Update: Out of Surgery...Anyone have Cats that have Needed Teeth Removed?

[Dressage.For.Life]

My poor cat needs some teeth removed. So far, we only know that her upper and lower left canines have to come out. She’s only about 6 years old, and is otherwise in good condition (weight, etc). We won’t know if any other teeth need to come out until she’s under. I’ll be taking her in tomorrow morning.

I know from my experiences with shadowing vets that removing teeth in cats is much more difficult than in dogs. Especially when lower canines are involved, simply because their jaws are so fragile.

So, anyone have experience with removing teeth (esp. lower canines) in their cats? I keep thinking back to when I’ve watched these surgeries… :no: I really feel bad for not having caught this sooner. :no:

[Aussie_Dog]

My Molly is going in on Friday for a dental and I’m pretty sure she’s probably going to need a couple teeth removed. Vet hasn’t yet said anything to prove it, but it’s just a haunch I have. She does have some thing going on where her teeth are attacking themselves (or something) where there’s a buildup of something that’s not tartar, but instead a crusty, hard thing. Looks and feels like a shaved tooth when you scrape it off the real tooth. Never had to do a dental for an animal yet, so I don’t really know what to expect, but I do know that Molly has always had problems with her teeth and her skittish nature may be in part caused by jaw discomfort. Possibly. All I can tell myself is that this will make her feel better in the long run.

[AlmostDun]

My current cat had to have every single one of his teeth removed due to stomatitis. The teeth came out in three rounds of surgery.
The first time the previous owner’s vet just removed the tops of the teeth and sealed the gums over the roots. That didn’t relieve the inflammation or pain and made a proper extraction procedure much more difficult for my vet.
The second time my vet removed all the teeth and buried roots except the two lower fangs and one back root. He left those 2 1/2 teeth because he thought he’d break the jaw if he took those out too. The cat was pretty miserable after this surgery. After he healed he was in pretty good shape for a year or so. Then the fangs got inflamed.
The final surgery was to remove the remaining fangs. The cat was uncomfortable for a day or two, but he bounced back much more quickly than the previous time. He seems much perkier now. His appetite has increased, and he’s grooming more.

[JumpQH]

I just went through this with my elderly, 15 year old cat. Everything about her was totally healthy, according to her bloodwork, so I decided to go for it. She had lost a ton of weight, and all we could find was that her pre-molars had literal holes in them, down to the dentin. I was worried about her age, of course. With her bloodwork looking like a cat half her age, I decided to take the gamble. Her two pre-molars were removed. She didn’t do so well for a couple days, and had to really work to get over the anesthesia. She did better as time wore on, and now she’s actually gained a tiny bit, and is a much happier cat. Back to normal! It was the best thing I could have done for her. No complications, and a very caring vet to whom I am very grateful and always entrust my animals with.

[SquishTheBunny]

I had to remove two canines on my cat. One came out relatively easy, I was able to get it out myself without too much trouble. The other one took the vet HOURS and still couldnt get the entire root out.

All I can say is make sure your cat gets gold standard anesthesia/analgesia. Pulling the canines will hurt so make sure there is a plan for good perioperative pain medication.

[McVillesMom]

What Squish said re: pain management. Removing canines can be an ordeal and usually requires drilling and/or a gingival flap (incision in the gum tissue to expose the root). She’ll be a lot happier after they’re out, though!

[Kenike]

My 16-year-old cat had four teeth extracted last fall, including two canines. Pain management, like Squish said…otherwise, all was well. Realistically, I should have had it done years previously, but I’m glad we did finally give the go-ahead.

[furlong47]

My cat (11) had a dental cleaning done in January, and had to have one tooth extracted. Everything was fine. I had to give her liquid antibiotics for a few days just as a precaution and getting those into her was the most difficult part!

[Dressage.For.Life]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I’ve been going to this clinic for over ten years and do trust these vets. I’ve go in and do shadowing and such whenever I have the time. A plan has been made in regard to pain management after her surgery. She will be getting Onsior when she gets home from the vet tomorrow. Just about to put her in her carrier to drop her off at the clinic now.

