Whitey has bad teeth!Oral surgery next week!

I have suspected teeth issues lately,thinking that Whiteys numbers were being affected by them. well sure enough this morning,he was pawing at his mouth and his jaw was clicking and chattering.I then saw blood on his paw and called out to my DH to come help me examine him.His gums looked all inflamed and his breath smelled of infection.I immediately called the vet and took him right in. They said he actually had a loose tooth that was ready to fall out,guess that's what all the pawing was about,he was trying to pull out his bad tooth! Well,they scheduled him for a dental cleaning and possible oral surgery,and felt the need to give a shot of Convenia.Now I am worried as I have read disturbing things about it on Dr.Lisa Pierson's website as well as here.Should I be worried? As it is the procedure next week is scaring me as Whitey has a strong heart murmur,feline aids,and the diabetes and is an older cat. I could use some encouragement for sure! I am always feeling unsure of myself every time I come back from the vet,and feel the need to come venting to all of you here,because they are so against me testing and altering doses based on numbers I see.I never go up or down by much..I just don't get it,I changed vets as they were highly recommended for dental work,but once again their ideas and rules for diabetes is so not on the same page as mine!Now I am a little scared for Whitey for next Tuesday with all his issues and now the stupid Convenia shot !They did not recommend me giving him anything orally in case his mouth was bothering him too much,so I went along at my hubby' s insistence that they knew best!

 

Don't feel too bad about the convenia. I ended up in the same boat with Hidey, I took him in they gave him a shot and I came home seen the research and FREAKED. He did fine though, but I will try to avoid it in the future.

Hidey is almost 14 and within the past 2 years has had 5 teeth removed :cry: he did fine though. He had 3 teeth removed last year (back teeth) they healed QUICK, honestly youd figure he didnt have any work done, this past time it was his upper canines. They took longer to heal (about 2 weeks) but in that time he was fine. I did give him pain meds (burophine? spelled wrong) THAT made him SUPER lovey and hungry although they dont have that as one of the side effects. Hidey's dental was the final PUSH into normal numbers so hopefully this will be a big help. The other thing, in my opinion and I would ask others as well, when he is under tell them if they look like theyre starting to go bad to take them out, bad teeth will only cause higher bg, infection and pain.

From what I read on here (of course after Hidey's dental UGH!) is you can request they wake them from anesthesia right after the surgery instead of waiting for them to come out of it.

 

The concern with Convenia is that once it is in, you can't get it out if there is a problem.
Just monitor for unusual behavior or symptoms. If something comes up, go to the vet.

Discuss your concerns about the anesthesia with the dental vet. It is possible for them to use more long-acting local anesthetic injections so the overall sedation can be kept to the minimum necessary. And the choice of overall sedative can be made with the cat's overall health in mind.

 

i requested to put in red "No Convenia" and "No ?????", (another drug I can't remember what it is) that is also not good for kitties, to be put in the front of his file. I am sure someone will chime in to what drug that is. Merlin was 17 when he had his last dental. I was scared to death. One thing that the vet did was to get him early into the office, so he can be on fluids way before the procedure. I guess that really helps too.

 

Meloxicam is the other drug to avoid; it has a black box warning for cats in the USA. It has caused renal failure in some cats.

 

Thank you BJM,I will talk to them about the local anesthesia and make sure I keep testing every day to see if I need to lower his insulin as his infection possibly is leaving his body.And Thanks Hideys mom for the feedback,your post gave me some much needed peace of mind and hope for all to go well.

 

Clarification: The local injections are used WITH sedation and intubation. It just may help them use a tad less of the sedation.