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November 07, 2003
kitty got the glove
poor Romeo. We had to take him to the dentist today--he has a fang that is swollen very badly near the gum line and is being pushed out of his mouth. He had his initial checkup today to see what the diagnosis is.
As expected, his teeth are pretty messed up. They have so much tartar on them you can't even see the teeth anymore and if you can, the back ones are fairly black. He's going to have to have the fang extracted. Apparently kitty dentistry is sort of a strange art...there are only 72 specialists (ones that can do full dental care--rebuilding entire mouths) in the country. Most vets won't even look in the mouth when they give checkups but most cats have dental issues. I guess that with all the bacteria growing in the mouth like that--it's a cesspool for viruses and it can lead to a myriad of other problems including heart and kidney issues.
Wet food is a main contributor to bad dental health in cats. I guess that's why he's been pretty lucky to make it to ten years old without any other problems...we mostly only feed him dry food.
He was pretty good today, all things considered. First they weighed him (14.8 lbs! big kitty!) and did all the regular stuff...and my suspicions about him are partially true, I think--he liked the thermometer part. He didn't like them looking much at his teeth as they hurt him quite a bit. Cats will pretend they aren't hurt for a very long time (to protect themselves from appearing vulnerable in the wild), until the pain is nearly unbearable. He's been acting fine, but we noticed that he's been chewing out of one side of the mouth for a bit.
Then they had to do labwork. They took him out of the room for that and we could hear him yowling. He didn't like the needle much. They tried to get him in the neck but he wouldn't have it, so they had to stick him in the leg. When he came back, he had two more shots--vaccinations since he hasn't had any in ten years. He was shedding like MAD at this point and starting to get a bit stinky.
He does that...gets stinky when he's nervous. The assistant mentioned that it was probably his anal glands backed up (lovely, huh?). Another freakish thing--cats can spray that stuff at attackers if they need to. PEEEE-EEEW! So the vet came back, got the glove and the KY out, did the finger thing and "uncleared" the glands. Gross. I turned quite green but thankfully no one noticed. Romeo was less than happy, let me tell you.
Niki, that one thing that vet did made me realize there is NO WAY IN HELL I could ever be a vet. No way am I going to stick my fingers up animals' asses to clean out stinky stinky stuff!
So we put him on an antibiotic treatment for ten days to get the swelling down. This will involve us putting a syringe into his mouth twice a day. That should be fun. Plus, he has wax plugs in his ears so we get to put fluid into them and massage the ears and eventually he should shake the wax out. Blech. Can't wait to clean that up off the floor.
We take him back on December 6 to do the dentistry. They'll clean off the tartar, determine how much damage there is and how many extractions. The fang will have to go. Who knows about the rest until they knock him out and start clearing off all the junk. I just hope he starts to feel better.
He's really lethargic now because of the shots. Joe made him a fire to sleep by. Talk about spoiled!! But after that, he deserves spoiling in my book.
Posted by crystallyn at November 7, 2003 06:17 PM
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Comments
The dentistry will go well, you'll see. We're thrilled that Goldie's mouth problems are all gone after her extractions and oral surgery in Guelph last spring, even if Mike considers it to be "yuppie."
Posted by: Ancarett at November 7, 2003 06:51 PM
miserable kitty! he's so lucky to have you for a mom :) I agree, he needs to be spoiled after that ordeal.
I think they do that butt-cleaning thing at pet groomers, too. My mom takes her yappy little poodle-mix-thing to the groomers and they 'express' the glands there- apparently full glands in the rear is what makes an animal do that scooting weirdness where they drag butts across the floor.
Weird female thing- when you go for your annuals, they do it to you too. Oh for ew.
Posted by: Shanna at November 7, 2003 10:01 PM
I don't butt-scoot on the floor.
As long as we're sharing.
Posted by: Shanna at November 7, 2003 10:02 PM
Well, butt things don't gross me out. It's parasite removal that will be my "ooh ick" thing. My friend who's a doctor said her thing is anything with fingernails falling off. She can't deal. I guess you're allowed to have something as long as you're not too grossed out all the time... ;)
Posted by: niki at November 8, 2003 09:27 AM
I suppose it's "yuppie" in a way--but mostly I just think that people are looking at pets more like an extension of their family than they did in the past. I actually was really freaked out about the cost...but Romeo has been my closest companion for the last ten years and has been there through crap that no one else has. I couldn't bear for him to have anything happen to him before his time.
Posted by: crystal at November 8, 2003 10:58 AM
When we got my first shelter cat, Honey, she had lots of dental problems. We had to have her knocked out and her teeth cleaned (maybe one of my vets is one of those specialists) and a couple of them were extracted-$$$. I think most of the cost is in the anestesia. She did really well after that until some other health problems came up. Apparently cats can eat fine with less than perfect teeth, especially if they don't bother to chew much.
Posted by: Heidi at November 8, 2003 12:06 PM
I definitely think of my 2 cats (my girls) as part of the family. I miss them... Dreat brought them back to Alaska with him back in May. He's had his hands full with them too, hehe. Two months ago Xena got her claws stuck in the carpet and ripped 2 of them completely out, which required stitches, poor girl. And just like you said, she pretended she wasn't hurt until she finally was limping around. :(
Hope Romeo feels better soon!
Posted by: Legenae at November 8, 2003 05:35 PM