So, yes, Ponyboy had to have dental surgery on Monday.
It had been brewing for years; by the time I adopted him, his teeth were already bad, and he was only a little over a year old then. He had shed some teeth since he came to me, and the remaining teeth were ... questionable.
So even though he was eating both canned and dry food (and the occasional mouse) with no problems, at the advice of my vet, he went in for dental work.
Let's look on the bright side, shall we? They managed to save three of his canines. Three!
Everything else? Nope. Ponyboy is now a three-toothed cat.
But! Tinks underwent similar surgery last year and now is down to a count-em'-on-one-hand amount of teeth, and he's doing just fine.
No, I don't feed my cats candy.
Pony was a rescue who had feline herpes as a kitten and never received any veterinary care until coming into rescue at over a year old. It's thought that the herpes virus could be responsible for his bad teeth and his runny eye. Tinks was also a rescue, and while it's not thought he had feline herpes, he did come to me with a mouthful of bad teeth. Street cats can tend to have dental problems; their diets are not generally the best and they can be subject to mistreatment. Although some cats are just predisposed to bad teeth, and that may be the case with Tinks as well.
But Tinks is doing great now, was doing great within a day of his surgery, in fact, and the vet reassures me that Pony will soon be feeling much better, as well. I almost had a heart attack Monday when I let him out of the carrier after picking him up at the vet's - he had a giant LUMP on his side, and I was all, "OH MY GOD PONYBOY WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU?!" but then I remembered that they gave him sub-q fluids because he was in surgery for so long, and WHEW. Ha.
Up until yesterday morning he was still pretty loopy, probably a little bit from the anesthesia aftereffects and a little bit from the long-acting pain reliever injection they gave him. But he's eating! Getting breakfast in bed, as a matter of fact.
Milk it for all it's worth, Ponyboy. You've earned it.
7 comments:
Poor kitty. Feel better soon, baby boy.
A friend's vet said he has seen some strong correlation between URI in kittens and bad teeth ad adults.. I would imagine poor nutritional intake when you are young and making teeth means that the teeth aren't as strong as they could be.
What Silk said. We know he's in good hands.
Dylan has two, count 'em, two teeth left. Feel better, Pony. You know I love you.
Thanks for the good wishes, everybody. Last night he was downright playful, so I'm guessing he's feeling much better.
Tails, I'd never heard of a URI/tooth connection - I'll ask my vet about it!
and Becs, Dylan wins this contest. The least-teeth contest. :( I hope he's doing well.
Rocky, Dylan has perked up after a visit to the vet with an antibiotics shot (never-ending upper respiratory infection), a dab of Revolution, and a shot of B-12. He also has a big new stash of food to choose from. Mosby, RIP, had no teeth, zero. His gums hardened up to the point where he could eat hard food and when he nipped you, you could feel it.
Becs, I'm so glad to hear that Dylan's doing better.
And Pony was eating dry food TODAY. I have been leaving out dish after dish of his favorite canned foods, but he still went for the dry stuff this morning. He was swallowing it whole, but jeez, I still cringed.
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