Stomatitis Experiences? (Non-Diabetic)

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toomanycats

toomanycats

Member Since 2020
Hi all - I know this is not related to diabetes - doesn't involve a diabetic cat, but y'all are a bit of a family to me now...

My vet has just diagnosed our new 7-month-old kitten with the beginnings of stomatitis. I've never dealt with or even heard of this before, and I'm SUPER anxious reading online that even after extracting ALL teeth, it can still require life-long treatment with other things...like steroids (which we know can lead to diabetes).

Does anyone here have any experience with stomatitis in cats? Any help greatly appreciated...
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
I think
@Sarah and Blaze
has a civvie with stomatitis.
Click to expand...
I do! I have an 8 year old non-diabetic kitty who had stomatitis, he did end up needing full mouth extractions of this teeth because his was so severe. It’s probably been 5-6 years since he’s had all his teeth extracted and he’s never had any problems since, he’s never needed any other kind of treatment or medications. It was the best decision for him, he’s soooo much better since having his teeth extracted, compared to how much he was in pain before the extractions. He was able to eat dry food or wet food once he was all healed up, he’s a happy and chunky 12 pound boy and has never been better!
 
Here he is showing off his no teefies smile
 

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My diabetic kitty is toothless as well, he didn’t have stomatitis but pretty bad dental disease. What’s funny about having two toothless cats is that I’m a dental hygienist! I clean teeth and deal with dental disease! But my kitties were born with dental issues that just got worse as they got older, there was nothing I could do. It was really the best decision for them, they both are doing great, eat fine and live healthy and happy lives :cat:
 
I've had 2 civies (non-diabetic cats) with stomatitis.
Dancer had most of her teeth pulled before I fostered and then adopted her. She was around 1-1.5 years old when the cat shelter did those dental extractions. She still has her canines and a couple of back teeth.
She got steroid shots once a month before I fostered her, but hasn't needed any steroids since. That was 9 years ago. She is still going strong, eats watered down pate style food just fine, has problems eating shredded food like the Tiki Cat chicken.

Libby was an older cat, 12+ with a gallop heart rhythm. Too iffy per the echo-cardiogram to pull her teeth, since the vet's did not think she would survive the anesthesia. She was pain managed with some buprenorphine and lidocaine liquid. Since Libby also had hyperthyroidism, she was not a candidate for using Plaque-off. Lysine supplements can also be of help sometimes.

I've heard that Atopica can help some cats. I follow the Love & Hisses blog by Robyn Anderson, and her cat Frankie has bad stomatitis. She uses atopica, but did have to resort to the last ditch option of having Frankie's teeth removed. First time, only some of the teeth were removed. But he needed a second surgery to remove the rest of his teeth.

Hope that helps you and Jet deal with the stomatitis Lisa.

p.s. There used to be a stomatitis support group on yahoo, but they went belly up. There is probably a stomatitis support group on facebook. Ask in our affiliated FB group, if anyone knows of a stomatitis FB group.
 
You are correct about a full mouth extraction not necessarily being a cure for stomatitis and I would not put a kitten through that without at least trying to find out what caused it in the first place. FME should be a last resort. Conditions that can be associated with stomatitis include infection with feline leukemia virus (FeLV), feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), calicivirus and bartonella.

An association has been established between feline stomatitis and a specific bacterial organism called Bartonella which is most frequently transmitted to cats by fleas and ticks. In one study, 70% of cats with severe gingivitis/ stomatitis tested positive for this organism. Up to 40% of cats in the US test positive and can be carriers even when they may be otherwise healthy. It appears that bartonella may also be responsible for about 40-50% of other conditions such as upper respiratory infections, conjunctivitis, IBD, chronic diarrhea and vomiting.

Since your kitten is young and stomatitis has been discovered early, it might be worth testing for bartonella or just go ahead and treat without testing. The treatment of choice for stomatitis caused by bartonella is a minimum 21-day course of Azithromycin (28 days is better), which clears over 80% of infected cats. Other antibiotics will NOT work and steroids can actually make it worse.
 
toomanycats said:
Hi all - I know this is not related to diabetes - doesn't involve a diabetic cat, but y'all are a bit of a family to me now...

My vet has just diagnosed our new 7-month-old kitten with the beginnings of stomatitis. I've never dealt with or even heard of this before, and I'm SUPER anxious reading online that even after extracting ALL teeth, it can still require life-long treatment with other things...like steroids (which we know can lead to diabetes).

Does anyone here have any experience with stomatitis in cats? Any help greatly appreciated...
Click to expand...
I also have experience with this. My Dizzy had it beginning as a kitten. It progressed and was very painful for him. He would even bleed a bit. It was inflamed all the way into his throat. We elected to have all his teeth removed, and he is cured. We used a board certified veterinary dentist because it's challenging to get all the root and tooth parts of the bone, and many vets can't get it all. It's basically an allergy and it all has to go. He is absolutely fine without teeth, probably better off healthy wise than cats with their bad teeth. He can eat anything, even crunch, though we are trying to get everyone off crunch now that our other cat has diabetes. The surgery was expensive but he recovered easily and is cured. I'm happy to answer any questions!
 
