Teeth extraction

[Zach Pool]

My buddy, Mr. pants is getting older and is having some dental issues. Just wondering what kind of potential complications anyone has experienced here when having their buddy's teeth extracted. High stress- high BG-unable to eat from sore mouth? ...BG altering medications afterwards...etc. TIA

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Tagging a few people who may have experienced this
@Suzanne & Darcy
@tiffmaxee

 

[tiffmaxee]

Max had a few teeth pulled but didn’t have any complications. For some cats it actually helps the bg. The pain med I used was buprenorphine and it doesn’t effect the bg at all.

 

[Christie & Maverick]

There is a good general post here on dental procedures

I took Maverick in a few years back and he had 9 teeth extracted due to resorptive lesions. I bought in advance some Tiki mousse, since I figured his mouth would be sore, and something of a mousse texture would be easier for him to eat. He actually didn’t really need the special mousse he was happy to get back his regular wet food without issue. I just kept up with really small feedings very slowly. We came home with pain meds, I asked for buprenorphine. There weren’t any meds post op that affected his BG. One thing to make sure they do is x-rays post extraction, to make sure they got the whole root and not leave anything behind which might cause an infection.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Some cats can be reactive to anesthesia. This may mean they are exceptionally hungry when they get home but the anesthesia slows down their gut. As a result, they may "scarf and barf" whatever you feed them. As Christie noted, several small meals will help. Also, if you're bringing your cat home close to shot time, make sure your cat will eat. I made the mistake of thinking all was good, put my cat's food down, gave her a shot, and she wouldn't eat. It was a fun time trying to get her numbers up.

If anesthesia makes your cat agitated, a quiet, dimly lit room will help.

 

[Zach Pool]

Thanks everyone

 

[Wendy&Neko]

A couple other consideration. Neko's BG often dropped at the vet, so I asked them to make sure to test her a few times. She almost earned a reduction one time, in spite of me giving a token dose in the AM. Depending on what is done during the dental, you kitty may be given antibiotics to treat any infection. Antibiotics can cause tummy upset so getting a good probiotic to counter than may help.

Neko never had a problem eating post dental, she was usually "starving!!". I had to strictly enforce the small meals with time apart. I once had to put the litter box up where she couldn't each it as she was snacking on the corn litter. Ugh. Even the dental surgery where she had a bump removed from her jaw bone - so a pretty major surgery, eating was not a problem. As the others said, buprenorphine really helped the pain.

Do test Mr. Pants when he comes home, then again at PMPS time. If his numbers are dropping, you might want to be conservative on insulin dose. Some anaesthesia induction drugs lower the BG. If you have a cat who won't eat much (test that before shooting), a full dose and not wanting to eat can be a bad combo.

 

[Zach Pool]

We got home and have been doing good. Unfortunately we experienced quite a bit of swelling in our chin. We went back to the vet and they gave us a 14-day injectable antibiotic and some steroidal anti-inflammatories. I've read that they increase blood sugar. He's been considerably higher than normal in the 200s and 300s whereas he is normally in between 90 and 160. So now we get to increase our insulin I guess.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Did the vet give you a steroid or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory? Do you have the names of the medications?