? Stomatitis

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Liz & IttyBit

Liz & IttyBit

Member Since 2015
Well we're back to square one with civvie Buttons.
The removal of her teeth was successful for the 21 days she was on the antibiotic and then just over a week later she was back at the Vet's because she wasn't able to pee. The little she did get out had pink in it.
The Vet opened her mouth and we saw red gums. Now she's acting just like she did before, not eating because her mouth is sore.
The Vet put her on Clavamox which has helped the peeing issue, but has cause severe diarrhea and I'm not sure about the gums.
Stomatitis was never mentioned at the original Vet's (this visit was with a new Vet and that is a story in itself) but when told about the teeth removal that was the first word the new Vet uttered.
I know there are a few of you out there dealing with the same thing
@Sparkle @Jeanne & Dottie @Vyktors Mum and anyone else, if you would be willing to share any advice, tips, knowledge you have gained I'd be extremely grateful.
 
I've been reading about stomatitis on the Feline Stomatitis Yahoo group and on a Facebook group.
Full mouth extraction seems to be the most helpful step in controlling this awful disease.
Pain management is an important part of keeping the cat eating.
Some folks have found bovine lactoferrin helpful. (I saw some articles on that at the Winn Feline Foundation.)
There is the 'Dallas Syrup' from a Dallas veterinary clinic which has been helpful for some. The kicker is they won't tell you what is in it and the prescribing vet has to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
And I had a discussing with my vet the other day about whether some of the immune suppressing meds used in human arthritis might work for cats. He said he'd check on the Veterinary Information Network and see what other vets thought.
That's all I've got at the moment.
 
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When they did the removal they weren't thinking about stomatitis? I think they usually remove some of the damaged gum tissue too to help when they do the full extractions. Hopefully the new vet will have some ideas. A better AB than Clav would probably be a good start.

My Mitt was diagnosed with it shortly after we adopted him. I'd be sitting in the office wondering what smelled so bad and I realized it was Mittens under my chair taking a bath - his breath was SO bad. We had him on steroids for quite a while and got the inflammation down. Its been about 4 years now since he's been off of the steroids. His gums do look bad along the tooth line and he spits food when he eats sometimes, but the vet still thinks he looks pretty good. He is 6 now. I hate the thought of him going through losing all of his teeth early:(
 
I've been doing some reading this afternoon and now I'm wondering if it really is Stomatitis since the Vet never used that word or Gingivitis or Periodontitis both of which are more common than Stomatitis. I haven't figured out the difference yet. Her gums were never as bad as some of the pictures I've seen, but then maybe it just wasn't as severe. She'd been on some form of Antibiotic most of the time for a year before the surgery (I was terrified to have it done because of her age) The reason I think it might be Stomatitis is because we are right back at square one. Her gums are inflamed and her mouth hurts. I'm totally confused and have a lot more reading to do but I can only absorb so much to a time.
 
One form of stomatitis only attacks the back of the throat, just behind the mouth area, so it couldn't be considered gingivitis or peridontitis...perhaps the vets have decided this is the area that is affected? I just had all of Dottie's teeth removed, and it was a long fight to get her to eat again. Our vet finally gave me Clamavox for her, and it appears to have helped, but I also give her Krill Oil, and have taken to adding a pinch of Tumeric to her food. Tumeric is a very potent anti-inflammatory, it's worth doing some reading about it. It's flavor is bitter, but cats don't seem to mind most bitter tastes.

Right now Dottie is doing good. She suddenly did an about-face and decided life was worth living after all.:p Her BG numbers are WAY down, to the point where I haven't been able to shoot her for about 5 days...if she keeps it up I can declare her to be OTJ very soon.

It's possible that diet also has a lot to do with it. Before her surgery, and the diabetes dx, she was mostly on dry food..Purina. But now she's on Young Again Zero, and Fancy Feast, with a slow introduction to Stella & Chewy's raw Tummy Ticklin' Turkey. The improvement is nothing short of miraculous.:D
 
Jeanne & Dottie said:
Right now Dottie is doing good. She suddenly did an about-face and decided life was worth living after all.:p Her BG numbers are WAY down, to the point where I haven't been able to shoot her for about 5 days...if she keeps it up I can declare her to be OTJ very soon.
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That is Fantastic news! Fingers and paws crossed that this continues.
Buttons is on clavamox right now due to whatever was going on with her not peeing right (that seems to have been resolved) so I'm hoping it helps her mouth as well. The mouth started to go again about a week after she was done with her post surgery 21 days of Doxycyclin. That was the way it went before her surgery too, it wasn't too bad as long as she was on an AB but as soon as she went off it started right up again.
I don't know what or if there is anything going on in the back of her throat, the visible problem has always been gums.
I've been reading a bit about Coq10 and want to try that, will read up on Tumeric too, but she usually refuses anything in or on her food.
Krill oil might work because she loves fish.
 
