Worried - cat not perking up after dental

[timtam23]

I just wanted a bit of perspective here in case I'm worrying needlessly about my cat being slow to recover. My 4 year old healthy cat went for his booster & checkup recently, all fine apart from quite a bit of tartar and gingivitis. The vet talked a bit about different dry food but I thought as he's young, go straight for a dental & start afresh with clean teeth. So he went in on Monday, had it done,uncomplicated procedure with no extractions needed & he had a metacam injection. I picked him up in the late afternoon. He did look pretty dishevelled and was quite zonked/disorientated, unable to purr or miaow (sore throat?). He didn't eat at all & we kept him in overnight. The next day he was still a bit disorientated & in fact couldn't make the big jump onto the shed when he went out, although he went up onto the outside wall in smaller steps. Again didn't eat (we had soft wet food out for him) although had some water. By Wednesday he was less lethargic but when I returned from work and he still hadn't eaten I took him back to the vet. Vet said it was unusual to have such a slow recovery - checked him over, everything seemed ok according to vet. Gave him 2 injections - one buprenorphine & one metacam. He did perk up noticeably Weds evening/Thurs, was trotting around and was sniffing at his food although not eating any of it. Today I'm back home from work late & apparently he's been asleep all day. Food from this morning is untouched. He's quite quiet, I took him downstairs & he's gone straight back up to the bed. Vet now shut until tomorrow. We were given post-op metacam but advised to give only with food so he hadn't had any due to not eating. However I've given him a bit this evening as he seemed to respond to pain relief before. I've had cats go for dentals before (elderly doddery ones as well) and they really did bounce back pretty quickly so I can't help worrying that this young fit one seems to be finding it quite tough. I was going to ring the vet again tomorrow unless any need for urgent advice overnight - can anyone give any reassurance or any ideas as to why he might not be wanting to eat? Sorry for the essay...

Fluffy yes dehydration makes poo much more difficult to pass. The body will actually re-adsorb liquid from poo if a) it's in need of the liquid and/or b) if it's held for a long time in the body - well that's the case in humans, so I'll assume it is for cats too.

My fussy cat goes mad for Felix As Good As It Looks. Also those little gold tins of pate. (if you mix them with hot water, they go sloppy and you can syringe them in).

The late is what my vet suggested as well. However madam was having none of it!

Pate

See what the vet says about getting rid of all the old poo?

Will you visit tonight?

So. The vet phoned today and the bloods were very good news, they are now completely normal thanks to the IV drip. The FIV test was negative which is great, and his urine sample seems clear. They managed to get an ultrasound and the results do help to explain what has happened. One of his kidneys is absolutely fine and normal. The other has 2 (I think) cysts in it which mean the kidney structure isn't as good. The vet thinks that this kidney probably doesn't work well but his good kidney is easily able to compensate for it in normal day to day situations and it was doing the job of 2 kidneys without anyone knowing different. However the surgery, anaesthetic & everything else put too much strain on the good kidney which is why it started to fail.
In the short term he is pretty much back to normal and there's no immediate concerns about his kidneys. However in the long term he will be more prone to urine infections etc, he is likely to develop chronic kidney failure at a younger age and his life may be shorter than the average cat. But he has made a really good recovery and should be coming home tomorrow. He's having laxatives and also an appetite stimulant (interestingly this is also prescribed to humans as an antidepressant). I visited on my way home from work and I did buy that hot roast chicken for him. He was pretty interested and ate quite a few small pieces, he also ate some tuna.
I asked about renal food/special diet etc but the vet said he can eat anything that he wants for now - hopefully no need for the special recovery food either.

So I think it's as good an outcome as I could possibly have hoped for - even the kidney cysts are good to know about, as it means we can be more prepared if he ever needs another anaesthetic, also we know care will need to be taken when prescribing meds in the future so hopefully we can give him a happy life for a good few years yet.

We are all very excited about getting him home tomorrow, and thanks to everyone on here too for your thoughts and wishes. I honestly thought on Monday that he would not make it, and this thread has kept me going.

I think humans get this too, one kidney doing more than the other.

The main thing is that Dudley comes home well tomorrow. I'm so pleased for you all.

That’s brilliant news!!!! So happy for you and Dudley.

That sounds really positive. I am so glad he's coming home and you know what's been going on. Not needing a special diet sounds really good. Wishing you many happy years together. X

Oh timtam such good news! How good that he's coming home. Sometimes warming food slightly makes it more stinky aromatic, and that can help get cats interested.

Re kidney, I know I am not a cat () but I only have one kidney, and I've done ok. If the vet has said that he'll manage with 1 and a bit, he will. You'll be anxious at first, but soon it will all be normal, and you'll just be paying general attention to him weeing ok (to ensure no UTIs) and drinking normal amounts.

Am glad Dudley is on the mend. There are some excellent renal foods out there but there are often issues with palarability. So right now him eating at all is the most important thing. Going forward he might benefit from a renal diet but if he doesn't like it then I'd opt for the best quality diet you can. Something with high quality protein is better than low crappy protein if that makes sense. You can supplement with a product called ipakatin to bind up the phosphates as renal diets will be low in phosphate (or potassium I can't recall whuch).

I often warm cats food slightly as they are often stimulated more by smell than taste. Also in a "wild" setting fresh meat would be at body temp.

That’s great news, I’m so pleased for you both!

Harry is on Ipakitine as he won’t eat a renal diet. Providing I mix it into his food properly we’ve had no problems with him taking it.

Good news for the lad.

I'm really pleased Dudley is on the mend. Now you now about the kidney issue if he needs another GA the vet should be able to give him extra renal support.

Is Dudley home yet?

For those of you were wondering, here's the original thread from all that time ago.

Dudley arrives

He is home & having a cuddle from DH!!! His poor belly is all shaved from the ultrasound and he's very skinny but surprisingly perky, he has eaten loads and had some water. It's almost as if he'd never been away!

He looks very content. He'll probably sleep well tonight.

LOOK AT HIM!!

I expect you'll all sleep better tonight with him back home.

He does look content.

You just have to remind yourself not to check on him every 10 minutes, tonight, timtam.

Welcome home Dudley! So pleased he's on the mend and at least you know what caused the problem.

Oh love him!!!! He looks happy. You must be so relieved.
Stern voice "NO More worrying mummy Dudley! You hear us?"
Oh that belly. Bless him.

He’s beautiful. My cat has had mirtazapine as an appetite stimulant (I assume that’s the one you mean) and it worked very well in very small doses.

I so hope he gets better soon.