Old cat advice

[tootiredtobeinspired]

Hi just after some advice about my old girl. She is at least 17 and she has always been very lucky with her health. She now has some arthritis which is mostly manageable (we use metacam/ heat pads etc when needed) and some kidney issues (not formally diagnosed but she drinks a fair bit and has occasional times when she vomits for a day or two then goes back to normal so we feed her a kidney kind diet).
Her big problem at the minute is her teeth. She has really smelly breath and has started being a little bit drooly/wet around the mouth. She also occasionally paws at her mouth after eating. The vet had a look and said she had gingivitis but that all we could do was pain killers (metacam) or general anaesthetic for a full dental.
Given her age we are reluctant to do the anaesthetic but are we making her suffer? Will her quality of life improve if we risk the dental surgery?
We just lost our young boy last week and Im not sure Im able to face more heartache yet......

You definitely need to risk the dental surgery. Toothache is very painful. Vets are very experienced at supporting older cats through surgery and the chances are she will come through it just fine. Our clinic do dentals on very old cats all the time.

In any case, it's a risk you have to take - her quality of life without it will be awful.

I would go back for the kidney symptoms alone. You need a diagnosis rather than using guesswork.
We had a cat with gingivitis. It's horrid. Please seek a vet opinion.
Old girl has serious stomach surgery to remove a mass at about 17. We thought we had lost her. She had a heart murmur and I really thought that would be it. She recovered well. It wasn't cancer. We eventually lost her at 19. Unrelated issue.
Good luck OP. I'm sorry for your recent loss but you do need to do what's best for her.

Yes to surgery. The risk is better than her being in constant pain.

I think a lot will depend on how far advanced the kidney disease is, if it's in the early stages then yes get it done, if not the vet may not be willing to operate anyway. Also, if she's lost a lot of weight with her kidneys, they may be reluctant to operate. I know this as I went through the same thing with my boy. She could well be in pain with her teeth as that's another thing you have to bear in mind, if she has a good while in front of her, do you want her suffering. Dental disease can cause other problems by the way, one of which is kidney disease!

I think some vets want will do blood tests before a dental. Either way, it would be worth having up to date levels checked, that way the vet knows the position and can advise.

My old girl had abdominal surgery at about 15 to remove a wedged fur ball. She made it to 20.

Your vet should be able to offer blood tests to assust kidney function. excessive thirdt can be caused by other problems to although it does sound renal.

If her kidneys are compromised they can put her on fluids before and during the procedure to support them.

I guess you have to ask yourself if you would go to the dentist yourself with toothache?

yes there would be anaesthetic risk but it can be minimised so worth considering. It will be ££££though

assust is a well known medical term fatfingeritis

Thanks all, Ill get her back to the vets and have a chat with them about our options and minimising the risks. Its so hard. You love these animals so much but I know I have to do the right thing by her. Wish us luck.