Do we have a cat dentist in the house?
Discussion
We recently noticed our younger cat (11 year old DLH) appeared to have broken the tip off her upper left canine so had her examined. The advice was that she'd need an x-ray but also that the tooth behind it had some redness and needed extracting. That was all done under GA last Friday and the vets sent the x-rays off to a specialist dental vet for an opinion on whether the damaged canine could be saved or not.
We had her back to get a post-op check up this evening. The recommendation from the dental specialist was that the broken canine does need extracting and they've also identified another eight teeth as confirmed or suspected as requiring extraction due to Tooth Resorption. We were supplied with a copy of the email from the specialist and a printout with some fairly grim photos of the condition - not from our cat, just general images.
I know many of these threads start from this general place, but the cat in question seems fine - she's happy, good-natured, affectionate, eats fine (wet and dry food), doesn't appear to be in any discomfort, likes to nuzzle your hand with her head and mouth. We've had her since she was two, to us she's not showing any signs of being in pain or discomfort. I asked the local vet that saw her this evening how much pain she was likely to be in and she didn't really answer.
The local vet were taken under new management about 18 months ago and I happened to be looking on their website earlier this evening and noticed something - they're now part of the same, large vet group that the dental specialists are (IVC Evidensia UK). We'd noticed over that time that they'd started charging for a lot of things they used to just do for free - £7.50 to fill out your PetPlan claim form for you, for example - so the cynic in me is wondering, are we being rinsed here?
We're looking for another, independent local practice who can maybe give a second opinion and/or realistic assessment of really how serious the various teeth are but I've had some very useful and valuable insight from veterinary professionals here in the past so thought it worth asking here too?
We had her back to get a post-op check up this evening. The recommendation from the dental specialist was that the broken canine does need extracting and they've also identified another eight teeth as confirmed or suspected as requiring extraction due to Tooth Resorption. We were supplied with a copy of the email from the specialist and a printout with some fairly grim photos of the condition - not from our cat, just general images.
I know many of these threads start from this general place, but the cat in question seems fine - she's happy, good-natured, affectionate, eats fine (wet and dry food), doesn't appear to be in any discomfort, likes to nuzzle your hand with her head and mouth. We've had her since she was two, to us she's not showing any signs of being in pain or discomfort. I asked the local vet that saw her this evening how much pain she was likely to be in and she didn't really answer.
The local vet were taken under new management about 18 months ago and I happened to be looking on their website earlier this evening and noticed something - they're now part of the same, large vet group that the dental specialists are (IVC Evidensia UK). We'd noticed over that time that they'd started charging for a lot of things they used to just do for free - £7.50 to fill out your PetPlan claim form for you, for example - so the cynic in me is wondering, are we being rinsed here?
We're looking for another, independent local practice who can maybe give a second opinion and/or realistic assessment of really how serious the various teeth are but I've had some very useful and valuable insight from veterinary professionals here in the past so thought it worth asking here too?
We had a vet dress us down quite severely over the condition of our cats teeth (he even denigrated her unoriginal name, greedy patient relationship building!)...demanding that she needed teeth being extracted, so I took her to another local vet, and all they recommended was a cleaning, no removal of any teeth, so it is hard to know if some vets are just generating income, as opposed to genuinely looking out for you pet.
wibble cb said:
We had a vet dress us down quite severely over the condition of our cats teeth (he even denigrated her unoriginal name, greedy patient relationship building!)...demanding that she needed teeth being extracted, so I took her to another local vet, and all they recommended was a cleaning, no removal of any teeth, so it is hard to know if some vets are just generating income, as opposed to genuinely looking out for you pet.
I wouldn't necessarily know which vet was in the right here, though the bedside manner of number 1 would probably have me looking elsewhere. If you have dental x-rays and a specialist telling you that extractions are necessary, then you are unlikely for find a 1st opinion vet to go against that opinion. Perhaps calling the vets and asking for an explanation as to why the extractions are recommended, the pros and cons of treating or not treating etc.
https://icatcare.org/advice/dental-disease-in-cats...
Read FRL / FORLs section.
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