Tooth Resorption

[CatMother2026]

My vet has said my cat has signs of tooth resorption, never heard of this before. It seems it is common in 60% of cats, yet I don't know any other cats with this.

Now my cat is about to lose all his teeth and insurance doesn't cover it! Really annoyed that the vet didnt mention thiscommon disease when he was a kitten so i could make sure i had the right insurance.

Anyway, does anyone have experience of this with their cats? Is tooth extraction the only treatment? How did they cope with no teeth afterwards? Also, are they now indoor only, mycat will really struggle with this! Thanks in advance ☺️

I've had several cats with this. It seems to affect some more than others. My Annie was pretty much toothless by the age of 12 and she lived until she was 20, one reason being, according to the vet, that she had no teeth to get infected. Cats' mouths are full of bacteria which can get into their bloodstreams and shorten their lives, so try to see this as a positive! AFAIK, extraction is the only treatment, and it's expensive, but having no teeth didn't slow Annie down in the slightest. She was a greedy girl til the day she died, pretty much. And also indoor/outdoor and never had problems since her claws were still in fine order.

Our last lovely cat had this when she was about three - she didn’t need all her teeth out but I think about eight in one go. She recovered well, ate like a little champ, and was very sadly diagnosed with intestinal cancer aged ten. On the day we had her pts she was wolfing her food down and running around outside, her lack of teeth did not slow her down in any way.

I think most insurance excludes dental. Our boy recently had two big teeth out (also aged three) and despite us having very comprehensive insurance we still had to pay out of pocket for it.

Thank you, good to hear the tooth extractions didn't slow them down!
I guess it must be fairly common and that why many insurance don't cover it. Really hope his sister doesn't get it too but fear she might as vet said it was genetic

Our cat isn’t insured and she has had to have extractions 3 times because of this.

Our girl was also well insured in case that wasn’t clear - but it was excluded for her. Louie just had bog standard tartar/decay rather than the resorption thing. Both cats would have been covered if the tooth issues had been the result of “an accident” (not sure what that means?).

My human dentist said it’s the general anaesthetic, after-care and pre-op bit that’s the big cost here rather than actually whipping the teeth out, and I’m sure that was right on the estimates we had from the vet.

We'd not heard of it when our cat was found to have it. She had a few teeth removed, and at 16, is going to have another dental but more due to gingivitis rather than the absorption issue. It really helped her having them removed, and we realised she had been suffering for quite a while as she could now eat her kibble normally whereas before she wouldn't

The late Penelope had this. She had 6 teeth out at the age of three. Then had the rest out when she was five. Cost me £900. But she was a totally different cat once they were out. The initial post op period was rocky as she didn’t eat for four gays and had to tube fed. But once she got over it, she never looked back. And I was relieved not Jo have to worry about her teeth going forward. Although as it turned out she died of something unrelated within a year.

You're annoyed your vet didn't mention this so you could have gotten the right insurance?

That's bonkers. Do you want them to list every disease and talk you through the relevant policies?

There are more common things your cat could have gotten so your vet specifically warning about this as a kitten isn't realistic. It's up to you to get the right insurance, and if your insurance doesn't cover this issue, why not be mad at your insurer?

I am so sick of people always blaming the vet. My niece wants to be one and I feel like talking her out of it most of the time, as I see vet bashing all over facebook and mumsnet