopted her, was the harringtons one or whatever its called), she is certain that one is pure poison, is it too early to let the vets know the medication isn't doing much? They said to give her a week on it (this is day 2) then if she's not getting better, take her back in

For now, just for the week, they put her on metacam (spelling?)

 

[Antonio65]

The Metacam is an anti-inflammatory med, and it should be effective since day 1, so I think that if after 2+ days you don't see any improvement, you'd better tell the vet.

 

[tiggerwillow]

I sent another appointment request in, her mouth is still hurting her

 

[cejhome]

Maybe try people baby food to see if she will eat? Make sure there are no onions in it. They have 100% meat only versions. Can they give her pain killers? Our kitty Puddin was on Buprenorphine for almost a month before the dental specialist veterinarian could do the extractions. She did pretty good on that. She wasn't knocked out all the time, the dose was enough to keep her comfortable and be able to eat. Once the extractions were healed and she was on a low dose steroid routine, she was able to eat her raw food normally (diced pieces, not ground - Puddin would not touch ground).

 

[tiggerwillow]

Maybe try people baby food to see if she will eat? Make sure there are no onions in it. They have 100% meat only versions. Can they give her pain killers? Our kitty Puddin was on Buprenorphine for almost a month before the dental specialist veterinarian could do the extractions. She did pretty good on that. She wasn't knocked out all the time, the dose was enough to keep her comfortable and be able to eat. Once the extractions were healed and she was on a low dose steroid routine, she was able to eat her raw food normally (diced pieces, not ground - Puddin would not touch ground).

She will happily eat wet food, she seems to find it painful eating dry food or having anything done with her mouth, she can't even seem to tolerate me gently touching around one side of her mouth, when I try brushing one side of her mouth with any toothbrush

 

[tiggerwillow]

Update: she's been back to the vet, she has to stay on the metacam for the next 2 weeks, her stomatitis (spelling) isn't completely sorted but vet said it is looking a bit better

However, she's still sore in her mouth, vet said to keep her on wet food for 2 weeks and see how she does, next step if she still seems to find eating the dry food painful when I reintroduce it, is the vet doing a xray of her head to see whats going on

I got myself worried again though, Ebony (my sweetpea angel) lost her life because of a brain cancer, I'm worried the stomatitis can develop into a mouth cancer which will then spread to her brain - is this true or am I making stuff up?

 

[Antonio65]

I don't think that a stomatitis, if correctly treated, can turn and develop into a cancer.