My cat lost a fang . . .

[Don Vito Corleone]

Some of you will recall my awesome, giant, extra-toed tomcat Don Vito Corleone (I named him about 11 years ago, then adoped my own handle years later when I was playing games online). Here is a pic of the two of us.

I took him in last Friday for a teeth cleaning - honestly I've never had a cat's teeth cleaned before, and I had his overall health checked by a vet less than two years ago, so it never felt like a priority. He is an indoor cat and eats quality food (usually Iams). I had noticed his gums looked irritated and his breath was getting a little stale, so I decided to bring him in.

I took him to a cat clinic, and the vet, after a brief examination, referred me to an excellent veterinarian specializing in dental work. The upshot was that Vito was a hurting unit. He had one tooth that was broken in half - the vet said this would have been very painful, but Vito had never complained. His other teeth were very encrusted with tartar. The vet happened to have the time to put Vito under, pull the bad tooth, and clean his other teeth. He called me back about an hour later, while V was under anaesthesia, to tell me that one of Vito's top fangs had to go - it was very loose and infected.

I was really upset, but didn't have much choice - I had him pull the fang and stitch him up.

Now, 4 days later, Vito is doing great - he seems very comfortable and is even a good sport when I drizzle his twice-daily dose of a foul-tasting antibiotic down his throat. I imagine he feels really good because he's not in pain, as he apparently has been for some time.

The upshot is that this was a really unpleasant, expensive experience - get your cats' teeth cleaned before it happens to you!

 

[DaTT]

sounds like a freaking info-mercial

 

[MX2]

String that badboy up on a silver chain and wear it proudly

 

[alkemyst]

how about just taking your cat to the vet regularly, forgot just focusing on teeth cleaning...

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
how about just taking your cat to the vet regularly, forgot just focusing on teeth cleaning...

Fair enough. In this instance, though, I had actually had him checked out less than two years ago. There is only a finite number of things that are likely to go wrong with indoor cats.

 

[moshquerade]

you should brush your pet's teeth from day one, and if you do most likely no tartar will form. stilll have it checked and get tartar cleaned off if it builds up. just like with humans, the tartar will harbor bacterial plaque and lead to gum disease and subsequent bone loss which will result in loose teeth or abscesses. abscesses can lead to premature death.

Soft food contributes to plaque/tartar build up. make sure your pet gets crunchy food if possible.

DonVito, I didn't expect you to look like that.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: alkemyst
how about just taking your cat to the vet regularly, forgot just focusing on teeth cleaning...

Fair enough. In this instance, though, I had actually had him checked out less than two years ago. There is only a finite number of things that are likely to go wrong with indoor cats.

like kids to. It's all finite.

It really depends on your outlook on living things though, there are many that don't believe in inoculations for their kids either.

 

[Pepsei]

wow, that's a big cat

my cat is diabetic, so bad breath is a natural thing seems like.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: Pepsei
wow, that's a big cat

my cat is diabetic, so bad breath is a natural thing seems like.

diabetics don't heal as well. the bad breath your cat has could be coming from gum disease just like Don's cat.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
you should brush your pet's teeth from day one, and if you do most likely no tartar will form. stilll have it checked and get tartar cleaned off if it builds up. just like with humans, the tartar will harbor bacterial plaque and lead to gum disease and subsequent bone loss which will result in loose teeth or abscesses. abscesses can lead to premature death.

Soft food contributes to plaque/tartar build up. make sure your pet gets crunchy food if possible.

DonVito, I didn't expect you to look like that.

Were you thinking I'd have horns or something?

Vito has never had wet food in his life until now (I got him a few cans of Iams because I felt his mouth might be tender after the teeth being removed, and out of sympathy).

The vet gave me some kind of sealant type material to rub on the outside of his teeth to prevent food and plaque from adhering. We'll see how that works.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: moshquerade
you should brush your pet's teeth from day one, and if you do most likely no tartar will form. stilll have it checked and get tartar cleaned off if it builds up. just like with humans, the tartar will harbor bacterial plaque and lead to gum disease and subsequent bone loss which will result in loose teeth or abscesses. abscesses can lead to premature death.

Soft food contributes to plaque/tartar build up. make sure your pet gets crunchy food if possible.

DonVito, I didn't expect you to look like that.

Were you thinking I'd have horns or something?

Vito has never had wet food in his life until now (I got him a few cans of Iams because I felt his mouth might be tender after the teeth being removed, and out of sympathy).

The vet gave me some kind of sealant type material to rub on the outside of his teeth to prevent food and plaque from adhering. We'll see how that works.

i pictured you as an Italian guy for some reason.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

i pictured you as an Italian guy for some reason.

I'm actually Spanish, so you weren't TOO far off . . .

 

[Shortcut]

sorry to hear of your cat's loss! my cat had similar issues - she had developed bad breath but was still eating regularly. when i brought her in for a checkup, she was diagnosed with a severe case of stomatitis. the dentist had to extract 10+ teeth from the cat. she's back up to full health again, and chomping on dry kibbles.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

like kids to. It's all finite.

