Cat dental extraction - reassure me please!

[WetBandits]

My older lady cat (not sure how old exactly - she was a youngish adult when she came to us 9 years ago, vet’s guesstimate is that she’s maybe 12ish) needs a dental with a few extractions as her teeth are unfortunately not in good shape. She doesn’t seem to be in any pain (although I know cats won’t show it anyway)and is playing, grooming and eating and drinking normally, but vet and I are both of the opinion that the bad teeth need to go before they get sore, and that she’s not getting any younger so best to do it sooner rather than later.

She’s had her 6-monthly checkup recently and is healthy apart from her manky teeth, but I’m still petrified to let her go under GA, especially as we don’t know exactly how old she is

Can anyone share some experiences of older cats going under GA for a dental, what the recovery was like, how long they were under for, etc please? It needs doing for her health and comfort so I am going to do it regardless of how scared I am, but I just need a little reassurance! Bonus points if you have positive stories for oldies. Thank you 🐾

My old girl at 18 had two operations to remove her teeth.

It was her first time under GA since being desexed as a kitten.

She was fine - just wanted to be left alone for a day or so after the operation but other than that bounced back I really quickly.

My current two who were 4/5 haven't had extractions but a clean under GA - one was her usual self as soon as I let her out of the carrier (and after giving me a good telling off), the other took a couple of days to shake of the anesthetic by sleeping a lot.

My ten year old had one - she was fine. The only after-effect was that she clearly missed the tooth that had gone - one of her fangs - and gurned resentfully at us for several weeks afterward!

I worry that my girl is going to need one of her fangs out as she’s chipped the end of it on god knows what 🤦🏼‍♀️ she already looks like a mardy old lady so I dread to think how she’ll look when she’s lost her dentures!

My cat was 15, like you wanted to sort out problems early. First op half the bad teeth out, developed an infection and stopped eating. Had to have another ga for second lot of teeth and had to be tube fed for three weeks. Was quite Ill, but lived to tell the tale. One year later, on my knee now, still agile, still enjoys a fight and no problems eating or biting anything. Looks a bit comical with only one fang, but still my gorgeous boy, fit and healthy.
Think what we had was rare and just bad luck, but like me, I don’t think you have a choice, don’t want them to have pain and stop eating or have a ga when too old
My boy much older but the 2 ga were no problem. Good luck

Our 18 year old boy had quite a lot out last year. Recovered very well - kept him in for a while and gave him some pain meds for a while. In fact I think it hurt us more... £700 later 😣

My 13 year old boy had some teeth removed last year. He got an infection afterwards, it was picked up at his post op check up. It took him a while to get over it, but he did.

My neighbour's cat had his last few teeth out at the age of 21ish. He plodded on happily for another year before old age caught up with him at last.

I have an old boy, pedigree maine coon and the only difference I found after his dental extractions were that he needed catfood with gravy instead of jelly and pate (a softer food) obviously depending on how many teeth needed to be extracted. He still likes dry food but gokat have sort of soft bits in their food so he likes that alot. Hope it helps xx

Aww I understand how you feel. My 12 year old had to be put under last month for dental extraction I was beside myself all day. When I went to pick her up I could hear her shouting from outside as she was hungry and grumpy and wanted to go home. Expected her to be woozy but she ran straight in the house and stuffed her face full of food. I'm sure your fur baby will be fine.

My 11 yr old had a couple of teeth extracted recently. She seemed ok before having the op but was clearly a much happier cat afterwards so she must have been more uncomfortable than we realised. She recovered really well too, glad we had it done.

Harry lost all his fangs, he was my little gummy bear! He was 10 or 11 when he had 12 of his teeth removed and he was fine.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but my 13 year old boy has"very severe" gingivitis according to the vet.

Vet recommended removing one arcade (upper side of mouth) of teeth to see if he's one of the lucky 60% that will see an improvement. We've been quoted approx £1k for this, then obviously more of it is a success and we go for the full mouth removal.

Those of you who've had to have all/most teeth removed, what kind of prices did you pay?