Sarah and Blaze said:
My diabetic kitty is toothless as well, he didn’t have stomatitis but pretty bad dental disease. What’s funny about having two toothless cats is that I’m a dental hygienist! I clean teeth and deal with dental disease! But my kitties were born with dental issues that just got worse as they got older, there was nothing I could do. It was really the best decision for them, they both are doing great, eat fine and live healthy and happy lives :cat:
Click to expand...
4 of my 6 cats have had either all or most of their teeth extracted due to bad dental disease, including our one boy with stomatitis. Their mouths are so pristine! No bad breath, pretty gums, no inflammation. I almost feel like they have to be healthier overall than most cats with teeth, because of the prevalence of bacteria in most cats mouths. My guys don't have any of that anymore, and it has to be good for them, no?
 
Kimberly J said:
4 of my 6 cats have had either all or most of their teeth extracted due to bad dental disease, including our one boy with stomatitis. Their mouths are so pristine! No bad breath, pretty gums, no inflammation. I almost feel like they have to be healthier overall than most cats with teeth, because of the prevalence of bacteria in most cats mouths. My guys don't have any of that anymore, and it has to be good for them, no?
Click to expand...
They’re definitely healthier overall when they have severe dental disease or stomatitis and they have the full mouth extractions. There are just some cases where full mouth extractions are the best thing for them and removing the teeth in those cases make them healthier overall because you have removed a major factor in bacteria production in their mouths. If it’s early stages of stomatitis or dental disease, there are things that can be done to improve their oral health but then there are some where it’s just too severe.
 
In the area where I live there are no vet dentist, or feline only vets and I realize about getting all the roots out which the vet's we now use are able to do, but on extraction's besides the root problem what is the difference. The reason I am asking is Buddy has had 1 tooth taken out and that was last summer, the root was taken out and given to me, but within a few days he was so sick he was hospitalized almost 1 week and then had to be readmitted again. He had an US down by board certified us tech's, read by an internal medicine vet who said that was the worst case of pancreatitis they had ever seen in their lives, it was so bad he had peritonitis from the over flow from his pancreatitis. I know most vets would say the dental work did not cause this, but I don't believe it. What is the difference in a vet dentist or a feline only vet doing dental work, there must be something. I am sure some day Buddy is gonna need some other dental work and i need to know what needs to be done.
 
Hi all -- um, thank you, email, for not alerting me AT ALL to ANY of these replies :facepalm:

So, I did find and join a stomatitis group on Facebook & was encouraged to take Jet to a veterinary dentist for a second opinion. We'll be going next week; we're lucky to have one nearby. It's possible that this is something else (hyperplastic juvenile gingivitis or periodontitis comes to mind), but I won't know til then -- I'm not great at opening cat mouths to see for myself what exactly our vet was seeing...so there's that.

If it is stomatitis, we'll be doing a FME pretty much as soon as they'll let us, because I can't tolerate my cat being in pain or mucking around with anything other than something potentially curative.

The good news is - he eats, chews things for funsies, grooms, all the normal kitty things. So, we're not in a crisis. I've also started him on some Zyrtec for possible allergies to...something. We'll see - I'm going to take him off of it after I get his food switched over to non-chicken or whatever just to see if that did anything.

Still....can't ANY of my cats just be healthy for a minute? :P (Luna is just finishing up some eye ointment herself, is also on zyrtec for whatever HER allergy is that we can't identify, and is now on duck & green pea limited ingredient food, but I really have no idea what her allergy is...my house must be an allergy hot zone?!)
 
Deborah & Muffy(GA) & Wendall said:
You are correct about a full mouth extraction not necessarily being a cure for stomatitis and I would not put a kitten through that without at least trying to find out what caused it in the first place. FME should be a last resort. Conditions that can be associated with stomatitis include infection with feline leukemia virus (FeLV), feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), calicivirus and bartonella.

An association has been established between feline stomatitis and a specific bacterial organism called Bartonella which is most frequently transmitted to cats by fleas and ticks. In one study, 70% of cats with severe gingivitis/ stomatitis tested positive for this organism. Up to 40% of cats in the US test positive and can be carriers even when they may be otherwise healthy. It appears that bartonella may also be responsible for about 40-50% of other conditions such as upper respiratory infections, conjunctivitis, IBD, chronic diarrhea and vomiting.

Since your kitten is young and stomatitis has been discovered early, it might be worth testing for bartonella or just go ahead and treat without testing. The treatment of choice for stomatitis caused by bartonella is a minimum 21-day course of Azithromycin (28 days is better), which clears over 80% of infected cats. Other antibiotics will NOT work and steroids can actually make it worse.
Click to expand...

