Consider using PetzLife Brush Away or an additive to the cat's water
that helps with teeth too since the cat has a history of dental
problems.
Hi Caroline. Good to know you are still around.
On Nov 20, 2009, at 12:15 PM, Caroline Kaufmann wrote:
I have a non-positive (just a regular old cat- except that he was my
first foster and has literally helped foster every cat I have taken
in!) that is missing a little tooth on his bottom jaw and another is
barely hanging on. It's always been like that- he's only 2. Don't
know when he lost it. But he was 2 months when I acquired him as a
very sickly, kill animal shelter rescue brought into a no kill
rescue, with exposure to everything probably. Started his life on
antibiotics and fighting a recurring upper respiratory infection. I
eventually fostered and lost 3 other kittens rescued along with him
that separately all succumbed to FIP (1 to wet, 2 to dry). Anyway,
my boy has no gum disease whatsoever but his vet said it's highly
likely he could lose all teeth before middle age. Just due to a
rough start in life. It seems to make sense that- altho he's a
healthy horse now- when his milk teeth were falling out and being
replaced with his adult teeth- he was at his sickest, not getting
nutrition, etc., so those adult teeth were not being formed in the
best possible circumstances. My vet said this is actually more
common than you would think in cats who didn't get adequate
COLOSTRUM from their mother through nursing, if any at all :( (this
would also be why I love my vet so much-- b/c he talks about
colostrum and how important it is!). And remember that all cats
have milk teeth they lose naturally and most actually swallow them--
which is totally fine and "natural." Altho I did find one of my
newest kitten's milk canine on the bed and I felt like I had found a
buried treasure! After having so many cats in my life-- kittens,
fosters, geriatrics!, this was the first tooth I ever actually
found!!!! Anyway, I guess my point is that the process of cats
losing their teeth for whatever reason, whether it's milk teeth, or
due to gingivitis, if it's not actually affecting the cat as far as
eating and what not, it's a much more natural process that occurs
more than we know (geriatrics regularly lose teeth even if
you've kept up with their regular teeth cleaning). It's a much more
natural process than us losing our teeth! And with a positive cat,
truly the main thing is to minimize their stress-- it's the golden
rule of having a positive. So assuming no detrimental effects of
letting nature take it's course, I would advocate leaving the teeth
alone (of course, following vet's advice for cleaning and treating
an active infection). I personally would avoid having a positive's
teeth pulled as much as possible. As even avoiding anesthetic if
you can in a positive is important. The process of losing teeth for
cats is not a big "event" like for us so I don't think we should do
anything to turn it into a stressful event for them!
That's my two cents.
Caroline Kaufmann
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:12:48 -0500
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] advice on kitty's loose tooth
I should have said before that I had called the vet when I first
noticed it,
and they said as long as she was eating that she was probably ok. I
hate
the thought of stressing her out to take her to the vet if it might
just
fall out and be ok. When I first got her (a year ago), all of her
upper and
lower tiny teeth were missing. She had very bad breath and
gingivitis.
After giving her Petzlife oral gel over a period of many months,
the vet
said her mouth looked very good, and her breath got much better....
So
she's had a history of bad teeth. Thank you for the advice!
On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 5:51 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
One of my positives started smelling bad and I realized that he
had a
serious red line on his gums
near the teeth. The vet said that the gum infection was so bad, his
little front teeth would probably
fall out. Gum infection is quite often seen in positives. Alot of
the
infection cleared up with
antibiotic but not all. We'll need to try something more.
I would suspect something like this with your kitty to let that
tooth get
so loose.
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