What to do about kitty with severe gingivitis
July 10, 2020 12:35 PM   Subscribe

So I've just come from an awkward vet appointment (we weren't allowed to go in ourselves because of COVID), and learned that our three-year old cat has severe gingivitis. They are going to give us a quote on doing a dental scaling via anesthetic. It's going to be so, so expensive. Can we possibly deal with this ourselves? Are there other treatment options?

I didn't get to ask a lot of questions because I just wasn't mentally prepared to only be able to talk to the vet on the phone standing outside the clinic. They didn't warn us about that in advance. Kitty is only 3 years old. Apparently the gingivitis is severe and the vet is surprised there are no sign of him being in pain or having trouble eating. He's only 3 years old. How do they get this? How do you prevent it? And since I think it's going to cost a crazy amount of money (I'm actually scared to check the quote right now, having just paid $250 for this visit) to have the vet put kitty under and do what I assume is a dental cleaning. Can we reverse this on our own, are there other options? Help me out, I'm feeling nervous and confused. Not a long time cat owner over here...
posted by kitcat to Pets & Animals (17 answers total)
 
In my/my friends’ experience, you need a vet to deal with serious dental problems. However, we have also found it’s good to shop around and get second opinions (and second quotes). I know it’s awkward with COVID, but can you go to another vet and get a second opinion and quote?
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:42 PM on July 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


Dental cleanings for pets are always pretty expensive because of the anesthesia. You can probably run preventative care in the future, but in terms of the damage now, your kitty probably does need a cleaning to get back to a healthy mouth.

This is certainly something you can shop around for, though. Get the quote, get the pictures the vet took of the damage (presuming they did), with a description of the work needed, and call around to other vet's offices to see if someone can beat the price.
posted by juniperesque at 12:44 PM on July 10, 2020 [8 favorites]


No, a scale and polish is not a treatment you can do at home but on the other hand, it isn't an emergency or even urgent and you can 100% call around to get costs from different vets on a feline scale and polish. It's a totally standard procedure they should be able to just give you a cost for, anywhere from $100 to $500. It varies that much!
posted by DarlingBri at 12:44 PM on July 10, 2020 [4 favorites]


I know this is stressful but it’s actually a pretty standard feature of cat (and dog) ownership. You can prevent or at least delay it the same way you do in humans, by daily tooth brushing. Yes you can train a cat to accept this! But, once the animal has gingivitis, a professional cleaning and scaling is required because the problem is under the gum where you can’t reach it. Gingivitis is painful and can lead to serious health problems so you don’t have a choice here, I’m sorry. But you can shop around and see if you can find a reputable vet who charges less. You want to make sure though that they will be doing subgingival scaling. Ask specifically about that.
posted by HotToddy at 12:46 PM on July 10, 2020 [10 favorites]


I'm sorry that you're having to deal with this in the midst of everything else. My poor boy is also disposed to gunky teeth, and so we periodically have to have his teeth cleaned and some teeth extracted. I'll be honest that it has been expensive (the least expensive time it was about $500, recently it was just under $1000). But it really depends on your vet, so I agree that checking with another vet for a second opinion/quote could help. Honestly, I've found that even checking back with the same vet can see differing prices.

The challenging thing with this is that it's probably not urgent now (i.e. you have time to check around) but once you can tell your cat's teeth are hurting it's likely been that way for a while since cats try to hide their pain. If you see any wincing when you pet their face or they start to eat on one side of their mouths it's overdue.
posted by past unusual at 12:48 PM on July 10, 2020


Teeth cleaning for cats has steadily grown more common in recent years. It really does save money and drama down the line because mouth problems in cats can be very painful and hard to treat. Some cats are just more predisposed to gingivitis and having bad teeth, much like people. Luckily, unlike people, a cat whose teeth have all had to be extracted can have a perfectly happy life.

One thing you can do is shop around for price. You will need to pay for a blood test regardless because to use anesthesia they need to be sure it's safe beforehand. And when they get in there and look more closely they may find that some teeth need to be extracted and not just cleaned, which is a surgery and more expensive and takes longer which is also again, more expensive. Some vets will have different pay structures and ways that they deal with this. You should feel comfortable asking a million questions until you are satisfied.

Another thing that some vets do with very very chill cats is teeth cleaning without the drugs. This was a possibility at my vet, they offer it for cats who for example are too unwell for the drugs or extremely friendly and relaxed, but it can be very traumatic for the cat. It costs less but vets are much less likely to offer it, and it is usually less effective.

You can train a cat to allow you to brush their teeth. They make little toothbrushes and catfood flavored paste that you teach the cat to sort of chomp down on a few times a week. I have never had any success at this but it's a thing. For severe gingivitis though this will not be effective, but your vet will probably send you home with a kit after a cleaning for hopeful maintenance.

Everybody understands that money is tight right now. Shop around for a good price but also ask them about payment plans.
posted by Mizu at 12:57 PM on July 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


One of my cats also had to have his teeth cleaned when he was three years old. My other cat (who has the same diet) is now 14 and has never needed a dental cleaning, so I guess some cats are just more susceptible than others.

