Plague Off For Vincent (the Ongoing Gum-Challenge)

With Cow on the mend, the focus is back to helping Vincent again.

If you have been following Vincent’s stories, you’d know that I’m practically trying whatever I can to help him. Even the vet said to just try and let him know what works since gingivitis (or faucitis, stomatitis, periodontosis or whatever it’s called) can be a very hard-to-manage condition.

In some cats, it resolves by itself. In some, with treatment, it gets better. In some, it’s just stubborn and difficult.

Vincent’s case, unfortunately, appears to be the third kind.

So, we’ve tried the mild treatment initially, then it was the gum jabs (steroid injections under sedation – twice). The first gum jab lasted 6 weeks. This time, I think the pain came back rather quickly, after only 1 week. Sigh…

For the first 6 weeks after the initial gum jab, I gave Vincent turmeric and fish oil. We are not sure if this helped. Maybe it did…for 6 weeks. Then, it came back.

Now, Vincent has refused to eat the turmeric and fish oil-laced food.

The difficult part in handling Vincent is that he refuses to let me touch his mouth, much less open it. I discussed this with the vet and he thinks Vincent cannot differentiate between psychological pain and somatic pain anymore.

Maybe he’s just phobic when it comes to anything to do with his mouth.

I bought the Pet Deodorizer, which I’m told, works for certain cats, but Vincent refused to drink the water. He boycotted drinking water for 3 days so I surrendered.

Then I tried the Transfer Factor Advanced Plus (which is far more effective than the normal TF), Vincent refused to eat it when mixed with his food. I’m still not giving up on this, though.

Yesterday, I bought this:

It’s really pricey too, but it’s worth a try.

It comes with a small scoop and it’s a greenish powder.

Did Vincent eat it?

Initially, no.

But with some persuasion (more like forcing), he did. I had to lock him in the cage and put a little bit of food with the Plague Off mixed into. He would refuse to eat and stare at me. Then, I would have to go away and leave him be. Twice, he ended up eating the food.

But do I want to go on like this every day? Will it stress him out?

I think it will definitely stress him out, but without any help, he’s just going to stop eating again and isn’t that more detrimental?

It’s also hard to predict which food Vincent wants to eat. Sometimes, it’s kibble, at other times, it’s BARF or Monge or chicken meat. His preference is not consistent. I’ll give him whatever food he wants, as long as he eats.

Being able to eat and keeping the body nourished is more important than anything else.

The product was initially tested on humans too. Now, that’s nice to hear.

So now we resort to this to reduce stress:

Vincent eats behind a curtain.

Vincent appears to be very scared of Ginger these days. This happens when he is not confident (which I think means that he is in pain again). He is so scared of Ginger that he doesn’t dare to eat with the rest.

We’ll never really know why Vincent behaves as he does. Maybe it’s the pain in his mouth, maybe he is scared of Ginger.

But we are certainly going to try all we can to help him.

Hopefully one of these supplements works for him.

Hopefully the problem resolves by itself one day….before doing too much harm, psychological or otherwise.

If you have any experience with gingivitis in cats, especially fussy cats, please do share. I’m already at my wits’ end handling this.

I spoke to another cat caregiver who successfully managed her cat’s gingivitis with turmeric (the same brand). The difference between her cat and Vincent is that her cat allowed her to open the mouth and forcefeed anything. Her cat even allows her to brush his teeth with sodium bicarbonate!

Vincent will not allow me to touch his mouth. If I do, he bolts and runs away.

He is still super-affectionate as he has always been.

He allows you to do anything, belly-rub, etc, but don’t try to even touch his chin (or anywhere near his mouth), he bolts.

Sigh.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2016/06/03/plague-off-for-vincent-t..

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AnimalCare is a registered society that promotes caregiving to street animals and helps in their neutering and medical needs. AnimalCare has a Medical Fund, Food Fund and Education Fund.

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