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- Jun 24, 2021
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I’m looking for advice from people who have experience with cats with severe dental disease, stomatitis, or other serious medical conditions.
Momma is about 5 years old and has been living on my property with her feral daughter, Bella, for the past 3½ years. Although Momma was born feral, she has been socialized over the years by me and my neighbors. Today, she’s a very sweet cat who trusts me, loves being petted, and purrs when I give her affection.
Last September, Bella suddenly stopped eating and drinking. I trapped her and rushed her to the emergency hospital, where they believed she was either going into or coming out of panleukopenia. To prevent further suffering, I made the heartbreaking decision to humanely euthanize her.
Momma was also been eating less and less. At first, I thought she was just becoming picky, so I kept changing her food. I also wondered if neighbors were feeding her or if she was hunting, so I didn’t immediately realize she might be sick. I started giving her raw food and she loved it.
Last year, I noticed she had a tooth literally hanging out. I gave her a piece of raw chicken, and she actually used it to pull the tooth out herself. More recently, I saw her yawn and realized she has lost all of her teeth except her two canine teeth. She clearly has a hard time eating.
It’s not that she isn’t eating at all—she still eats—but it often appears to be quite difficult for her. Based on the condition of her mouth and the way she eats, I imagine she’s experiencing discomfort, although I don’t know that for certain.
Since last October, I’ve been feeding her soft, high-quality foods, including Smallbatch raw, Steve’s Quest whitefish, premium canned food, and for a while even baby food. Despite my efforts, I’m convinced something is wrong with her mouth. I just don’t know whether it’s severe dental disease, stomatitis, oral cancer, kidney disease, or something else.
My biggest concern is treatment. Although Momma is affectionate and trusts me, she is not a cat I can physically handle for medical care. I can’t trim her nails, give her oral medications with a syringe, or safely medicate her if she refuses to eat medication hidden in food.
I recently went through dental surgery with one of my indoor cats, and even with a fully handleable cat, the recovery wasn’t easy. Financially, it’s also overwhelming. One clinic quoted about $700 just to sedate her and perform an examination, give her a covenia injection and that doesn’t include extractions, additional procedures, medications, diagnostics, or follow-up care.
I’m also struggling with another reality: if her examination reveals severe dental disease, stomatitis, oral cancer, kidney disease, or another serious illness, I simply cannot afford thousands of dollars in medical treatment. That breaks my heart to admit, but it’s the truth.
Most importantly, I don’t know that I want to put her through the stress and trauma of extensive diagnostics, surgery, and treatment—especially if the outcome is uncertain and the costs are beyond what I can afford. She still purrs when I pet her and seeks out affection, which makes this decision incredibly difficult. I’m also afraid that if she needed a dental procedure, I wouldn’t be able to successfully give her pain medication or antibiotics afterward if she refused to take them in food. I don’t want her to suffer because I can’t provide the post-operative care she would need. I’ve been talking to her and asking her what she prefers me to do.
One more thing I’m struggling with is pain management. I’ve given Momma 50 mg of gabapentin on two different occasions because I was hoping it would help relieve any pain she might be experiencing. However, I recently watched a video that suggested gabapentin may mainly sedate cats and isn’t always enough for pain relief by itself. Now I’m worried that she could appear more comfortable simply because she’s sleepy, while still experiencing significant pain. Has anyone had experience with this, especially in cats with severe dental disease or stomatitis? Also, I can’t give her gaba unless she’s going to be indoors for 8-12 hours for safety. And I also have two cats in a Studio apartment and it took them eight months to tolerate her, but sometimes one of them tries to bully.
Any advice would be deeply grateful!
Anna
@Dr. Christina @Dr. Jean Hofve @Dr. Jeff
Momma is about 5 years old and has been living on my property with her feral daughter, Bella, for the past 3½ years. Although Momma was born feral, she has been socialized over the years by me and my neighbors. Today, she’s a very sweet cat who trusts me, loves being petted, and purrs when I give her affection.
Last September, Bella suddenly stopped eating and drinking. I trapped her and rushed her to the emergency hospital, where they believed she was either going into or coming out of panleukopenia. To prevent further suffering, I made the heartbreaking decision to humanely euthanize her.
