Please tell me about tooth extractions

[Stakhanovite]

My beautiful little cat flu sufferer is just not getting better from his mouth ulceration. Vets are recommending we extract all his teeth. He's not even two yet! Please tell me your toothless cat experiences. Is he going to be able to eat? What will he look like?

They look the same and manage biscuits. If it’s holding him back it’s best to get it over with.

@QueenPaw's cat only has one Tooth and does not starve!

Here you go, mine has one fang
He's eaten 3 pouches so far today and as many dreamies as he could scrounge. Happily eats anything and everything but prefers stuff in smaller pieces. I also feed in a wide shallow bowl which he prefers (think like a pasta type bowl)

Aww, thanks everyone, that was pretty much what I was wanting to hear. Makes me feel a bit better. @QueenPaw he's gorgeous!

Mine has no teeth (extraction due to infection) and he manages fine. Eats everything including biscuits. We have to cut up roast chicken into smaller pieces but that's all. He even still catches mice and spends ages gumming and sucking them [vom]

My little cat had to have all her teeth out a couple of years ago. She only eats wet food but then she has always been a bit of a delicate little Princess. She only looks a bit odd when she yawns, but otherwise you wouldn't notice.

@tootiredtobeinspired laughing at that one! Did your cat have any ulceration issues, or was it all gum disease? Did he have them all out in one go?

@stakhanovite it was gum disease caused by a virus so he was only 2 (we got him from a breed rescue after the breeder obviously dumped him due to his mouth issue).
Yes he had them all out in one go. He looked fairly bashed up when he came home from the vets and was sorry for himself for a few days but was soon enough back hassling for food and wanting to go out! Its really changed him for the better, his mouth was obviously really painful before, he used to have a lot of discharge from his eyes which he never gets now and being toothless has not stopped him doing anything!

Very interesting the link between eyes and mouth. The horribly expensive specialist we've just seen thinks sorting the teeth might help with his recurring upper respiratory infections.

My worst fear is that pulling his teeth doesn't clear up his tongue, so he can't use that to eat AND then he can't pick things up in his teeth either

Harry isn't completely toothless but he hasn't got many left. A few years ago he had a bone infection in his jaw and a fractured jaw and had about 12 teeth out, including all his fangs. He was eating biscuits within a few days (even with a wired jaw!) and was back to normal pretty quickly. Because he has some teeth left food gets stuck in the gaps and we're often treated to the delightful sight of him pawing at his mouth and then spitting out food!

We think the infection was caused by gum disease and I feel like the worst cat mum ever that it got that bad, however we were told by a previous vet that his teeth were fine when they clearly weren't.

Good luck to your boy

@PinkSparklyIncorrigibleDunce he's a looker! Poor chap, he's really been through the wars. Glad he's thriving now.

It's a great help to hear people's toothless stories. It's a gamble whether getting rid of the teeth will fix Cat Flu Kitten's tongue ulceration, but at the rate he's going he's going to lose them all anyway.

But I love the little fangs so much...

Trying to attach pic of him yawning, but no luck.

I've had two toothless cats and both were absolutely fine. They didn't seem to feel much pain after the ops and were very quickly back to munching on kibble.

I wish I could get my boy's teeth out because I know they're painful, but he's so old it's too much of a risk . If he was young I'd do it like a shot.

Thanks Heydemons. I suppose with cat flu he's going to lose them all anyway at some point so I probably just need to take the plunge.

(Any more yawning toothless cat pics keenly encouraged, by the way. I'm loving the ones of Harry and Queenpaws's boy)