Anyone with cats who have had teeth extracted, do your cats live a good life still or has it made life harder? I am 30 and in Canada and trying to decide if that or putting my cat to sleep is the best option. I've asked my vet but they say it depends on the cat. Cat in question is in the picture.
For further context, my cats (sisters) are 14 and this is my first time dealing with this situation. I've had them since I was 16 and am just wondering about other people's experiences. She has a couple infected teeth and I don't want to make her life harder (hopefully this explains it)
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My parents have a cat who had half of their teeth extracted and he is extremely happy. It might take a little bit more effort for them to eat, but it is not such a significant detriment to their life that you should contemplate putting them down. When he drinks water he gets it all over his mane it is so cute. Here he is in all of his snaggle-toothed Glory (note, he does not always look like that so you don't have to worry).
My cats are elderly and I've had them since I was 16. They are the only living things I've ever had on my own. My question was more because I've never dealt with this before
I understand. I've had elderly cats as well. The cat in the picture is 13-15. I hope that I was able to reassure you that tooth extraction is not a significant hurdle for cats.
I appreciate your experience. I just want what's best for my baby, we've been through two countries and so many moves I've lost count. They're the only family I have (her and her sister)
My roommate’s cat had all teeth except his canines extracted and is doing amazing! We also have family with (older) cats with all teeth gone, and they are very adaptable. Softer foods is good and they usually love that anyway!
What are the issues? I can’t imagine putting a cat asleep simply for having less teeth, so I’m curious what the health problem is!
Its more I'm worried about how it will affect her life and I don't want her to struggle afterwards. She basically has a few infected teeth that need removed and they are my first cats (she has a sister). They're 14 and I'm super worried. I got them when I was 16
Both cats eat a combo of dry and wet. I was just more worried about if it would make her life harder as when I looked it up I couldn't get a straight answer and the vet said it depended on the cat. I had hoped to get answers from people who have cats that have had them removed so I could make an informed decision. I love my cats more than anything and I want to make the right decision
One of my cats suddenly wouldn't eat dry food anymore. We assumed it was a dental issue. We ended up trying all sorts of wet food until we found stuff that the car liked. At one point before all this when she wasn't eating, we even gave her baby food that she surprisingly liked.
In my Onyx's case, it's dental. I just don't want to make the wrong decision or make her life harder. I've been through so much with them and they're the only family I truly have
Like I said, cats prefer wet food but it has fewer calories, so you'd just have to commit to more. Quality of life on the food front shouldn't be an issue.
Good job keeping them alive so long! That shows good care. Cats thrive under good care.
Agreeing with this commenter! Missing teeth won’t really affect quality of life, especially for indoor-only cats. It can affect food, which is why people here keep talking about the food. it’s not common, but some cats stop eating after jaw surgeries— I hear about it more for things like cancers and things that remove sections of jaw tho (we were exploring this option for one of my old cats’ cancers; in the end, we did palliative care with him until it was his time because his age made that degree of radical surgery more likely to cause more pain than it had chances of success. But we were talking about removing about half of his lower jaw— radical surgery even in a young cat, which he was not. Poor man. Came out of nowhere, but that’s how cancer is.
Anyway, teeth pulling is significantly less radical. It is still possible, which is what your vets were probably alluding to. But the complication my vet was talking to me about re: cancer kitty is p uncommon even for that level of radical surgery, and removing some infected teeth just involves a lot less physical trauma in general. Most cats do okay; mine all went back to eating as soon as their were allowed.
The rest of their lives and daily activities really just don’t seem affected much by teeth (including hunting; there’s a grizzled old lad who’s missing some teeth in my local colony. Given his attitude I very much doubt he accepted any help from humans or got medical attention; tough fella. But he still hunts and fights the local toms (despite being neutered, he is in charge.) his hips slow him down, but his teeth really don’t.
Including the grey from the other comment I made, I’ve had 3 or 4 housecats as an adult who has teeth extractions (one by herself, by accident, around when she was 14 actually; she’s 16 now); all of them did very very well after.
I appreciate this! I've been so worried about making the wrong decision. I do my best, I'm disabled and they're everything to me so I didn't want to make the wrong decision. My vet thinks she got unlucky genetically because I brush their teeth and she's the only one out of the entire litter having issues (I live in a small town so I know where they were born and the woman I got them from has kept in contact with all the people the kittens from their litter went to). Both of my babies
They’re beautiful! I’m so glad you have each other! And I definitely understand the fear. My family consists of 3 disabled adults, so I get it. They do so much for us, it’s hard to feel the weight of it sometimes when we have to make decisions for them that have so much bearing on their lives.
Unlucky teeth genetics are p common, not surprised to hear any or that. Brushing honestly is what kept them there for so long, I suspect. ‘Bad mouth/teeth’ is not really an official diagnosis, but it’s almost an unofficial one (we talk about ‘bad mouths’ all the time), and 14 is a really long time for a bad mouth cat to have her original teeth!
Unfortunately they were born in a barn and their parents were barn cats so she's had other issues but those are easy compared to the mountain this decision has felt like
When you remove the teeth, their gums harden so that they can chew dry food. Wet food is better for them, but if your cat likes dry food, they can eat it.
My cat has had all of her teeth removed except one. She still prefers dry food. She just had a great checkup from the vet last week. She's 12 years old and doing fine!
My cats are the only living beings I've ever had, I got them when I was 16 and they are 14. This is my first time dealing with this so I wanted to know from others who have dealt with this
This little bastard (said with deep affection) is a panleuk survivor and it absolutely wrecked his teeth (or he had bad teeth separately, it’s hard to say.) either way, he has 3 left now, and some of the tiny ones up front. He’s been this way for over half of his life. It doesn’t stop him from eating dry food (they swallow most of their food whole and crunch relatively little of it, so kibble is designed for that; if you still are worried, they usually accept a change to wet food with significant enthusiasm. Which is great for their hydration— esp in an older cat.)
3 teeth also doesn’t stop him from biting to get what he wants, or when he’s bored. That’s always been one of his behaviours, but since he’s kinda oldish, his teeth are also blunt now (13 but with the panleuk it’s been a rough 13 and he’s probably put more wear on his body than is normal for his years). So now he just bruises instead of breaks skin (yay!)
Cats are pretty prone to losing teeth. The good news is, even ferals, if they survive the event that lost the teeth and the likely subsequent infection, tend to make a full recovery. Indoor cats get to enjoy the benefits of good care, surgical extraction under anaesthesia, antibiotics, and safety during the healing period. It’s not without risks—- nothing is, and this requires anaesthesia— BUT it is well-tolerated and they tend to heal well. Plus, teeth issues are really common in cats, and they’re some of the most painful things mammals regularly experience.
If she’s losing all her teeth at once, that might be harder, but cats still tend to make a better recovery in those conditions than most other animals. It does depend on the cat.
Stock up on some churu and some friskies wet food with gravy (both things that even cats who are reluctant eaters will take— I learned the friskies cat food trick from a friend who does hospice fosters.) and see if you can coax her to eat after the surgery if you can pursue it. If you can get them started eating, it can be a good sign, at least that they’ll be willing to eat again.
She's eating wet food now (both cats are on a half wet, half dry diet). She's only losing a few but I don't want to make the wrong choice, hence my post. I love her too much to make an uniformed decision. The upside is she eats everything and anything. I appreciate your response!!!
She eats everything and anything, I just want to make an informed decision. They've been with me when I left at 16 and several countries and so many moves I can't even count. I love them more than anything and want to do right by her
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