Handsome Miles is only 3.5 yo, but already he's had to go in for a dental cleaning...and he came out with three fewer teeth than when he went in! He had a rough time of the whole experience.
He needed to fast from 9:00 p.m. the night before so we confined him to the bathroom without food or water. He was unhappy with this arrangement, increasingly so as the night went on. He was meowing quite a bit in the morning. He meowed and even got to howling on the drive to the vet. Our housecall vet works at this particular vet 1-2 days per week. She was on that day, although she wasn't doing his dental. She saw him just before he went under and, seeing that he wasn't handling the situation very well, tried to comfort him.
When he came home later that day, he was very quiet and kept to himself. He spent a lot of time under the guest room bed, maybe the whole night. He seemed a little better the next day and even better the day after. It took a few days for him to get back to his normal easygoing, mushball self.
Edison didn't help matters with his reaction. He sniffed Miles and, not liking the way he smelled (even I could smell 'hospital' on Miles although it didn't offend me), he'd lash out and hiss at Miles. Like Miles didn't have enough problems at the moment.
Next time he needs to fast because of anesthesia, we'll put Lizzie in with him. He worked himself into such a lather this time; it was really quite odd to see my easygoing, lumpy cat so hot and bothered. I'm hoping that having Lizzie with him next time will comfort and distract him.
He gets Clindacure 2x/day for a while, to help prevent infection from the extractions, one of which was a big one. He doesn't like it, but takes it fairly easily.
Lizzie, his littermate, has very good teeth. The vet who did the dental thinks Miles just has bad teeth. I forget the term he used, but bottom line is that he has enamel erosion. This leaves his dental nerves unprotected. This, in turn, causes pain. His mouth should feel a lot better now, although the whole dental experience did a number on him.
In a few weeks, after he's done with his meds and his mouth has calmed down, I'll start brushing his teeth. We've tried it before with numerous cats, but exceedingly half-heartedly. In Miles's case, I think we'll need to really do it to help prevent further dental disease. I'll guess that it's unlikely that we'll be able to prevent future dental cleanings, extractions, etc. simply with brushing, but maybe we can postpone them and he can keep more of his teeth longer than he otherwise would have.
Poor Miles. He really had a tough time of it. I don't know how well cats remember things; I'm hoping his little brain doesn't hold on to this particular memory. In the meantime, he's getting lots of love and attention from us and he's taking it pretty easy.
Hi there! Stopping by from the Ravelry blog thread.
Poor Miles. What a tough week for a kitty. I hope he is healing well and is feeling better now!
Posted by: Artifax | 03/11/2011 at 07:46 PM
Thank you for your kind words. He has had a tough week, but is doing much, much better now.
Posted by: Annie | 03/12/2011 at 11:33 AM