[SuperAlter]

What are the costs for extraction?

There is an old farm cat ( guessing at 13ish) who has a very swollen left side jaw. The swelling has gone down, but he is still very uncomfortable. The hay guy said he was able to get the mouth open and he thinks its a tooth.

While this is a farm cat, of the bunch he is catchable and friendly when he wants to be so while I think the owners want to help, they are not going to spend hundreds of dollars to do it.

[Dressage.For.Life]

I’m looking at like $480 if they have to remove more teeth than these two canines. That includes everything–anesthesia, IV & fluids, catheter placement, overnight stay, pain medication, antibiotics…And it also includes a $70 blood panel. Sorry I don’t remember more of the cost breakdown!

[Dressage.For.Life]

She’s out of surgery now at least and they ended up pulling 7 teeth. Here’s to hoping that she recovers well–I can bring her home in the morning.

Here’s a short video of her from a while back.

[VaqueroToro]

You’ll probably have to give her oral antibiotics for a week or so, but jingles that she bounces back quickly.

She’s a cutie and quite the pull-up champ! I love black cats (have one myself) and the effect of the big eyes staring out from the void.

Superalter, I think it’s variable by vet/geographic area (I’m in cow country upstate NY). My cat had her two lower premolars pulled about two months ago, and the whole shot, including blood tests, everything having to do with the surgery and extraction itself, the overnight after the surgery because she wasn’t awake enough to bring home, and post pull antibiotics cost me $150 total (I was expecting/budgeting the $400 range, so I was pleasantly surprised).

[Puglet]

Glad to hear it went well! My giant cream puff had 6 extractions about a month ago. While he did not have any canines pulled, he has recovered well and is back to normal. My other boy goes in for a dental next week.

[Kyrabee]

I have one cat that is only 7 y.o. now and has lost I think about 10 so far. She just has a crappy mouth.

The first time when they pulled 6, they put a fentanyl patch on her for pain control. That drove both of us crazy and I pulled it off after 24hrs (supposed to last 3 days). She really didn’t even seem to need it. I think she felt so much better with those rotten teeth gone.

The last two rounds have been fewer teeth and I just got buprenorphine to give her orally if she needed it.

I suspect by the time she is old, she will be toothless.

Susan

[JumpQH]

Cost for me, including the initial checkup, bloodwork, extractions, and x-rays was $1000.

[Renn_aissance]

By the time he died, my Bug cat had only three or four of his teeth left, thanks to dental disease. They were removed progressively at his twice-yearly cleanings as it became necessary to do so. Never any ill effects for him. I hope your experience with your cat’s recovery is similar!

[Chall]

In her young years my cat had 3 or 4 teeth removed. It certainly cleared up her weeping eye. She lost all the rest of her teeth by herself. She could eat dry food up until 16 yo, as a treat, but most of her food was wet Fancy Feast.
I would definitely require!! after surgery pain medication from my vet as a condition for doing surgery with him. My vet is mostly dog, and it was a struggle to get pain medication from him for my cats
:rolleyes:

[jkc313]

A problem with many Vets because cats react so poorly to so many things. There’s a new FDA approved NSAID on the market for cats but I’m still leery of all NSAIDS in cats. As long as she’s hydrated and kidneys ok, I prefer to give a low dose of prednisolone for inflammation. For pain, BuprenexSR has been a wonder drug for cats. Lasts 3 days. For extractions I premed with hydromorphone and monitor body temp. Then I use lidocaine dental blocks. As I’m finishing, an injection of regular Buprenex which will reverse the hydromorphone but give 6 hours relief and then a dose of SR before they go home that evening or before I leave if they are spending the night and tell owners to come back in 2-3 days for recheck and another injection of SR if needed

[AbbieS]

I know of some cats that are missing teeth, I don’t know how many had them surgically removed, my cat lost one on her own, but it didn’t bother her and it wasn’t bad dental, I think she knocked it loose and eventually it dropped out. The ones that lost front teeth drool when you pet them and they relax. It’s cute and gross at the same time! Cats deal with everything in stride basically, so losing teeth should be no problem, especially with antibiotics.