Cat teeth & resorptive lesions... what would you do?

[appypaint]

Given that it’s Memorial Day weekend (of course) I won’t be able to call my vet until Tuesday. Which I plan on doing! But in the meantime, I don’t know anyone else familiar with this condition. Maybe COTHers have some input? I think I’m just trying to deal with this emotionally.

My cat, a 9-yo DSH, has chronic resorptive lesions. His last cleaning/extraction was last summer. He’s probably had about…7? teeth extracted by now, over the course of a few years.

I was just brushing his teeth and noticed a new lesion. Sigh.

I know he’s probably going to lose most, if not all, of his teeth eventually to this condition. And now that he turns 10 this year, I’m worrying about him under anesthesia as he gets older.

It breaks my heart to know he’s in pain, and he’s going to continue having this issue. I worry about him every time he goes in for a dental procedure. He has no other health issues, but I know all of this (vet, surgery, anesthesia, recovery) is stressful for him.

Is it insane to consider having the rest of his teeth pulled preemptively? Maybe not right now, but in a year or so? I can’t figure it if I’m being extreme or rational with this possibility.

I just don’t know what to do. I love him to death and I’d do anything to help his quality of life. He was my first cat, I got him in college when he was a wee 3 months old. He’s been my little sidekick ever since. And I know cats can live a toothless life just fine. He eats mostly wet food anyway.

Again, I do plan on asking my vet about it. I’ll probably heed whatever she recommends.

Has anyone else had to contend with this possibility? I know stomatitis can also demand major extractions. If he was younger I wouldn’t be considering this, but I want to be mindful of the risks of repeated surgeries as he gets older.

[just_shoot_me]

When Samson Cat was alive, he had 3 or 4 dental surgeries for resorption issues. He wasn’t all that young when he had the last extraction. I was told Samson had all the teeth that were affected by resorption removed at the last extraction and after the last surgery he never needed another surgery. My vet told me to do extractions as needed. It was a good thing because when Samson was 13, he developed HCM so any surgery was off the table.

[appypaint]

Oh interesting, I thought I heard my vet mention that it would naturally progress to most/all teeth (but anytime they’re at the vet I’m a bundle of anxiety and it’s possible I misheard her.)

Your Samson Cat sounds like he was (and is) very well loved!

[just_shoot_me]

If I can find his vet records, I let you know which teeth were extracted (I believe it was most of the teeth between his fangs and the very last teeth on each side).

[shiloh]

I would go for the pre-emptive tooth removal. I have two toothless sillies and another one with oral issues in my house and they are all doing fine. They eat fine and it hasn’t affected their lives by much. Except when the youngster tries to maul them (he likes to go all WWE on them which they hate) and I bet they wish they could bite the shit out of him.

Ilike @just_shoot_me said - what if he gets major medical issues that would prevent another surgery?
Something to think about.

[SuzieQNutter]

There is another thread on here about a cat getting teeth removed. There are many stories on there about cats with no teeth being able to eat and live long after having them all removed.

[BrownDerby]

[quote=“appypaint, post:1, topic:785883”]
It breaks my heart to know he’s in pain, and he’s going to continue having this issue. I worry about him every time he goes in for a dental procedure. He has no other health issues, but I know all of this (vet, surgery, anesthesia, recovery) is stressful for him.
[/quote
Pre-emptive sooner rather than later. Our little COTH charity case, Nic, was a meowing machine. He had only a partial extraction and was meowing in pain. This condition does not improve, it worsens. Since his full extraction the non-stop meowing has ceased. Under a skilled surgeon and tech there should be no concerns about anesthesia. These dental problems are now seen in about 20% of cats, possibly because of FIV. Nic’s full extraction was 3 weeks ago and he is still on painkillers but living a happy life.

ETA: Quote failure due to no caffeine.

[Ben_and_Me]

I would also consider referral to your closest vet dentist and have the remaining teeth extracted. The dentists are much faster than your average GP (it’s all they do!), so less anesthesia time, and I’ve found they aren’t significantly more expensive than many GPs.

[BrownDerby]

Ditto this. My local vet provided a referral. The follow-ups (no cost) have been exceptional. The surgery is costly; you may need to discuss this in advance.

