Hi All, I have cats who are related who have developed stomatitis (one at less than one year of age). For those cats, there is obviously some genetic predisposition to developing this disease. I have cats who have develeped it who are not related and have contact with each other. I also have cats who are not related and have no contact with each other who have developed it. After talking with one of my vets who's been in practice for 25 years and doing a lot of research, my own feeling is that it's some kind of a syndrome that many factors play into. I think the allergy to tarter that was mentioned could be the trigger for some cats, some of my cats who have this have chronic herpes infections, some do not. So, immune system strength is surely a factor. According to my old-time vet (hey; if I'm getting older, so is he!) this is a disease that has been diagnosed in the last 15 years; he doesn't recall ever seeing it prior to that time and coincidentally that timetable is one in which a lot of changes in the petfood industry were taking place; so, again (Tally, I think it was you) the implication of diet could be a trigger. I'm not unconvinced that there is not some kind of viral component. It's really quite complex. None of my cats has ever responded well to the prednisone treatment. Extraction has been the route for us and it has worked well. In fact, Wolfe, one of my outside cats was in a few weeks ago and although he was exhibiting some symptoms, it just didn't look like 'real stomatitis' so we just did a cleaning and an extraction of a couple of bad teeth. I had the biopsy done and, surprise, it came back positive. He's the only one of his clan (and he is related to at least one of the other 5 outdoor cats) to have it. Why him? Seems no rhyme or reason to it. Anyway, just my observations.
Julie
