Vincents Tooth Extraction (4 Molars And 2 Incisors)
AnimalCare 
Jun 8, 2016 
AnimalCare, NGOs 
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I made a judgment call today.
Last night, Vincent had stopped eating all together. It was quite traumatic and very worrying. He came to kitchen wanting to eat, but when I gave him the food, he looked at it and ran away.
It was back to what it was in March…again.
I must have spent at least 3 hours after that, trying all sorts of food to entice him to eat. I could see that he wanted to eat, but he just couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth.
The pain must be so unbearable.
The mental pain was equally unbearable for me. What a suffering it must be when you can no longer fulfil a basic need for survival – to eat.
Vincent came to sit near us at the porch, as though telling us that he’s all right. He just couldn’t eat. He finally tried to eat, but could only nudge at the small Go! kibbles and probably swallowed just a few.
How much longer is this going to go on? I know Vincent has been trying very hard to eat for two weeks now. Animals always try their best to make us happy when there is a bond between them and us. I know this for a fact, after nursing my fair share of animals. They will do their best to make us happy because they know we want them to be well.
I know Vincent has tried his best. And I know that he can no longer eat now.
I don’t want Vincent to starve, lose weight, and what’s more worrying is that he starts going away because he feels weak and defenseless. This happened in March. It was a nightmare trying to get him home every day. He felt so weak that he was too afraid of come back, what with Ginger trying to bully him.
Ginger has already started the bullying him again. This means Vincent is weak.
I barely slept last night. I had read up quite a lot about feline stomatitis by now. I’ve read the success stories, but I know there is no guarantee. There is a 60%-80% chance that tooth removal will be successful. But sometimes, it doesn’t help, I know.
But what choice do we have left? Vincent has already stopped eating. I don’t want him to starve to death.
I remember the words of Dr Karen Becker, “When they stop eating, the dying process begins.”
This morning, my husband managed to catch Vincent. He didn’t even dare to come through the gate already. He was outside.
We put him in the cage and I offered him food.
He couldn’t eat any of it.
By 10am, I called home from work and my son said he hadn’t touched the food at all.
Right after work, at 12noon, I took Vincent to his vet.
His gums were clearly inflamed again and there is pus.
The vet said we had three choices: (1) Wait for a few more days. (2) Sedate Vincent and just do the steroid jabs again. (3) Sedate, do the steroid jabs and remove some teeth where the inflammation is most severe.
We discussed all our options.
Finally, we decided on (3) where some teeth will be removed. We’ve already tried all the non-invasive methods, but none of them had provided lasting relief. The stomatitis keeps coming back and he stops eating. We have to try something else that has a chance of being more successful than what we had already tried.
So, option (3) it is. During the surgery, Vincent will be put on drips as an extra safety measure.
For those few hours that Vincent was at the clinic, undergoing the surgery, I prayed real hard that whatever the vet does this time will bring more success.
Finally, I called the clinic and was informed the surgery went well and Vincent was still on drips (which is good, it flushes out the toxins) so I should pick him up only at 6.30pm.
The vet removed 4 molars (2 top, 2 bottom) and 2 incisors in front which were already loose. These are good teeth, but the inflammation was most severe where these teeth were. Stomatitis is very much an auto-immune disease. In very simple terms, the immunity mistakenly think the teeth are the “bad guys”, so it attacks the area where the teeth are located.
The gums were also cleaned and so were Vincent’s canines. His gum has already receded quite a bit, exposing part of the canines. The vet left the pre-molars. So Vincent still has his pre-molars, his canines and some incisors.
As for the extracted teeth, all of it were removed successfully, leaving nothing behind. No cracked parts at all.
The molars are gone now.
It wasn’t a full-dental extraction. Vincent still has some teeth.
I dearly hope this solves the inflammation problem. We will still continue with the supplements, of course. I’ve read some stories whereby even after tooth extraction, the stomatitis still comes back, but it becomes more manageable.
Vincent is put on antibiotics (Amoxyxilin) for 7 days, as a precautionary measure, in case of any infection. The gums should heal and close up in 5 days or so.
He ought to be able to eat as soon as tonight, or tomorrow. The vet advised to give dry food so that nothing gets stuck in the gum cavities.
Vincent is back home now. He took some time settling in the cage since he was still groggy.
But it’s 8.17pm now and he is fast asleep in the litter box.
I hope the severe pain will never come back again and Vincent will be able to eat comfortably from now on. I do know that there is no cure for stomatitis and it will recur, but I hope it does so in a much, much milder degree.
Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2016/06/08/vincents-tooth-extractio..
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