Total teeth extraction please comfort us

[BuckingFrolics]

My beloved rescue has calicivirus and hence appalling gingivitis. He came to me with only eight teeth left (he's 3). The vet said all the remaining teeth- which includes his incisors- have to go.

I'm petrified for him. The op is a big one, so that's the first panic, and then how does he manage with no teeth?

Most cats seem to cope fine with the op itself. He'll be a bit uncomfortable for a few days afterwards, and on painkillers and antibiotics for a week to ten days, but it won't be that bad.

And cats with no teeth at all manage fine. They can crunch dry biscuits with their gums no problem. The main worry is that they will have lost a main line of defence, so never trim his claws as that would remove his other one.

Aww poor cat. I have a friend with a small rescue dog who had to have almost all of his teeth removed. It honestly makes no difference and he’s living a very happy and comfortable life.
The vet said that cats and dogs are able to crunch biscuits with their gums as a previous poster said.

My cat has no teeth and she manages fine!

He’ll be fine, we had to do this for one of our cats as he was in a lot of pain. Can’t tell any difference except he’s no longer afraid of eating!!! Quality of life is much better

My mum's cat years ago had to have a total extraction. Managed absolutely fine, it just felt very odd being bitten by her.

Bitten by a cat with no teeth would be weird.

That's all very reassuring thank you. I'll tell him.

Eight teeth is really not that many to remove ( cats have 6 incisors in total and these are very easy to remove with shallow roots) canines are trickier, but really not that bad. You should be aware that only for around 60% of cats does it solve their calici stomatitis, 40% of cats still have stomatitis and for a small number of those cats total extractions does not lead to any improvement.

I have also heard anecdotally that once the sites heal cats actually do quite well without teeth and can even eat dry food without issue.

My old girl had all her teeth removed and spent the rest of her life (23 years) chomping on hard dog biscuits! Her choice, she was of course fed normal cat food! We gave her wet food at first but she preferred the challenge. You would never have been able to tell

I think Madcat had all but a couple of incisors removed at least a decade ago.

His vet seemed to think his problem was that he always hoovered food up, rather than chewing it.

I seem to remember that we had to keep him on wet food for a couple of days, that's all.

He was a force to be reckoned with in his time - happily eats offcuts of roast lunch, wet and dry food.

Mine has one bottom fang remaining, all the others were removed. Recovered fine, demanded food straight away
He eats wet and dry, messier with dry now as he seems to get it everywhere but he can and will eat anything from raw bones to pizza crusts and has gained weight since having his teeth out

Photo is of me telling him mama still thinks he's pretty

He is sure a cute little guy! He loves his mum.