Older cat - dental. WWYD

[whenemmafallsinlove]

Took cat to vets for annual jabs and check.
Different vet than the last two years. Previous vet has said no need to worry re doing a dental.
This vet said lots of tartar, should do dental. With blood test and fluids no need to worry re GA.
However cat is now 15. Appears very well and lives very normal cat life.
I do not want to leave her in pain or distress but nor do I want to intervene unnecessarily.

What do you reckon?

At 15 I would let it go unless there super bad. I had my 6 year old cst get dental and she ended up w 3 teeth left.

The problem with tarter is it can cause gingivitis and periodontal disease. It's full of bacteria which can enter the bloodstream and consequently affect the organs.

My cat had a dental done at 15 years old. I was so nervous about it obviously her being an older cat but it needed to be done and they took bloods at the same time. All was ok ! She was up and about within a couple of days, and had a week of antibiotics and painkillers. Teeth have been fine since and she's 17 now.

My ex vet didn't do a blood test on my 16 year girl when she given an anaesthetic and the poor wee lass had a stroke. When I changed vets it transpired that she'd had high blood pressure. It was an unnecessary procedure I learned but of high value to the vet. She is so much better now but the tears and guilt were huge and I was heart broken.

Would you like to spend the last few years of your life with permanent toothache? Get the poor little buggers teeth sorted. Been there and done it . Grumpy old man turned into lovely happy cat.

@allmycats I don't appreciate that actually. She shows no sign at all of pain (which I know they can mask) or any other symptom. If she did it would obviously be an easy decision. It's precisely because she is happy and healthy that this is difficult. And also vet opinions have differed. Our previous vet felt best to leave well alone now this new one is gung ho for a dental. It's a chain vets too, handiest for us but does make me a bit anxious about upselling etc.

My cat has had a lot of dental problems. A few teeth removed when he was very young but reacted very badly to GA! He almost died and was so weak. Even though he was really young!!

We were given the option of removing remaining teeth but we decided against it as he was still playing, sleeping, purring and eating very crunchy biscuits!

We know when he’s stressed and in pain because his fur changes.

Eventually the bad teeth fell out on their own and we had a checkup last week - vet said all remaining teeth look great.

You know your cat OP! I’d recommend checking to see if she can eat crunchy biscuits and chew on toys. And watch out for pawing of her face and her fur coat changing.

You can also try the dental cleaning treats and those finger pads to brush their teeth To provide a little relief?

Yes I would, if the cat had not had a dental for a few years.

My 6 year old just had a dental. He was not showing any signs of pain, but recently his brother had to have several teeth removed so I thought it was best to have him checked out too. I hoped it would just be a scale and clean, but it turned out he needed three teeth removing. One tooth was actually loose. So there was a problem but he was masking it - I had no idea.

Three weeks later I can see that actually he is now considerably happier, even though he seemed 'fine' beforehand.

What do her teeth look like? Are her guns red?

My cat who lived to be 20 had a dental aged 17 and I think it kept her going for the last few years! Bad teeth can make them really unwell.