I have a 17 going on 18 year old kitty who is unfortunately not a stranger to dental issues. She has already had the majority of her teeth removed, and during a vet visit yesterday it was discovered that she has her another broken tooth and gingivitis basically on all remaining teeth. The vet pulled blood work and stated that if everything looks good, she likely will need to have at least the one if not all remaining teeth extracted.
Obviously I am very nervous about such a procedure at her age, but am also hating the idea of her being totally toothless. I’ve read that cats handle this pretty well, but am hoping that someone here has first hand experience with a toothless feline? Especially one who has always preferred dry food to wet food. Would love to hear your experiences!
I had a Burmese cat that lost all of his teeth over the years. He had a tendency to obesity, and he only ate Hills RD dry food which were large, very light weight kibble pieces. He did fine. If you watched him eat, he sort of knocked the pieces of kibble back like he was taking a pill. It didn’t bother him at all-- he lived to be 21 until he had congestive heart failure.
My mom has a cat with one tooth. We adopted him that way so I’m unsure at what age he had the teeth removed. It does not slow him down at at and he can even bite with that one tooth! He accidently nipped me pretty hard one when I didn’t get his treat to him fast enough. He’s about 18 and been semi-toothless for at least 2 years.
This is toothless Timmy.
Toothless Timmy is so handsome!! 
I got a shelter cat, reformed Streetfighter with a cauliflower ear. Guessed around 8-10yo.
He was caged, in an otherwise cageless shelter.
When I asked why, they told me if left out he’d go from bowl to bowl eating All.Day.
He was a bit {ahem} round. 
When I got him home, we were cuddling & he yawned… Not a single tooth.
I called to ask & was told the teeth were beyond saving when he came in.
He never had a problem crunching dry food & lived to be 17 before we lost him to a malignant tumor (stomach).
DH named him Dempsey, for the ear 
I had an old kitty named Murphy that at age 17 had to have most all of his teeth pulled. I was referred to a specialty place and yes, I was scared about it at his age but it went incredibly well and he had no more tooth issues (cause he only had like 2 left, lol). He could eat just fine, thought his tongue sort of hung out of his mouth on one side. He lived 2 more years before old age took him out.
I had a cat with one tooth. She was a stray. When she came to my place, she had a big ulcer in her mouth and lost almost all of her teeth because of the infection. She did fine with no teeth. She ate wet food, dry food, meat, cat treats, etc. She lived to be 15 years old (lost her to kidney disease).
I have two toothless sillies and one with a lot of teeth missing. All have gotten along just fine. They will eat anything and being toothless does not seem to bother them. The only thing they find frustrating is that when the idiot child Baler pounces on them and wants to play WWE they just wind up gumming him. They get so mad - teeth would be handy to put somebody in his place.
One caveat: Have someone who knows what they are doing extract any teeth. My one vet did a ham-fisted job on Jack and I was not happy. Other vets have looked at his work and been unhappy.
Timmy looks in great condition. Good job!