I had been reading about the Bartonella thing & will ask the dentist about it IF this is even stomatitis, which I'm honestly not convinced it is yet since my vet said something like "a little stomatitis starting to form" and I also haven't seen inside his mouth myself to see which part of his gums is affected. In any case, we do know it's not FIV/FeLV as he's negative for both. I asked the vet about calicivirus right off, and she said it did not look like the lesions associated with that at all... but we'll see.

If I can get brave, maybe I'll pry his mouth open myself to see for myself ...but probably not bc I'm a wimp
 
When Clover (civvie) was about 9 months old she developed very red gums and terrible breath. The vet thought she might have a cold or cat flu. It didn't go away so she was taken to a dental specialist who said most of her second teeth (the back ones) had budded and so they were all double teeth. All the food had got caught in between the teeth and infection had set in. She said the only cure was to remove the offending teeth. She had 13 teeth removed and has been absolutely fine ever since. She only has the little front teeth and the canines. She is now nearly 4. She eats a raw diet (not minced, just cut up smallish) and you would never know she had no teeth.
She still loves to get hold of a bone and try and chew it......more like sucks on it!
I think you are wise to take him to a specialist.
 
An update, btw: Luna is scheduled now for a June 9 dental cleaning.

The dentist's notes DID say no stomatitis for Jet RIGHT NOW but that he COULD develop it later based on risk factors (his juvenile gingivitis). The place doing Luna's cleaning wants to do a consult/exam on Saturday before agreeing to do a cleaning -- I guess they don't like doing them on cats his age. But if they won't, I'll be finding someone who will. I'd really like to avoid him ending up needing a FME later...
 
I came across an article about Feline Juvenile Gingivitis and newer research suggesting that proper management of the disease until the cat reaches the age of two may improve their chances of recovery. The goals of juvenile gingivitis management are to keep the teeth as free of bacteria as possible and to support the immune system.

If oral inflammation can be controlled by in-hospital cleaning under anesthesia and home care for the first 2 years of life, recurrence may be decreased or prevented altogether. Many patients respond to this regimen of frequent oral health maintenance. On the other hand, juvenile cats with this form of oral inflammation who are not controlled aggressively at a young age suffer permanent anatomical changes and frequently progress to severe periodontitis or even stomatitis.
https://veterinarydentistry.net/hyperplastic-feline-juvenile-gingivitis/

A study published in the Journal of Feline Medicine (Jan.17, 2019) found that oral treatment with 1-TDC (TetraDecanol-Complex) resulted in significant reductions in all parameters of clinical periodontal disease at 6 weeks. The 1-TDC group exhibited a statistically significant reduction in pocket depth, clinical attachment loss, gingival index and bleeding on probing after treatment at 6 weeks, whereas the placebo group did not show any significant change.

TetraDecanol-Complex can be used as part of home care.
https://www.entirelypets.com/tdc-periodontal-joint-health-dogs-cats-120-softgels-elite-vet.html

If you haven't yet done so, I would still urge you to have your kitten tested for Bartonella. Much of what I learned about it came from a cat rescue group and so is anecdotal but there were several stomatitis cats who tested (+) and were able to avoid FME with Azithromycin therapy. A lot of vets may not know about the link between oral problems and Bartonella so you might have to specifically request it. Because it is more prevalent than previously thought, any cat with chronic mouth/ health issues should probably be tested.

My personal experience came about kind of by accident, long story so I'll try to condense it. About 17 years ago I pulled a sickly kitten out of a barn situation. He was emaciated, had an awful URI, was infested with fleas and his mouth/ gums were a mess. He was much sicker than the other kittens and needed intensive care so I brought him home - his mom and the other kits went into rescue. Tucker was treated with the usual URI protocol (Clavamox, eye ointment) but the symptoms kept recurring shortly after treatment ended and we had to keep repeating it. The infection became so bad that it ruptured his eardrum and he needed surgery. By this time we knew he needed a different antibiotic and went with Azithromycin for 30 days. Finally, something was working. I can't say for sure that Tucker had Bartonella but since it can also be responsible for the other problems he had that did not respond to other treatments and he fully recovered, it seems highly likely. As a bonus, he never had dental problems.
 
@Deborah & Muffy(GA) & Wendall we likely read the same article :) Jet is scheduled for his first dental cleaning on July 1 (it's the earliest I could safely schedule since this baby is due June 20; actually - both cats are getting dentals that day). I've also added a chlorhexidine water additive to both cats' diets (I mix it with water and then mix the water with their food). I also just started them both on Tartar Shield treats as recommended by the dentist. I can inquire w/ the vet doing the dental if he's willing to run a Bartonella test; we'll see. If not, I'll bring it up in a few months when I likely bring him back to one of the vets for a follow-up to see where we're at. I'd read about it as well, so it's on my radar. At this point, everyone is hanging in there... he's eating, playing, not showing signs of anything (no bleeding, salivating, nothing like that) & we'd never know this was happening had the vet not seen it in the exam.
 
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