Dental/extraction recovery-- what to expect?

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Val and Sebastian

Val and Sebastian

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Sebastian had an "emergency" dental today after we took him in yesterday for a skin problem and the vet said his gums/teeth were in seriously bad shape.

He had three canines and two molars removed. An additional freak-out moment: they said his number was over 500 this morning when they tested him! (He's been at 290 pre-shot at home). :o

We are bringing him home this evening. I believe they are sending an antibiotic and hopefully a painkiller. Anything I should be looking out for or anything special I should do? We have a civvie who I know will try to kill him because he'll smell different (she's a grumpy tortie and tries to kill him most of the time anyway), so I'm thinking maybe give him his own room tonight, and switch with the other cat tomorrow?

Anyone who has been through extractions... how long did it take for your kitty to get back to "normal?"
 
Probably your kitty will have some pain for a couple of days -- and he will have to re-learn how to eat -- so maybe mix in extra water to make it soupy.

Anesthesia also tends to make a kitty more sensitive to insulin -- so I sometimes either skip the shot after the dental and resume the next day or give a half-dose if kitty is eating ok. (skip if kitty is not eating and BG is not high)

If your kitty is not feeling at least somewhat better within a couple of days -- may need to head back to the vet for a check.
 
You just need to keep an eye on the canine sockets and make sure they are healing. If in doubt, take him back and let the vet check them in a few days. Vinnie had 3 removed also and what I did was I bought a high rise food dish to help him eat. Had to learn all over again how to grab food without those 3 canines in.
 
Been through this with all three of mine and on Tuesday, Maui had her second dental in one year.

Maui seems to be super sensitive to the drugs. When she came home she ran in circles, then back and forth for a while and put her face in the food dish, water dish, etc. She then sat and stared at me for hours.

Day 2, she was still out of it (I gave her buprenex for pain), she at least was laying down. I came home and she was laying on the blanket on floor. Gave more bupe and she laid down and looked really high.

Day 3, she jumped into bed and all was back to normal.

With extractions - no hard food, chew toys or anything that could irritate the mouth, rip out stitches, etc.

Try to keep the cat calm for the first night and day home, and look to make sure he is using the litterbox normally. If you see anything that is suspicious call the vet immediately.

ECID and some cats take longer for the drugs to wear off than others and if giving pain meds, that can affect behavior.

By day 3 or 4 cat should be showing normal behaviors. If not, don't hesitate to call vet and discuss.
 
Nomad had his last two teeth left extracted two weeks ago.They also had to remove some root ruminants from some teeth that had previously broken off.He also came home with bup.and liquid antibiotics.The first thing he did was eat a whole can of fancy feast.He literally licked it up.I gave him two doses of the bup.but it made him act like he was stoned.He spent hours staring at the ceiling fan going around and walked like he was drunk.His BG ran about fifty points higher for three days.I think the whole ordeal was more traumatic for me than for him. Since he is off the bup.he hasn't even looked at the ceiling fan! :-)
 
Thanks for sharing your experiences!

We have him home; he's kind of growly and angry but also super active, REALLY wanting to come out of his temporary room. He ate half a can of Friskies (I mixed some water in it) and he was still hungry an hour later, so I gave him some chicken baby food (organic, no carbs). He's lapping it up!

We have bup for him and gave him some just now... not sure how much of it went into his mouth though. Understandably, he didn't want us messing around in that area.

We are going to let him try to relax in solitude for tonight and then see what happens tomorrow. He'll go back to the vet next week for a check up.

His pupils seem really dilated; is that normal?
 
Dilated pupils, glassy eyes. Oh my yes all part of being on the drugs. Maui's were huge black saucers, the green all but disappeared.

When you see the glassy eyes and the staring, like Nomad with the ceiling fan, it means the bupe is working and your cat is stoned/high. :o
 
Val and Sebastian said:
Thanks for sharing your experiences!

We have him home; he's kind of growly and angry but also super active, REALLY wanting to come out of his temporary room. He ate half a can of Friskies (I mixed some water in it) and he was still hungry an hour later, so I gave him some chicken baby food (organic, no carbs). He's lapping it up!

We have bup for him and gave him some just now... not sure how much of it went into his mouth though. Understandably, he didn't want us messing around in that area.

We are going to let him try to relax in solitude for tonight and then see what happens tomorrow. He'll go back to the vet next week for a check up.

His pupils seem really dilated; is that normal?
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Pearl came home the day after as they do morphine at the vets for aggressive pain control. She was still pretty out of it. Got better after a few hours but did not sleep. Ate well. Peed but just sat around staring a lot. If she walked somewhere she would walk a little and suddnely lay down for a while. Less than a collapse but more than a normal settle in. Much better by next day but still just layed around. I would say it took her about 4 days to really be fairly normal. Her surgery was two hours long with similar teeth pulled. One root of a fang had started to disintegrate into her nose though and caused infection there, so that may account a lot for the extra time.
 
Sebastian is doing much better today. He isn't as lethargic as he has been, and he still has a healthy appetite.

The biggest problem is our civvie, who seems to no longer recognize him and attacked him this afternoon when we brought him out of his room. Now she's confined the basement-- keeping them separated is really frustrating. :roll:
 
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