My boy is getting by on metacam and quite happy eating dry and wet food, I don't want to put him through a major op with little chance of success if he's ok ... also not made of money but I'd sell my soul if he needed it.

My old girl had all the teeth on one side removed, upper and lower, back in the late 80s. She recovered well and lived to be 19!

More recently my current older girl (coming up 9, we think) had GA to get her teeth cleaned a few months ago - she has gingivitis. No trouble at all, no reaction to the anaesthetic except being a bit out of sorts for a day or so after she got home.

Hi, looking for some advice please. My cat is only young 1 and a half, pedigree, British short hair.

When I went for a check up they noticed his gums were really red. They have now said he needs full teeth extraction and it's between 3.5k to 6 k. Does this sound right?

Little update on my old boy, he's had everything removed except three canines and is doing well. It cost just under 2k in all, across two operations.

As it was gingivostomatitis it's actually a gum problem, not dental. Meaning i managed to get the insurance to pay out.

I would get a quote from a different vet SBribrun, that's extremely high.

Glad he is doing well :) I hope the recovery goes well too.

I know it sounds silly but can you tell they don't have teeth or is it something you wouldn't notice until they open their mouth?

I'm going to get a few quotes as I do think it's extremely high. I do live near London so maybe that's why but I will shop around. Thank you for your advice. It's very stressful.

I have insurance but still have to pay 20 percent x

Glad to hear all is well, @Growingoutthegrey .

It's really important that your vet explains on any paperwork that it's a gum disease, not dental problem. Most insurance won't cover dental and I needed to argue a few times to get them to understand it wasn't his teeth that were the problem. Note, this only applies if it's gingivostomatitis so I would ask the vet to confirm.

I've seen a cat with no teeth and you could tell, she was the cutest little gurning old man! If they leave the canines you wouldn't really know as that keeps the structure.

Mine has no problems eating wet or dry now, although he's still suffering with ulcers poor thing. Trying steroids now...

I’ve had several cats that have had dental when older, mY lovely old girl had all hers out at 12, she was fine.

there are benefits, she never brought another mouse home, dead or alive!

Not at all. They're taking the piss. Paid £900 two years ago to have all teeth removed in similar age cat. Try a different vet.
His gum disease was caused by a virus probably passed on from his mum at birth. It was the best thing we did for him. He's eating fine, his gums are looking really healthy and he's developed a good technique for inhaling biscuits. It's also helped to manage the virus and he's progressed much better than the vet expected him to. Worst thing for us was the cost but the amount you've been quoted is silly. They also warned us about the risk of cats jaws fracturing when they have no teeth but he came through ok and has had no issues.
Coincidentally I'm due at the vets again today with a 10 year old who had 11 teeth removed on Monday - £1150 including the preop blood tests, metacam, and two check ups.

Are they quoting you an insurance price as our vets prices come down when they realise you're paying it yourself?

Thank you all for your advice it's so helpful! Yes, so the first vets knows that I am insured and also asked up to what value I am insured to which I stupidly said 7k. I feel like they are definitely trying to get more money out of me. I've been so upset as even with insurance still means a lot of money!

I am going to get a few other quotes and perhaps tell them I'm not insured!!!!

I'm so pleased your cats have been OK, makes me feel better that he will be. Fingers crossed! X

My friend's 16 year old cat had the procedure done. Their vets really made sure she would be fine as the first scheduled op was postponed as some of her vital signs were a little bit worrying. She had the op done a few weeks later and it went well. She had 9 teeth removed!

She was a bit worried the day after as she was finding it hard to eat. What worked was:

Sheba with the gravy and holding the tray up to her while she ate.
A few days later moving on to more solid food like boiled chicken she would aim for the slices to go to the part of the mouth where there was teeth and after a few attempts her cat picked it up.

After a few days she was back to eating her normal food, even biscuits! And she was a lot happier too.

My 13yr old boy had his teeth out apart from 1 fang. He is now a happy friendly boy instead of a grumpy 😾 bity bugger.

A toothless cat 😻