[Caribou]

My cat Tiger is about 15 1/2 years old, although she's in fairly good health for her age and even gets a little playful sometimes. However, recently I've noticed that she doesn't want to eat her dry food anymore and she often picks at her canned food and leaves most of it in the dish. She's also not grooming herself, and drools waaay more than she used to. She's lost weight, and she constantly rubs at one side of her face to the point where she's rubbed off all of her whiskers on that side.

I was really worried about her, and took her in to the vet yesterday and confirmed that poor Tiger does have a cracked molar that could be infected. She's also dehydrated. The vet gave us some yummy canned food that Tiger LOVES so far, and gave her a couple fluid shots and some antibiotics for us to administer at home. She also got some blood work done, but I won't have the results for that until tomorrow.

I was wondering if anyone here has ever had a similar problem with their cat, and what happened. And if anyone has any advice about something I can do in the mean time to make Tiger feel better and encourage her to eat and drink more, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance and give your kitty a hug for me!

 

[Ioana]

I hope there will be some good solution at the vet when the blood work comes. Thank you for the hug for my kitties ..and me and them would love to give Tiger so many hugs back that he'll forget all about the pain

 

[faile]

is the tooth going to be pulled?

 

[Kimmyboo]

Hi,
My cat had a kinda similar problem not too long ago. He was throwing up his food and not eating well and so I brought him to the vet and she looked at him and she saw one of his big teeth was absessed. She also noticed he was pulling his head forward when he was swallowing so she gave him some meds and then I brought him back about 1 week later and she did a teeth cleaning on him and checked out his bad tooth and his throat cuz of the swallowing. She said the throwing up was from because his tooth was hurting him from the absess that he wasnt chewing his food all the way causing him to throw it up. She cleaned his tooth and its all better. She said she did noticed some chipped teeth but she said it is normal for a cat that old(he's 14). They weren't chipped bad so she said no need to fix them. The swallowing thing she said was also from the bad tooth issue. She noticed a lump near his mouth kinda under his chin and did blood work and she thought maybe he might have cancer but that came back where he doesn't have it. She told me to keep an eye out for the lump so it doesn't get bigger. I guess it's normal for orange DSH to have the brown markings in their mouth and on the eye lids and the cyst near his mouth. After the teeth cleaning and antibiotics for the absessed tooth he is fine. Except for now I'm dealing with an absess from a fight he must've gotten into and it's near his bum on his back. The absess just broke tonight so I get the wonderful job of cleaning up the floor and the cat. I feel bad for him cuz I knew he was in pain but he seems happier now that it broke. He is walking around more and looks like he's happier. I just can't wait for him to be better cuz I don't like to see him in pain. Maybe if possible and check with your vet first, can you maybe give him soft food? I don't mean just the canned food but I mean something like Happy Cat that is soft and not so hard on the teeth and mouth. Your kitty is 15 1/2 so if you think about it that is old for a kitty and just like humans their teeth get weaker as we age. If you keep giving canned food he will have yucky poopies and make his belly upset. I'm sure its fine for now since he has the broken tooth and a few other problems but once he starts to eat more and drink water you may want to wean him off canned food. Also what I use to do for my kitty is you can soak the dry food in water to make it soggy and then add some canned food to that. My kitty loves it and it's not hard on the teeth and mouth. I hope I might've helped you. Good luck with your kitty and let us know how things are. Take care!!

 

[kitkat]

I hope your kitty gets better but they do sell a product called Nutrical which I have heard will work well for cats who aren't eating and drinking much. You can put some in his mouth or on his paws so he can clean it off himself and it should get some nutrients in his body. Good Luck!

 

[Caribou]

Wow, looks like I've come across a great forum! Thanks for the advice and hugs everyone

Faile - I don't think it's 100% certain that the vet is going to pull Tiger's tooth out yet, she didn't really give me a definite answer about that. But she made it seem like it was something that was going to happen.

Kimmyboo - I'll try that idea of yours with the moist dry food! Any other tips on soft foods that will be easy on my old kitty's tummy?

Thanks again everyone, and I will keep you all updated for when the bloodwork results come in!

 

[Kimmyboo]

Hi again,
When that happened to my cats tooth my vet did tell me there was a chance it would need to be pulled but she needed to look at it better and couldn't do it with him awake. So she decided since she was gonna be in there that she would just clean them all. As for the moist food, I'd just try the soakin of the dry and mixing in some of the canned food your vet gave unless the vet told you to just stick with the canned. I would ask about my idea first as maybe your vet only wants you to give the canned for now. After Tiger gets better either ask the vet about the Happy cat or do the water soaking dry and canned food thing. A little canned food goes a long way especially if you use the juices from the can too. If the food sits for a bit you can simply just add more warm water and/or more canned food to moisten it up again instead of wasting it. Just don't let it sit for 2 days and keep feeding the same. I'd make a little bit at a time. Take care!!