Momma was also been eating less and less. At first, I thought she was just becoming picky, so I kept changing her food. I also wondered if neighbors were feeding her or if she was hunting, so I didn’t immediately realize she might be sick. I started giving her raw food and she loved it.
Last year, I noticed she had a tooth literally hanging out. I gave her a piece of raw chicken, and she actually used it to pull the tooth out herself. More recently, I saw her yawn and realized she has lost all of her teeth except her two canine teeth. She clearly has a hard time eating.
It’s not that she isn’t eating at all—she still eats—but it often appears to be quite difficult for her. Based on the condition of her mouth and the way she eats, I imagine she’s experiencing discomfort, although I don’t know that for certain.
Since last October, I’ve been feeding her soft, high-quality foods, including Smallbatch raw, Steve’s Quest whitefish, premium canned food, and for a while even baby food. Despite my efforts, I’m convinced something is wrong with her mouth. I just don’t know whether it’s severe dental disease, stomatitis, oral cancer, kidney disease, or something else.
My biggest concern is treatment. Although Momma is affectionate and trusts me, she is not a cat I can physically handle for medical care. I can’t trim her nails, give her oral medications with a syringe, or safely medicate her if she refuses to eat medication hidden in food.
I recently went through dental surgery with one of my indoor cats, and even with a fully handleable cat, the recovery wasn’t easy. Financially, it’s also overwhelming. One clinic quoted about $700 just to sedate her and perform an examination, give her a covenia injection and that doesn’t include extractions, additional procedures, medications, diagnostics, or follow-up care.
I’m also struggling with another reality: if her examination reveals severe dental disease, stomatitis, oral cancer, kidney disease, or another serious illness, I simply cannot afford thousands of dollars in medical treatment. That breaks my heart to admit, but it’s the truth.
Most importantly, I don’t know that I want to put her through the stress and trauma of extensive diagnostics, surgery, and treatment—especially if the outcome is uncertain and the costs are beyond what I can afford. She still purrs when I pet her and seeks out affection, which makes this decision incredibly difficult. I’m also afraid that if she needed a dental procedure, I wouldn’t be able to successfully give her pain medication or antibiotics afterward if she refused to take them in food. I don’t want her to suffer because I can’t provide the post-operative care she would need. I’ve been talking to her and asking her what she prefers me to do.
One more thing I’m struggling with is pain management. I’ve given Momma 50 mg of gabapentin on two different occasions because I was hoping it would help relieve any pain she might be experiencing. However, I recently watched a video that suggested gabapentin may mainly sedate cats and isn’t always enough for pain relief by itself. Now I’m worried that she could appear more comfortable simply because she’s sleepy, while still experiencing significant pain. Has anyone had experience with this, especially in cats with severe dental disease or stomatitis? Also, I can’t give her gaba unless she’s going to be indoors for 8-12 hours for safety. And I also have two cats in a Studio apartment and it took them eight months to tolerate her, but sometimes one of them tries to bully.
Any advice would be deeply grateful!
Anna
@Dr. Christina @Dr. Jean Hofve @Dr. Jeff
and in the hereafter 
just by making their lives full of as much care and compassion (Dr Jeff reposted an article last month on Love Therapy which I just read and it is such a good reminder of the infinite power of love). If I may add as a fellow kitty owner who is not a medical professional, I just brought my 16 year old tiger Bella for her wellness exam yesterday (her and her sister Maya had a homeless mama and I adopted them at 8 weeks old). She has chronic kidney disease for about 3 years now, but I noticed this year her breath has become a little stinky. Over the years starting when the kitties were young, if it was suggested to give them a sedated dental exam and cleaning with extractions due to inflamed gums or suspected resorption which can be painful, I would go along with this. But that was when they were younger and able to bounce back better physically and not considered geriatric. After I shared my concern with the dr yesterday, he did suggest (as one option other than sedating a cat that may not fare well due to their current medical conditions) using an antibiotic for dental disease instead of going through a procedure. Upon looking at her mouth, fortunately he didn't see anything alarming and I was able to remove that decision off of my list. I also recall in the past there are reasonably priced clear liquid products that I used to use that you can add to their water dish. I would try to get as natural and few ingredients as possible. Good luck!
