Elder Cat Mouth Maintenance

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

C Roth - 13 Sep 2003 14:38 GMT

Looking for some thoughts from the group.

We have a cat that is soon to be 17 years old. During his checkup, the
vet said he's starting to get an absess (sp?). The vet suggested the
teeth be cleaned, but said due to the cats age there was concern he may
not be able to take the anesthesia. He suggested a full blood workup
before making the attempt to make sure all the organs were functioning
properly.

On the other hand, he did say that cat was really, really old . . .

Any thoughts on some alternate ways of dealing with this, or experience in
general?

Reply to this Message

rrb_041303 - 14 Sep 2003 06:15 GMT

C Roth said:

> Looking for some thoughts from the group.
>
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> Any thoughts on some alternate ways of dealing with this, or experience in
> general?

I would be hesitant to put a cat that age under anesthetic as well. If
it had to be done a full blood workup as they suggested should be done.
He should also be monitored during the procedure with a pulse oximeter
so that if anything went wrong he should be able to be taken out of the
anesthetic pretty quickly. Also the anesthetic of choice should be
isoflurane. All of the preceding was based on it being used as the
anesthetic. As a couple of other options they do sell cat toothpaste and
brushes as well as wipes for the cats teeth. Maybe one of these would
help. The cat toothpaste is an enzymatic one which attacks plaque
bacteria. Recently I heard that the toothpaste can work if it gets in
the cats mouth even if you don't brush his teeth. Maybe you can put some
on your finger and either put it on his teeth or around his mouth so he
will lick it off. It might help a little. Both of my cats love the taste
of the cat toothpaste. It is called Petrodex and is available at Petco,
Petsmart, and probably other places too.

rrb

Reply to this Message

C Roth - 14 Sep 2003 13:56 GMT

> As a couple of other options they do sell cat toothpaste and
> brushes as well as wipes for the cats teeth.

Thanks for the suggestions, we'll give the toothpaste a go . . .

Reply to this Message

Troy - 16 Sep 2003 18:22 GMT

> > As a couple of other options they do sell cat toothpaste and
> > brushes as well as wipes for the cats teeth.
>
> Thanks for the suggestions, we'll give the toothpaste a go . . .

How bad are his teeth? If he has heavy plaque build-up, gingervitis,
very bad breath you may want to consider getting his teeth cleaned.
Some of the dental products for cats are good preventative treatments
but aren't very effective for existing dental problems. Bad dental
hygene can cause extremely serious problems in cats and, of course,
elderly cats are far more suceptible to these conditions. There is
compelling evidence to suggest that many heart and kidney related
illnesses occur because of bad dental hygene. The main reason that
dental problems can be so serious is that all of the toxins and
bacteria from infections pass directly into the body and (particularly
in the case of the kidneys) can cause serious harm and possible renal
failure. I am not saying this to try and scare you but it is imortant
to understand how serious teeth conditions can be for a cat. You
should ask your vet about risk factors in both leaving the dental
condition as is and using an anesthetic to enable his teeth to be
cleaned.

Good luck.

Troy.

Reply to this Message

C Roth - 16 Sep 2003 22:50 GMT

> How bad are his teeth? If he has heavy plaque build-up, gingervitis,
> very bad breath you may want to consider getting his teeth cleaned.

Well, that's the point. He's 17 years old and the concern is he may have
problems with the anesthesia. The vet said he'd take the chance if we
wanted, but we should do a full blood check first.

He said the alternative would be to watch him for signs of trouble, treat
with antibiotics if needed, etc.

> Some of the dental products for cats are good preventative treatments
> but aren't very effective for existing dental problems. Bad dental
> hygene can cause extremely serious problems in cats and, of course,
> elderly cats are far more suceptible to these conditions.

He's apparently *starting* to get an absess.

> You
> should ask your vet about risk factors in both leaving the dental
> condition as is and using an anesthetic to enable his teeth to be
> cleaned.

Yeah, that's the thing. As old as he is, it may be smarter just to make
do. His natural life span can't be much longer.

Reply to this Message