One thing I did after the cleaning was to add Royal Canin Oral Care food to both cats' diets. Younger cat is now 8 and has not needed any more dental work. Whether or not that is due to the food, I don't know, but it certainly hasn't seemed to hurt.
posted by Shal at 1:33 PM on July 10, 2020


Can you not ask all these questions of your vet? If you have doubts, get a second opinion. If you are able, look into vet insurance (and it would be helpful to ask your vet their experience with insurance companies—they can tell you which companies are easier to deal with for specific procedures and the like).
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 1:55 PM on July 10, 2020


You can check prices at other vets, but I would highly recommend letting them do the cleaning. If there's any redness at the gumline, it may be more than just gingivitis. My 6 year old cat has had to have most of her teeth pulled from tooth absorption/ resorptive lesions, a fairly common and very very painful condition. Cats hide pain well and the only clue was drooling and foul breath. It was expensive (hundreds, not thousands- typically there is an upper limit on how much extractions will add to the bill), but now she's not in pain. If you have an animal shelter with connected clinic or a veterinary school clinic nearby, I would ask for quotes. IME, they're a bit cheaper.
posted by rawralphadawg at 2:34 PM on July 10, 2020 [4 favorites]


I would be cautious about scaling without anesthesia. A family member who is a vet (but not our vet) told us to avoid it for our dog - it actually causes problems more than it helps. I don't know the details but I think this article gives an explanation for why - you need to polish as well as scale to avoid future build-up.
posted by metahawk at 3:56 PM on July 10, 2020 [4 favorites]


I would get a second opinion, and wouldn't feel badly about waiting a few weeks or months to do so and/or to save up, if your cat doesn't seem to be in pain and you keep a close eye for pain or additional redness in the meanwhile. But this isn't one of those things you can handle at home and totally avoid vet care for. If the second opinion is that it needs to be done, then get it done, by a vet, with anesthesia. And then try to introduce dental treats, food, and/or brushing afterwards to hopefully avoid or prolong the time before the next time it has to be done. Which could be soon or not at all - I've had different cats in the same household, who eat the same foods and go to the same vet, have vastly differing frequencies of needing dental care. Seems to be fairly individual to the cat.

If the question of extractions comes up, I know it sucks to pay for that and to imagine your poor cat recovering from it (ugh, do I know) but if you can possibly afford it, just do it. You will more than make back your money in reduction of future cat mouth complications, and most cats recover quickly and well and are much more comfortable afterwards. I've gone through this with a couple of cats and my only regret is about the time we tried to save the teeth and the money, and just put that poor cat through months of pain before she had them out anyway.
posted by Stacey at 4:52 PM on July 10, 2020


My nine year old cat unfortunately needs her teeth cleaned under anesthesia every couple of years. She just has bad teeth and doesn’t chew her food in the slightest, just swallows it whole the big dummy.

She just had a cleaning last week and it’s the first time they’ve had to pull a tooth as well as resect a small section of her gum. She was no worse for wear once the anesthesia wore off, her mouth healed super quickly.

It sucks and it is wicked expensive but it’s the only thing that keeps her healthy.

Shop around but I don’t think you can avoid the cleaning, unfortunately.
posted by lydhre at 5:52 PM on July 10, 2020


My boy had this - his diet of exclusively fresh meat I suspect was behind the problem in the first place, and certainly aggravated it greatly. He didn't like teeth cleaning, at all.

He now eats dry food exclusively (royal canin oral, as above), plus I give him some dental chews "greenies" every day. It has 90% resolved the problem, and he hasn't needed his teeth recleaned.
posted by smoke at 6:34 PM on July 10, 2020


Nthing the advice for a second opinion. And also that this might not be absolutely urgent, so you can save up before having a vet do it (and you should totally have a vet do it).

I have an older cat that I adopted a couple of years ago. About two years ago at a routine visit my now ex-vet gave me a really aggressive sell on the need for dental cleaning. The vet quoted me a really high price but wouldn't actually write up an estimate/explanation of the services (huge red flag). So I took my cat to another vet--now my cat's primary vet--for a second opinion. Vet #2 concurred that dental work would need to be done, but quoted a much lower price and said that it could wait until I noticed any signs of discomfort or bloody drool from my cat. In the meantime, Vet #2 also said that a commercial pet dental powder sprinkled over his food (I bought it from Amazon/PetCo) might not help but wouldn't hurt.

I waited several more months and made the appointment when my poor kitteh had some bloody drool from his gums. It was a one-day procedure. They pulled a couple of teeth and cleaned the rest. It ran me about $500. I'd saved up the money by then. Cat was fine (and, to my guilt) eating more voraciously after a few days of coddling.
posted by TwoStride at 7:51 PM on July 10, 2020


In my experience, feeding raw chicken wings (with bones) can help prevent tartar from building up, but if kitty already has severe gingivitis you probably don't have the time to see if it makes any difference and his teeth may be too sore to get through the bony bits that would help the most.

They're also kind of a messy option, my cat will fling one all over until she's done with it. But she did go from "hmm I think she might need a teeth cleaning soon" at one check-up to "really good teeth for her age" at the next.

I also have to underline that feeding them raw is important, since cooked bones splinter easily and are not safe to give to pets.
posted by randomonium at 4:03 AM on July 11, 2020


I disagree that this isn't an emergency. Whilst not an emergency in the sense that it needs to be attended to today, it's definitely something that can't be left as it will not go away by itself and will get worse, resulting in pain and suffering for him. Untreated, it can result in abscesses and tooth loss.

I agree it's worth shopping around for quotes though, and you might also want to think about setting up an online account for $20 or $30 a month (or more if you can afford it) for future kitty health contingencies.

Your vet should be able to advise you about what your cat should eat to help his teeth.
posted by essexjan at 5:31 AM on July 11, 2020 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I just didn't know this was a thing. The quote is for 700 - 1200. I think the extra 500 is contingent on whether or not he needs any extractions. I feel better having all of your excellent advice!
posted by kitcat at 1:15 PM on July 12, 2020


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