Gingivitis - teeth removal?

[HeyheyheyGoodbye]

DM's big cat has had gingivitis for months now. It was very sudden-onset and he has been very drooly and lost a lot of weight, despite DM taking him to the vet regularly and trying everything they suggest, medicine and otherwise. Now he's started scratching at his mouth all the time and making himself bleed. DM is concerned that his quality of life is really starting to diminish, so took him to vet today and took her other cat too, who was due for his jabs.

Other cat is showing signs of it too! The vet says this makes her think it is viral, so she has tested them both to see. If it is viral, she thinks the best course of action is to remove all their teeth, which she has been reluctant to do for big cat so far, but now thinks it may be the only thing left to try.

They are both now on a new regime, and big cat on anti-inflammatories and painkillers for his self-inflicted wounds, with another appointment in a week or sooner if they go downhill.

DM is trying to find info on success results for having their teeth out - she doesn't want it done unless it's going to actually fix it.

Any advice or experience here? I feel so bad for her and the kitties :(

Bad gingivitis can be pretty grim. How old are they?

(By the way, cats generally do very well indeed with their teeth removed.)

[[http://www.icatcare.org:8080/advice/cat-health/dental-disease-cats Here's] some guidance to read.

Big cat is 9 and other cat is 7.

Do they? That's good to know. I can see why she doesn't want to put them through it if it won't fix it - but if it WILL fix it then she's absolutely willing to have it done.

Blast - link failure. That'll teach me to post on a dying laptop.

Here you go.

My cat had to have this done when he was about 4 or 5. He was fine and stealing his brother's biscuits (instead of the soft post-op food we'd planned on him eating for the next 2 weeks) the day after. I forget he's even had it done now!

Seniorboy has mild gingivitis although he had a big GA dental at 16 due to a truly horrible mouth. (He had stomatitis etc.) He had all but 5 teeth out and has been broadly fine ever since - he has ABs for his post-viral mumble sneezing and snottering so they take care of any mild tooth problems at the same time.

If you think about it, cats in the wild generally live to - what - 3 to 5 years old? Cat teeth aren't designed by nature for desperately long life.

Thank you both very much - I think this is reassuring, and will pass it on to DM right away. They are lovely cats and it is such a shame for them to be in pain.

One of my cats had juvenile gingivitis. He was only 6 months old and his gums were bright red. The vet did blood tests, but didn't find anything wrong, she was testing for calici virus I think.

I googled constantly and asked everywhere I could think of for advice. A vet on MN advised me to try a mouthwash and strong antibiotics at regular intervals, which eventually did help and now his gums are just a bit pinker than usual. Luckily he was insured, as the treatment cost £700 at least.

Feel free to pm me if you would like to know the products I was advised to give him.

Lots of my cats have had their teeth out for gingivitis. Many now have no teeth at all. It sorted out the problem in all cases except one, many years ago. So I would say a success rate of around 90% or more.

And it doesn't seem to bother the cats to be toothless and they eat the same stuff without problem.