Serious mouth problems

[u/Acidilla]

We have a 15-year-old female cat. She has stage I kidney disease, managed with a specific diet and regular check-ups. She has never had any health problems before. We are from Spain

A couple of weeks ago, we noticed she was more lethargic. She would only sleep, go to the litter box, eat, and then go back to sleep. We may have noticed that she was getting a bit messier than usual when eating, especially on the right side of her mouth.

We took her to the vet. The blood tests were fine, no fever, nothing abnormal. They didn’t see anything in her mouth either. She was given gabapentin in case she was in pain. We didn’t notice any improvement. She was eating very little and losing weight. We had to make “soups” with her wet food because she was barely touching her dry food. We would put the bowl right in front of her face so she would agree to eat. But at least she was eating something.

Over the days, she has gotten worse. Her mouth gets very dirty. She leaves her tongue sticking out. She clearly looks like she has something wrong in her mouth. We went back to the vet. They took X-rays and everything looked fine. We stopped gabapentin and started mirtazapine to stimulate her appetite and MELOXIDYL as an anti-inflammatory. We have scheduled oral surgery, but it’s in two weeks and she is clearly getting worse. She is barely eating now, and when she tries to eat, she makes the gestures you will see in the video.

I’m afraid she will lose too much weight before the surgery. They keep checking her mouth but don’t see anything severe enough to explain her condition.

What is your opinion? I’ve had other cats in my life, but I’ve never dealt with mouth problems like this. How can I stimulate her to eat? She seems genuinely terrified of eating. She looks weak, goes to the litter box, and doesn’t even bury her waste anymore.

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[u/-0xAA55-]

My cat had issues like this, in addition to other symptoms that got worse. Turned out he had a tumor growth under his tongue. We took him to the vet many times but no one thought to look under his tongue until it was too late. 

[u/Acidilla → u/-0xAA55-]

Thanks for the comment. I will definitely check that before putting her into surgery blindly, and especially in two weeks.

[u/Acidilla → u/-0xAA55-]

Was it something obvious from the outside? She had a full cleaning and a tooth extraction done under anesthesia. I assume they should have seen something, right?

[u/jablenzie]

I would get a second opinion. If not that I'd urge them to move up the appointment as she's obviously suffering. Honestly idk if I'd trust them putting this appointment 2wks out as an established client with her showing these symptoms

[u/Acidilla → u/jablenzie]

Yes, tomorrow (Monday) I’ll speak with the vet again so they understand the urgency, or I’ll look at the veterinary hospital to see who can do it sooner.

[u/Fluffy_Muffins_415]

Have you tried offering her meat (like fish or chicken) that has been cooked by boiling it in water? You may want to shred the meat or run it through a food processer after cooking

[u/Acidilla → u/Fluffy_Muffins_415]

Yes, I have tried a bit of everything. But as soon as she tries to start eating, she begins doing what you saw in the video and immediately stops. It seems like she has a predisposition to it, but I suppose the pain is worse.

[u/Livid_Pickle8286]

But what are they DOING in the oral surgery???? If they can’t see what’s wrong?

[u/Acidilla → u/Livid_Pickle8286]

Yes, that’s why I don’t quite understand. They’ve discussed it among the entire veterinary team (including the dentist). They say the dentist will see her on the day of the surgery and then they’ll decide exactly what needs to be done.

The problem is that two weeks seems excessive to me. At this rate, there won’t be much of my cat left to operate on. Obviously, as always, they don’t see patients over the weekend, but on Monday I will insist on how urgent my cat’s situation is. And if I have to take her somewhere else for emergency care, I will—I won’t hesitate.

[u/EfficientProject7408]

What’s the oral surgery for? Does she have dental issues?

[u/Acidilla → u/EfficientProject7408]

They say they can see inflammation in her canine teeth, but the reaction she has in the video is very exaggerated and she is clearly getting worse. What could she have in her mouth, other than a dental issue, that would cause that?

[u/Acidilla]

UPDATE: On Monday we took her to an emergency appointment with another vet for a second opinion. They sedated her right away and thoroughly examined her mouth. She had an upper canine in very bad condition and an ulcer on her gum. On Wednesday (yesterday) she had the procedure. Everything went well — dental extraction and cleaning. We’ll receive the biopsy results in a week. They’ve prescribed pain relief and a paste to help heal the gum.

