judy and squamee(GA)
Very Active Member
Sept 13 2010 I need help. So far no one has been able to successfully diagnosis Squamee.
A year and a half ago she developed what looked like a jaw symptom. She would start eating and then move her jaw around like she was trying to dislodge something stuck in her mouth, while pawing at the sides of her face. There was also a slight clicking noise. She would stop eating and return again a few minutes later. Sometimes she would then be able to eat. She was put on long acting steroids which resolved the problem and she developed diabetes. She was on insulin for several months and then went OTJ on Aug 20 2009. About a month ago the jaw symptom returned. It did not respond to oral medicam. My vet thought it might be a tooth or TMJ. I took her to a dental specialist who could find nothing amiss on oral examination, but with x-rays found a badly rotten tooth which was extracted on Sept 7. That night she was able to eat more freely (anaesthesia?) and in the following days was on buprenex, but the difficulty eating got worse. My local vet has seen her and said the extraction was healing well and saw no inflammation. Gave injections of Medicam and Buprenex which seemed to help for a short while. Is considering x-rays of skull to look for bone spurs(?) and also sonogram of stomach, (which the dental specialist recommended---said cats often present with mouth problems when it is really their stomach---but I wonder why that would make her rub the sides of her face). Took her in again today (this is running into thousands!) and he took blood for a full workup which he will get back tomorrow. Also gave a shot of Buprenex to see what the effect would be, and it did not alleviate the symptom. Watching her struggle to eat is very painful. (I am giving her soft, mostly liquefied food, using canned foods that have a lot of gravy---Fancy Feast, Friskees, Meow Mix).
Her behavior is somewhat changed. At times she sleeps a lot more, and she is much more affectionate and wants more physical contact with me and my husband than she has in the past---frequently lying next to one of us, with a paw on us, and the other night when I was in bed she lay down on my chest! (not unwelcomed, but definitely a first!).
I am most grateful for any thoughts and suggestions.
A year and a half ago she developed what looked like a jaw symptom. She would start eating and then move her jaw around like she was trying to dislodge something stuck in her mouth, while pawing at the sides of her face. There was also a slight clicking noise. She would stop eating and return again a few minutes later. Sometimes she would then be able to eat. She was put on long acting steroids which resolved the problem and she developed diabetes. She was on insulin for several months and then went OTJ on Aug 20 2009. About a month ago the jaw symptom returned. It did not respond to oral medicam. My vet thought it might be a tooth or TMJ. I took her to a dental specialist who could find nothing amiss on oral examination, but with x-rays found a badly rotten tooth which was extracted on Sept 7. That night she was able to eat more freely (anaesthesia?) and in the following days was on buprenex, but the difficulty eating got worse. My local vet has seen her and said the extraction was healing well and saw no inflammation. Gave injections of Medicam and Buprenex which seemed to help for a short while. Is considering x-rays of skull to look for bone spurs(?) and also sonogram of stomach, (which the dental specialist recommended---said cats often present with mouth problems when it is really their stomach---but I wonder why that would make her rub the sides of her face). Took her in again today (this is running into thousands!) and he took blood for a full workup which he will get back tomorrow. Also gave a shot of Buprenex to see what the effect would be, and it did not alleviate the symptom. Watching her struggle to eat is very painful. (I am giving her soft, mostly liquefied food, using canned foods that have a lot of gravy---Fancy Feast, Friskees, Meow Mix).
Her behavior is somewhat changed. At times she sleeps a lot more, and she is much more affectionate and wants more physical contact with me and my husband than she has in the past---frequently lying next to one of us, with a paw on us, and the other night when I was in bed she lay down on my chest! (not unwelcomed, but definitely a first!).
I am most grateful for any thoughts and suggestions.
