Cat teeth problem

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Hi all!

I have a cat with the maxillary canines swollen. The left one is a lot more swollen then the right one.
The vet said it looked like an infection.
We first gave her daily half a pill of Stomorgyl 10 (spiramycin + metronidazole) for 10 days and it looked like the right one was not as swollen anymore and also the gums were not red anymore. After 3 weeks we gave her another round of 10 days but this time we didn't see any sign of improvement.
After another visit to the vet we did a dental cleaning and the vet gave her Clavucill 50 mg (amoxicillin + Clavulanic acid) for 10 days but there were no signs of improvement. Then we tried Zodon 25 mg (Clindamycin) and again no improvement.

After these we decided to have some x-ray made but we couldn't find one that does dental x-ray as the only one in town that everyone knows doesn't do them anymore so we've made the whole head ones.

The vet said that the left canine (the one that is more swollen) looks like it has many small abscesses and called a surgeon to ask if this can be drained. He said yes and wanted to scheduled a date but after the vet send him the photos and x-rays he gave a strange answer (for us at least) saying that he'll extract them as that will need to be drained forever so it's no use.

The vet said we can try to give her an anti-inflammatory this time, for 4 days, so we are on Meloxicam now (today will be the 4th day) and again no sign of improvement. A different vet recommended robenacoxib but we didn't tried it yet.

Another vet told us that if there was no sign of improvement after all those antibiotics then the extraction of them is the only option.

After all these vet visit and treatments we still don't know what exactly is the problem, no exact diagnostic.

The cat doesn't seem to be in any pain when I touch or even press on the swollen area.

I attached some images of her teeth and also the x-ray.

My cat is on a raw diet but I don't think that has anything to do with her problem.

Did anyone had this type of problem before?

English is not my first language so please excuse me if I made any mistakes.

Thank you!

The cat probably needs the one tooth removed as you've tried very hard to save it and nothing has worked. The cat will still be able to eat with one tooth less.

Our cat had very similar but his tooth ended up wobbling until it came out mid play. It all happened very quickly.

Vet said it was all good and then the gum healed up straight away.

He eats absolutely fine without it. ☺️

If the tooth isn’t healing should it be removed?

@caringcarer I know but we would like the extraction to be the last option. If in the end we need to extract the left tooth then the right tooth will need to be extracted as well.

@Monetmonetary Yes, I know what you mean. We have 2 more cats that had some small teeth fall but with this one cat the problem persists for a few months now. The swelling is the same, teeth the same, no wobbling/moving, no visible pain etc.

She is healthy, she even put some weight in the last month. 😊

We can't figure out what the problem is, what is causing the swelling.

My boy has only 1 tooth now. He eats well and is very happy to be free of discomfort. Have the tooth 🦷 pulled.

My cat has had quite a few teeth removed. It's caused no issues with eating (even dry food!) I would definitely go ahead and get it removed.

It's really common for cats to need dental extractions. It's not like we are keen to brush their teeth!

Cats are excellent at putting up with pain so again, not a surprise you haven't noticed anything.

Cats' teeth are tiny - even doing an extraction is a skilled job. So extraction is basically the only treatment for rotten teeth, they don't have fillings/crowns/root canal for cats.

Even for someone looking at a cat X-ray for the first time, the swelling around the canine is obvious, and it's obvious in the photos too.

Your cat has had several courses of antibiotics with no improvement. It will be absolutely fine (and a lot happier) without one tooth.

Thank you all for your comments.
@AnnaMagnani We do brush their teeth. 😁
Also cats can have crown and root canal treatments and even implants but we are sad that we don't know the cause for the swelling. I understand that in the end we might have to remove the two canines but would have been good to know for the future so we can prevent other teeth from developing this problem. 😢