Liz & IttyBit said:
I've been reading a bit about Coq10 and want to try that,
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Have a look at Mercola's Ubiquinol supplement. Apparently it's better than the straight CoQ10.

FYI, I asked about CoQ10 here before and one of our members advised me that once on CoQ10 you cannot stop it suddenly. Something to bear in mind.

I really hope Buttons feels better very soon. Saying a little prayer for her. :bighug:


Mogs
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Thank you Mogs.
Today she actually ate a bit on her own and then a few minutes later projectile vomited it right back out. Pretty sure it's the Clavamox, she also has diarrhea,
so we are going to try Slippery Elm Bark. I understand it's good for vomiting and diarrhea and an added benefit is it might help her mouth a little.
Any advice on SEB?
I will check out Mercola's Ubiquinol supplement.
 
Clavamox is likely killing off the good GI bacteria as well as the bad, causing upset and vomiting. a probiotic given a couple hours after the antibiotic will help restore the good bacteria and reduce the Gi upset.
Options include 1 teaspoon of plain yogurt with active cultures, Forti Flora [from your vet if you're in a hurry, online when not), Renew Ultimate Flora and so on.
 
I have Forti Flora at home but am not sure how I can give it to her. At the best of times she will not have anything to do with anything sprinkled on or mixed in to her food. Even her Duralactin, which she loves, we have to mix with a tiny bit water and make a paste which she then licks off my finger.
 
You make up a slippery elm bark gel by mixing 1 tsp with 1/2 cup cold water using a fork or whisk then put on a very low heat and continue stirring with fork or whisk for a minute or three until it thickens a bit. Put it in a jar in the fridge and it will last 5-7 days.

I give it to Vyktor specifically for his stomatitis he has it before his afternoon feeds but not the morning ones because that has other supplements and SEB can inhibit absorption of other meds - you wouldn't want to give it for a couple of hours either side of ABs. It works miracles sometimes, i.e. He won't eat, give the SEB try again in 15-20 mins and he'll eat - I syringe about 2.5ml at a time and he'll end up having 2-4 of those a day.

I was making it up with chamomile tea (German chamomile flowers) because of their pain killing and anti inflammatory properties but have recently stopped because it looks like he might need some further dental work - he has three teeth left, the vet (dammit) left them because at the time they weren't affected by the stomatitis but of course they are now. Chamomile is also a blood thinner so needs to be stopped 2 weeks prior to surgery - probably a good reason not to use it as you never know when an emergency will arise.

He also gets Plaque Off (controls bacteria in the mouth) and I've been trying to give L Lysine but he's not so into it, it tastes salty so I wonder if it stings his ulcers? However, I've seen one person report almost complete control with the combo of those two.

Tried turmeric but Vyktor wouldn't have a bar of it, syringed it in with yoghurt and he just spat it out again.

I looked a cyclosporin but decided the potential side effects had capacity to cause more trouble that what we were trying to fix. My vets usual treatment would be metacam - I also consider that too nasty to try unless it becomes a QOL issue at the palliative care stage. Steroids have often been used in the past (and still are by vets that are not up to date on stomatitis treatments) but the view now is that although you are likely to see some immediate improvment to begin with it is never going to last and is likely to make the stomatitis worse in the long run.

If you're rich you could look at interferon treatment - likely to be more effective if the cause of the stomatitis is viral.

We have pretty decent control most of the time - I judge that based on getting sufficient food into him to maintain his weight and also on the faces that he does or doesn't pull when he's eating. I have discovered that certain foods set him off, e.g. Give him a meal with beef or lamb and we're looking at a good 6-8 weeks of trouble. I also note that he very rarely eats by himself now, I have to take his bowl to him to eat and whisper sweet nothings in his ear, also a lot of hand feeding.

I read an article by a UK vet that reported some of his stomatitis patients were cured just by a change in diet to one without additives. The particular food brand he mentioned was only available in the UK so I have tried switching Vyktor to a predominantly raw home made diet. That was going pretty well until he decided he didn't like it anymore :rolleyes:

Q10, zinc and Vit E have been recommended by his Chinese medicine/acupuncture vet. They are on my list for further investigation if it becomes necessary. I try to only introduce one thing at a time so I can judge the effectiveness. If you try the Q10 I'd be really interested to know how that goes. There are Chinese herbs that would be better but they are very bitter and Vyktor won't have a bar of them.

Recently I tried Duralactin (anti inflammatory) most cats apparently love the taste so much so that you have to be careful not to leave it where they can get to it - Vyktor apparently does not. I see that you're already giving that one so I assume that is for something else and is apparently not working for the stomatitis.

