I just figured out that our little tabby girl Zelda has stomatitis.

[grasswire]

The most painful affliction a cat can have. Inflammation of the gums. Incurable unless all the teeth are pulled.

She has been eating poorly for several months, and I've been feeding her only wet food. She has lost some weight. The other day I tried her on some good quality dried food. She then had episodes of pawing frantically at her mouth, and hiding. I thought something must be stuck inside her mouth. But nothing there.

To the google. Stomatitis.

Now what? I will not be able to afford massive dental work for her. And I'm not sure I want to put her through that anyway. She's twelve years old. A darling cat, but twelve years old.

I will try an anti-inflammatory diet and the recommended CoQ10 and L-Lysine supplements.

Then we'll see.

[Hoyt]

1. Here's wishing you both luck. Let us know how that works.

Things like that worry me about mine.

[grasswire]

2. It's hard in a two-cat house.

Not the first time I have had to deal with two cat diets. The other tabby, 23-pound Koko, has to be kept away while Zelda is eating her wet food.

[TexasTowelie]

3. Eeks! It sounds like you're running an ICU.

I hope that the medication helps Zelda.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. My current cat had a horrible case of stomatitis when I got him.

One thing that has to be done is to have the teeth cleaned. Stomatitis is a reaction to the bacteria on the teeth, and that is the one thing that has to be done to keep inflammation down. I also use a water additive that is supposed to keep bacteria down in the mouth, and I don't know if it works, but we have no current problems. He was also prescribed a steroid to keep swelling down. My cat's stomatitis was severe....gums swelled up, purple, and constantly had blood coming out of his mouth---one of the worst things I have ever seen. If your cat is not that bad, it is possible that it can be treated without removing any teeth.

Cleaning and steroids did not help for my cat, but when they did the cleaning, they found that most of his molars were so bad that they had to be removed. They removed all the top molars at that time. It still didn't help, and the lower molars were removed. He now only has his fangs and a few incisors (many have come out on their own). He has no problems eating, and he eats dry food----has always refused canned food. With no molars, he is doing great. He is off the steroids now, and I still use the water additive simply because he loves the water with it in there.

The one thing that I insisted on was that they use propofol, since it puts him under fast and he comes back out easily. For an older cat, that is important to me.

I hope that you can find a solution to this. Twelve years old is not too old yet. Poor baby.

[grasswire]

5. what is the name of the water additive?

I'm pretty much on my own here, as far as treatment goes. If I can't bring it under control and she seems to be in pain, I'll have to put her down so she won't suffer.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. The water additive

Virbac C.E.T. aquadent drinking water additive

This is just one place that I saw it with a google search and it is the cheapest in a quick look:

http://www.calvetsupply.com/product/1714/Pet_Dental_Oral_Wipes_and_Rinses?gclid=CIiS_OT3uLwCFQIOOgod6WkAAQ

I get mine from the vet.

[grasswire]

7. thanks nt

[hamsterjill]

8. Our rescue has had several cats with stomatitis.

First, I gather from your post that the diagnosis of stomatitis is something that you've made, and that you've not (yet) sought veterinary assistance? If so, of course, I would highly recommend a visit to the vet. Also, I would recommend that you switch your cat immediately to a good quality wet food, softer and easier to eat.

We found that different protocols work for each cat. Here's a brief synopsis - take from it what you will, and I wish you the best of luck.

One of our cats is managed on oral depo medrol and has done well. We initially tried injections, and they didn't work for him. When we switched to oral meds, the difference was very noticeable. This cat was diagnosed in 2007. He has, thankfully, had no long term effects from the use of the steroids.

Two of our cats are managed on depo injections about every six weeks and have done well. One has had no issues with the steroid shots. The other has had some minor hair loss over the years which we treat with allerderm successfully.

One of our cats has had a total mouth extraction and (SURPRISINGLY) has done very well. He lost weight initially, but when he learned that he could still eat what he wants without his teeth, he quickly pumped back up. This cat has done amazingly well.

Now, according to our vet - the veterinary community really doesn't know WHAT causes the stomatitis. It is an auto-immune reaction to something, but what that something is - is the question.

Extractions work for some cats, but they do not work for all cats. I know of at least two cats that had full mouth extractions and continued to be plagued. Our vet explained it to me like this. If you have a cat where his auto immune response is reacting to the dentin in the teeth, and you remove the teeth, then you've done the right thing. But if a particular cat is reacting to something else in the mouth (i.e., saliva or gums), you can't remove those from the cat's mouth. Removing the teeth in that instance would do the cat no good.

I know there is a big objection to the use of steroids, and I understand and respect that. But in the instances with our cats, steroids have given them years that they would not have had. There is a great "group" on yahoo which is dedicated specifically to feline stomatitis. You might visit it for information and information. There is a (now deceased) veterinary dentist clinic in Dallas, Texas that developed a medication protocol that some people are swearing by. The medication has not been patented yet, but his veterinary assistant is able to work with vets all over the country. Information about this is obtainable on that yahoo group. Even though we are located in Texas, we've opted not to try this protocol as our cats seem to be doing relatively well with the steroids, etc.

Again - I wish you and your kitty the very best of luck.

[tencats]

9. My Yoda's experience with worst case stomatitis

Yoda was a sickly near dead little runt of the litter that I picked up at the lumber mill back in July 2001.
She started life heavily infested with all the usual parasites and and then suffered with an oddly antibiotic resistant bacterial infection that kept her weak all through her first year of life. Then well past her first year she rapidly gained weight and thrived. Six years later I witnessed her suddenly collapse when she had a classic episode of a saddle thrombosis,. She did slowly recover from the paralysis after a weeks time, but she never completely recovered her previous vigor. Early in 2010 I took Yoda in to see the Vet with no specific complaint other then she was just after another year not making any good progress recovering her former weight. What the Dr said is that she was likely would remain weak for no discernible problem that we could find, all her blood lab values were good. She did have a little gingivitis that should be watched though. Six months forward I thought of checking her mouth and was horrified to find her with a lumps around her lower jaw, gum lines red with inflammation and several teeth including a front canine missing. Yet she never showed me any distress and had been eating well enough, The Vet said it was stomatitis and that she would need a near total tooth extraction. However as bad as that sounds he told me that Cats generally do very well after dental surgery. Without surgery Yoda at that point was not going to last much longer. Worse the Dr suspected the lump to be a jaw tumor. First we did a biopsy of the lump which returned an inclusive lad report. Right after that I approved the dental surgery. As the Dr had estimated she came home with just one canine and one back molar remaining. For at least 10 days after the surgery I think she suffered a lot of pain but she has done extremely well ever since. She quickly regained weight and is today at her best ever. As for the cost I was pleasantly surprised with a total invoice of a little over $600, more with the lab workup on the suspicious lump which slowly dissipated 8 weeks later. If I looked the actual bill, it had a chart of the location of each tooth extracted, sockets drilled out, and possible broken root not easily found. As the Dr had said, my cat did very very well with the surgery. I remain amazed yet today my near toothless Yoda is so good at age nearing 13 years today.