It really depends on your outlook on living things though, there are many that don't believe in inoculations for their kids either.

I didn't mean I don't think it's important to maintain his health. Honestly I feel really crappy that I let this happen. He's my bud, and I feel like an ass for letting things get to this point - he takes good care of me and I've tried to do the same in return. I'm only glad I finally took care of it before it became life threatening.

 

[ShOcKwAvE827]

fyi Iams is not a quality food.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: ShOcKwAvE827
fyi Iams is not a quality food.

How so? What do you recommend?

 

[ShOcKwAvE827]

well its decent but there are "high" quality foods like felidae, wellness, and innova. These foods usually are found at specialty pet stores (not petsmart or petco). I was pretty skeptical, I had my dog on Science Diet (which is total crap, literally) and my puppy pooped about 5 times a day mushy stools. I put him on Innova and he only poops 1 or 2x a day and it's solid. www.naturapet.com If you email them they will send you samples.

 

[BlancoNino]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: ShOcKwAvE827
fyi Iams is not a quality food.

How so? What do you recommend?

Anything. If your dog likes the taste, and it's got tasty livestock organs in it, it's fine.

I read a book (can't remember) with a professor at a vet school that said "premium" dog foods aren't any better (according to research).

 

[BatmanNate]

My tomcat is about 15lbs and I've the feeling that if I tried brushing his teeth, I'd come out of the affair looking like I'd weathered the winter in a badger den, with the badger. Can the vet do this when you take him in periodically or is this something I should invest in a ringmail vest and some lobstered steel gloves for?

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
My tomcat is about 15lbs and I've the feeling that if I tried brushing his teeth, I'd come out of the affair looking like I'd weathered the winter in a badger den, with the badger. Can the vet do this when you take him in periodically or is this something I should invest in a ringmail vest and some lobstered steel gloves for?

unfortunately you have to start brushing most pets teeth from the beginning for them to accept it. i would still give it a try if you think your pet will allow it. they make pet friendly toothpastes that supposedly taste good to entice them.

yes, you can set up an appointment for your pet to have a dental prophylaxis just like you'd set up yourself for a cleaning. the only thing is they will use general anesthesia on the pet each time in order to get the job done.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
you should brush your pet's teeth from day one, and if you do most likely no tartar will form. stilll have it checked and get tartar cleaned off if it builds up. just like with humans, the tartar will harbor bacterial plaque and lead to gum disease and subsequent bone loss which will result in loose teeth or abscesses. abscesses can lead to premature death.

Soft food contributes to plaque/tartar build up. make sure your pet gets crunchy food if possible.

DonVito, I didn't expect you to look like that.

I've only ever fed my cats hard food so maybe this is why it has never been an issue for me?

 

[UNCjigga]

Now he's just more gangsta--you should rename him Tony Montana.

 

[sinucus]

Vito looks just like my 2 cats. We feed them the cruncy Iams food so this won't be a problem for us hopefully.

 

[marvdmartian]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
My tomcat is about 15lbs and I've the feeling that if I tried brushing his teeth, I'd come out of the affair looking like I'd weathered the winter in a badger den, with the badger. Can the vet do this when you take him in periodically or is this something I should invest in a ringmail vest and some lobstered steel gloves for?

unfortunately you have to start brushing most pets teeth from the beginning for them to accept it. i would still give it a try if you think your pet will allow it. they make pet friendly toothpastes that supposedly taste good to entice them.

yes, you can set up an appointment for your pet to have a dental prophylaxis just like you'd set up yourself for a cleaning. the only thing is they will use general anesthesia on the pet each time in order to get the job done.

Yeah, my cat's only ~11 pounds of lean, mean, used to be tomcat, but I think I'd need to feed him some kitty tranquilizers to have any chance of brushing his teeth! :shocked:

We adopted each other when he was about 6 months old, when a friend got short-term orders to go to Korea. It was only supposed to be for a year, while she was gone, but then she got pregnant, and it was closer to 2 years before she stopped by for a visit. After seeing how inter-dependant the cat and I had become, and having the typical (irrational) fear of having a cat around an infant, she decided that she didn't want him after all. While I hadn't planned on keeping him, I sure wasn't going to just desert him, and so now I have a 4 year old feline roommate.

Oh yeah, and he never gets anything but dry food and crunchy treats that are allegedly designed to prevent tartar buildup. The food I use I buy at my local Walmart, and it's called Maxximum Nutrition. Check it out sometime. I like feeding him that because the first ingrediant isn't corn (or corn meal), it's chicken. And he's never had a mushy poop in his life, which I'm very thankful for!! :laugh:

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
Soft food contributes to plaque/tartar build up. make sure your pet gets crunchy food if possible.

This has more or less been disproven. Many studies have demonstrated minimal difference between the dental health of cats who eat canned vs kibble food. Furthermore, kibble food presents significant long term health risks such as obesity (which can cause diabetes), chronic renal failure, kidney stones, etc.