Very ocassionally I give him a few days of bupe at a low dose to help him over a bad patch but that has become less necessary with the Plaque Off and as I've figured out what foods to avoid for him.

Bottom line is that stomatitis is the nastiest thing I've ever dealt with. There is no one cure for all cats and you will need to experiement to find out what works for you guys. If you find something magical let me know!

I'm not sure if @Ann & Tess GA is still logging on (RIP baby Tess I still think of you and your mermaids:rb_icon: - so does Vyktor he has been visiting them lately!) she has a civvie, Emma, with stomatitis that they have well controlled using a host of supplements - I recall it included something with mushroom.
 
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Stomatitis is indeed evil. :arghh:Add to it, the fact that kitties are so stoic about pain, and make a real wrestling match about tolerating dental exams, and in the end, it adds up to horrible suffering for them, before owners really realize how bad it's gotten.

Right now, I'm betting heavily on diet, seeing as that, as well as Dottie having her teeth removed, seem to have worked together to solve her issues, (anti-jinx, anti-jinx) Today I watched her and Gizmo chase each other around the house. I haven't seen Dottie behave like this, in years. It did my heart good. No nasty smell in her mouth, and little pink gums. YAY!:woot: She finally figured out how to eat, too. I think at some point she was actually biting her own tongue and lips, as they fold inward over her lower gums.

But as each cat is an individual, there are a host of other things that might possibly cause stomatitis..so whatever works! The trouble is, finding what that whatever is:banghead::banghead::banghead:.

I noticed when Dottie came back from her dental surgery, that one whisker had been trimmed from her face, leaving a blunt stub behind. I didn't think to ask at the time, but I wonder if the vet sent a whisker to have it chemically evaluated, although I would think such a test might be too costly..and that cost would have been passed on to us..gotta look it up to see.

Dottie and Gizmo both love yogurt, the plain kind, without added sugars. In small amounts it does them good, and kills their desire for milk products. I found a yogurt maker on Amazon, and make my own. It 'perks' overnight at a low temperature. We all eat it now:cat::cat::).

Ack! Addendum. Before I forget..if anyone has a cat with stomatitis..DO NOT use ANBESOL in an attempt to help kill the pain. It's toxic to cats.

There might be a veterinary version of gum-number out there..some other members here might know of something.
 
@Vyktors Mum Thank you very much for all the information. We will start on the SEB gel tomorrow afternoon, and I'm going to order the Plaque Off to give it a try. We have been using L Lysine in the gel form for quite awhile for upper respiratory issues and she takes that just fine most of the time. They like the taste of it and lick it right off the spoon. I watched a video where the woman mixed the Plaque Off and L Lysine powder together with a little wet food, so maybe we can mix the Plaque Off with the L Lysine gel . The Duralactin was for her gums but I don't think it did very much good so when we finish what we have on hand I think we'll stop that one. We're going to hold off on the CoQ10 for now, but if we do decide to try it I will let you know our results. Thanks again.
 
The Vet suggested L-Lysine to boost their immune systems and help prevent future flare ups.
As far as helping with symptoms once they are in a flare, it maybe lessens the severity of them, I can't say for sure.
 
Critter Mom said:
Can that help with nasal sniffles/congestion, Liz?


Mogs
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Yep - a lot of people start giving it at the first sign of a sneeze or sniffle - 1/4 tsp twice a day of powder. If it's an ongoing congestion problem steaming is probably your best bet though.

@Liz & IttyBit can you give me a link for this gel that your kitties like so much, maybe I will have more luck giving Vyktor that one.
 
Hmmmm have you not noticed an effect on the numbers with that? It has artificial sweetener and maple flavour
 
I did ask the Vet if it would be ok to give it to him, made her read the ingredients and she said it would be fine,
but I never did give it to him while he was on insulin.
We just started back on it recently. I'm still testing once a week and so far no change in his numbers.
I only give 1/4 tsp once daily not twice.
 
I absolutely love reading what you all who have diabetic cats with stomatitis are doing and have tried.

I want to share something I came across while researching stomatitis. This is a controversial new treatment. I have written this vet and he has responded to me. While some of his peers think he is a crack pot, I think he has a new idea that needs to be considered.

One Clinician’s Experience With A New Treatment For Feline Stomatitis - Veterinary Practice News - January 2012

I researched this man and where he practices and also the technique he is using. The technique is not uncommon for dental specialists, but this vet is taking it to a completely different level. His email to me was very informative, but would be too hard to paraphrase so I will ask him if I can reprint it here.
 
Midnight was on Clavomox for 4 weeks due to the UTI and three days off he stopped peeing ! I cant get over that although its been so strong in their system it doesnt matter the body does what it does. Good luck to you
 
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