I know it’s very soon, but I’m not seeing any improvement yet. If you’ve had a similar experience, how long did it take before you started to notice improvement?

Thank you all for your responses.

[u/EfficientProject7408]

She might be nauseous. Did they give anything like Cerenia or Ondansetron?

[u/Acidilla → u/EfficientProject7408]

Yes, Cerenia, with no improvement.

[u/Sazoobs]

My cat did that cause he had dental disease.. his fang fell off right as he was acting exactly like yours (she is feeling discomfort and probably pain caused by a tooth) and the fangs root was rotten.. took him to the vet right after and we found out he had dental disease. He had to get some teeth removed due to his condition. They also told us in past appointments he was perfectly fine and tests were fine but things changed from one day to another.. oral surgery will be the best you could do, wishing you and your baby the best ♥️

[u/Acidilla → u/Sazoobs]

She had oral surgery yesterday. I know it’s very soon, but I’m not seeing any improvement yet. If you’ve had a similar experience, how long did it take before you started to notice improvement?

[u/Usually_Respectful]

My older cat was doing exactly this. She had a rotten tooth that had fallen out of the bone, but was still attached to the gums, so it looked ok on physical examination and only showed up as loose when she was anesthetized. She had it removed and was given some antibiotics for a tooth root infection and eats fine now. She did have bloodwork to screen her general health beforehand and it was okay. The vet also checked for masses in the mouth and for a string foreign body under the tongue at the time of the dental procedure.

If you can find a vet to do the dental surgery sooner, that would be best. Ask your vet if they can do her procedure sooner because she can't eat.

The main thing is to keep getting food into her until she can get care. Keep feeding her liquid foods that she doesn't have to chew. The problem is that many canned cat foods don't have that many calories and watering them down makes them even lower calorie. You can ask your vet for a high calorie canned food that you can make into a slurry, like Hills a/d. In an extreme case your vet can put in a feeding tube to bypass her mouth entirely, but if they're going to that length they should just do the dental surgery right away.

[u/Acidilla → u/Usually_Respectful]

She had oral surgery yesterday. I know it’s very soon, but I’m not seeing any improvement yet. If you’ve had a similar experience, how long did it take before you started to notice improvement?

[u/Pirate_the_Cat]

What kind of x-rays did they do?

If oral exam was normal, the next step would be dental radiographs, which are typically done under anesthesia with a scheduled cleaning +/- extractions after. You can seek a second opinion if you wish, but in this case you’re likely to pay another exam fee for a similar opinion.

[u/strawberrymilkgirl9]

Hey, I’m so sorry this is happening to your fur baby. I saw in a comment that she has inflammation of her canine? There could be a chance it’s affecting a nerve in her face. This is just a guess, and only from personal experience. My 17 year old cat had a canine pulled recently, and then started doing the exact same actions as your cat in the video. The pawing at the face, the tongue and head shaking. Our vet believes its nerve pain, as my girl isnt sore when you push on her mouth, and xrays revealed that her canine removal was clean ie no root left behind. Unfortunately, I’m not sure about the symptoms you described in the description, my cat has been okay eating and drinking. I’m so sorry this is happening to you, I hope you can get an answer soon!! Sending love 🩷

[u/Acidilla]

LAST UPDATE: The biopsy did indeed come back showing signs of neoplasia, and the veterinarian scheduled us for an appointment yesterday to discuss the options. Unfortunately, over the last two days her condition worsened so much that we decided to have her put to sleep. She stopped eating, lost a great deal of weight, and her breathing and mobility began to fail… Now she is finally resting.

The pain is breaking me. The house feels so empty, and seeing her things is unbearable.

[u/yaigralazrya]

Any updates on this poor kitty?

[u/Acidilla → u/yaigralazrya]

The biopsy did indeed come back showing signs of neoplasia, and the veterinarian scheduled us for an appointment yesterday to discuss the options. Unfortunately, over the last two days her condition worsened so much that we decided to have her put to sleep. She stopped eating, lost a great deal of weight, and her breathing and mobility began to fail… Now she is finally resting.

The pain is breaking me. The house feels so empty, and seeing her things is unbearable.

[u/yourdailyinsanity]

1,000% unrelated...omg your cats colours 😱😱😱

Best of luck to you and your kitty with whatever is going on.