Hi all,

My ten year old Leila, a female spay Birman, has been the picture of
health all her life, apart from recurrent tooth problems. Over the
years, her teeth were cleaned 3-4 times and her gums are more or less
chronically inflamed. Antibiotics have little or no effect. I tried
feeding her hypoallergenic food, which she liked the first few days,
but then she vehemently started protesting against the fact she had to
be locked up when the other cats were feeding and since she's a Birman,
that was too nerve wrecking to endure.

Her last teeth cleaning procedure was done 5 months ago, at which time
she was given a Prednisone shot. Four days later she was severely ill:
constant sneezing, unable to breathe through her nose, and - most
distressingly - she fell sideways and was hardly able to walk.

I rushed her to my vet (unfortunately a young and inexperienced one)
who - rather than aleviating my fears - added to them by insisting her
balancing problems could not possibly be the result of her cold, and
that she had either a brain tumour, a heart condition or was simply
suffering from old age.

Fortunately, after huge amounts of antibiotics, nose drops and eye
ointment as well as force-feeding her for days on end, she pulled
through. Another vet I consulted confirmed it must simply have been an
inner-ear infection.

Last week she had her shots and yesterday I had to rush her to the
emergency vet due to a bladder infection.

In other words, my baby's immune system doesn't seem to be as good as
it once was. She doesn't go outside and I adopted my latest addition to
the group seven years ago, so it can't be cat AIDS. My main concern is
that her chronic gum inflammation has left her vulnerable to every bug
she comes across.

My vet's colleague (whom I trust to a certain degree as she's a bit
more experienced than the "brain tumour lady") told me I can have her
remaining molars and incisors extracted. This may or may not stop the
gum inflammation, or so she told me.

The emergency vet I visited yesterday (an older guy with 25 years'
experience) had a look at her gums and also suggested having her teeth
pulled. He seems rather knowledgeable in this area and he also made a
strong case against electronic teeth cleaning as the waterspray the
patient can inhale is infected with bacteria and may very well have
been the cause of Leila's severe illness.

I'm now seriously considering having her teeth extracted once she's
recovered from her bladder infection. Does anyone have experience with
gum inflammation and teeth pulling, and did the cat benefit or not?

Thanks!