[appypaint]

Thank you all for the input; I feel better about the possibility! I guess I also wanted to gauge how my vet might react: “that might be reasonable” vs “what are you talking about, appypaint” LOL

For what it’s worth, I did scour the forum for talk of removing teeth & prognosis. Apologies if this thread seems redundant. I guess I wasn’t sure if it was a rational thing to consider in my cat’s particular case (ie the removal of, for now, perfectly healthy teeth.) I’m sure he’d be just fine being toothless!

Also, suppose I should pay the cat tax. Mr Bad Teeth himself:

[rubygirl1968]

He’s so cute!!

[BrownDerby]

Oh he is handsome! Best of luck with your decision.

[Haven_tJumpedInALongTime]

I have a friend who went through this exact thing. She considered full extraction for years, starting at 9 years old. She would have a couple teeth pulled here and there. Her cat was on pain meds for the last couple years of her life. Kidney disease finally got her at 16 years old. She consulted multiple vets throughout the years, and none of them recommended full extraction. This is my only experience with chronic resorptive lesions. If I were in your situation, I would consult a feline dentist.

[reefy]

What a handsome kitty!!

My old cat at age 17 had to have most of his teeth removed - my vet referred me to a specialist in town. I was super scared about it given his age but he came through fine and lived 2 1/2 more years.

[saltymeow]

Both of my one year old cats had all their teeth removed two months ago now. They had stomatitis, so a bit different situation - but they’re much happier now!

The had puffy faces for a few days, but then totally normal. I think it’s kinder to take of it all at once, especially if he’s getting recurrent lesions.

I would also recommend going to a dental specialist - they can manage it much faster and will be more thorough in making sure everything is removed.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

Having gone through stomatitis with an FIV cat, I wouldn’t hesitate to have all of the teeth removed preemptively, the sooner the better.

We had been removing them one or two at a time, but the stomatitis kept returning. My vet wasn’t comfortable (at the time) with doing a full extraction himself; our other options were to wait for a specialist to come through our area, or to take the cat to our nearest teaching hospital. I wish I had insisted it be done months earlier; it would have saved him a lot of pain and suffering, and in the end, I think it would have extended his life. I ended up having to put him to sleep before we were able to get an appointment for the full extraction.

[Bogie]

I wish we’d had our Iggy’s teeth preemptively removed. He had some extractions when younger and had issues with resorption. We took him to a specialist who wanted $5K for the surgery but we should have gone farther afield to see if we could get it done for less. He then developed kidney disease and a heart murmur. He’s 18 or 19 now and while we are keeping him comfortable with antibiotic shots and pain meds, I think he would have been far more comfortable had we done the surgery when it was possible.

[appypaint]

Thank you all so, so much for the input. It’s validating to hear the experiences of others. I don’t want to live with the regret of not doing enough while he’s still young/healthy enough to have surgery. (And I know surgery isn’t a death wish at older ages of course, just keeping the risks in mind while time is on my side.)

I hadn’t considered opting for a veterinary dentist instead- I’ll look into that.

My cat’s vet won’t be in until tomorrow, but I left a message with the office staff and she should get back to me then. Will update with her recommendations.

[kmwines01]

Just a note. Treating stomatitis with full mouth extractions is recommended. Typically resorptive lesions are done as needed because it’s hard to predict which teeth will be affected. My guy has had 1 or 2 extractions every 2 or 3 years since 2010. It’s not crazy to have them all removed but it is definitely not something every GP feels comfortable doing.

[appypaint]

Apologies for bumping this up, just wanted to update:

I did end up asking my vet about full extractions. She said it wasn’t a terrible idea but recommended looking for a veterinary dentist for that procedure. In the meantime, we did have to address the existing lesions with a dental.

So that was today. And upon x-rays the vet ended up pulling/capping most of the rest of his teeth. Some that appeared totally healthy on the surface were resorbing at the root (obviously we couldn’t have known that without radiographs.) The only ones left are 2 upper canines & some incisors on the top and bottom.

So it seems like he’s lost most of his teeth now anyway!

He’s recovering at home, very high on pain meds and probably very mad at me.

Thank you again to everyone who replied- I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to ask about full extractions without your input. We’ll watch if his few remaining teeth get lesions in the next year or so and go from there. I don’t have a vet dentist in my city so we’d have to travel (not a huge deal, just would require some planning.)