BRRRRRR! that's cold!
glad you were able to get the dental scheduled. hopefully there's going to be a bad tooth or two and when they're removed, BOOM we're going to see improvement in scooter's BGs! It does happen.
you'll want to read some of the
Dental Procedures information. This link is at the bottom of the New to the Group sticky. Most people get chicken and broth only baby food (i want to say Gerber's stage 2 - look carefully for no onion) for starting out feeding after the dental. Because anesthesia can slow down stomach motility, sometimes cats will do the "scarf and barf" thing. When punkin had anesthesia, i waited to feed him until he could walk almost not-like-a-drunken-sailor, then just gave a teaspoon of baby food. it insulted him, but he survived. wait another 20-30 minutes and give another teaspoon or so.
repeat that for a while to make sure they're not going to vomit up what they've eaten.
most people also ask for no Metacam, which is approved as a one-time injection post-surgery on a cat, but has black box warnings by the FDA for causing liver damage in cats. we've had members who've had cats die or become seriously ill from metacam, although my understanding is that the issue is primarily dose-related. still, most people ask for Bupe for post-op pain if there are extractions.
most people also ask for no Convenia. Convenia is an antibiotic that was developed to treat skin infections. It works best on those rather than other infections. It was named Convenia because it is convenient. One shot given by the vet provides 2 weeks of antibiotics in the body. The down side of Convenia is that it lasts 2 weeks and if your cat is allergic or has a reaction to it, you've got a 2 week issue. It's not the best antibiotic for mouth issues, either. Those are typically clavamox or clindamycin.
If you don't have scooter trained to pill pockets, you might want to start now. the Dog Duck and Pea ones are safe for diabetic cats - no sugar. it's like meat-flavored playdough. you just pull off some to wrap the pill in. when i first gave them to punkin he didn't like it, but i wrapped the pill in it and shoved it down his throat. after day 19 of doing that, he woke up and decided he wanted to taste it. so i started throwing the pills on the floor. he LOVED them. that was the last time i had to poke a pill down his throat. s
i've trained my other cats for future pills by throwing little balls of pill-pocket only on the floor. they gobble them up. i figure that at some point i'll have to pill them - so they are primed and ready. you might start now with Scooter and get him eating them like they are treats. you can buy them at most every pet store.
you want specific instructions from your vet on when to feed scooter his last meal and exactly how much insulin to give. it's common to not feed after midnight and to halve or skip the dose, depending on what the vet wants and what time he's going to be doing the dental. vets differ on this, but if they have a plan they use, you want to follow it. mine let me give punkin just a bit of food in the morning so i could get the shot done while he was eating.
