The Cat Thread

Not that I know of, but the can’t didn’t either 😥

Hahaha... coz you had no crisps left! 😸

So no one has experienced FORL. So is bad form to get a second opinion from another vet?

Oh no sorry, it wasn't that ours had.

Got another vets, local to me, appointment tomorrow morning. Prefer that I have the pain and issues than the two furballs. Really want the forl diagnosis to be wrong as I am worried that something might happen to them while under anaesthetic. Was so worried when they were neutered that they would go to sleep and wake up in strange surroundings that I wanted to be there. When they awoke, so they wouldn't feel afraid.

I've just looked up what forl is (teeth re-absorption) .Our cat had that about a year ago.
Vet recommended £400 of dental surgery.
I ignored their advice as I didn't think my 13 year old cat would want to have that. Now she's 14, minus two teeth, gums have healed over fine and she is fit and well. No surgery required.
I would be wary of procedures that may benefit the vet's bank balance more than the well being of the cat.

Our vet is amazing but last year he was away when our cat need her yearly checkup, the covering vet said our cat's teeth needed a full scale and polish which would need to done under a general anesthetic and cost over 400 quid. She was only 5 and a half at the time and had never had anything mentioned about her teeth. It felt very salesy and I didn't think it was necessary to put her through it, I did buy some dental food to mix with her regular food though. This year back with our regular vet, he did a much more thorough check and didn't even mention a problem with her teeth. I think in the end you have to go with what you think is best.

Went to another vet this morning, and this vet looked and said looks more like gingivitus, so has given us some toothpaste stuff to try and go back in two weeks and see. we talked about forl, and the vet was quite up front about needing an x ray but to her it was more gingivitis.

The vets at home vet was quite clear that teeth have to be removed, one maybe two. It could spread to the whole mouth, so quicker removal is better. No mention was made that the only way to diagnose is with an x ray.

Money is not a worry, more that I don't want the furballs to be in pain/unhappy. They are the most amazing cats, in the two years they have travelled to France and been stuck in the car for 12 hours, they have always used the litter tray. Am so lucky to have them in my live.

This is basically what I was going to say above and edited. We were pushed into exactly that by a covering vet too, I am not convinced it was necessary either.

It wasn't the money that put me off doing it. I just wasn't convinced that it was the right thing to do.

The other way to look at it is that if we had kept on top of Fabrics dental hygiene when he was younger, he wouldn't have needed three lots of surgery with extractions for three separate bouts of dental abscesses that stopped him from eating. If he we had paid for one or two dental scales when he was younger, maybe we wouldn't have had to pay £2.5k to £3k to sort his dental infections out.

That said, I have no doubt that some vets try their luck in dental surgery. I've seen and heard enough stories to believe it's true.

I guess the best thing to do is train your cat to tolerate a tooth brushing when it's a kitten and feed it a raw food diet which is great for the teeth.

I understand, and am in the same boat. Want to be sure I am doing the best thing.

That was the plan to get them used to toothbrushes and it is what we will do.

Feed them a mix of royal canin wet food and biscuits for the teeth. With specialist dental treats from the RSPCA.

Weekends he loves

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Wow. Handsome.

He's 11 and still going strong! Rules this family with a rod of fluff

TV friend.

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Hogging the best spot in front of the stove

Some beautiful cats here.

A recent addition. Never had a kitten before, and really smitten by how affectionate he is!

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Waily the stray has starting coming in and sitting on our stairs for snuggles. Pretty sure that fluffy belly is an epic trap.

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Only one way to find out.....

We've been looking after a stray for a few months, he had been sheltering in our garden and was not in a great way so we started looking after him, we finally got him trusting us enough to get him to the Vet two weeks ago and checked for a chip etc.

He wasn't neutered and didn't have a chip and is estimated to be approx 3 years old, so we booked him in to get that done, our plan after contacting a re-homing charity was to give him a month with our cat and see if they managed to get along, as she is quite stressy, and if she didn't settle down we would sponsor him to get re-homed, in the mean time we decided to get him chipped and neutered, as a charity would need to do that before they re-home him anyway.

At the Vets this morning, I also paid to get him tested for FIV. The Vet just called to say that test is positive, so him staying with us is not now going to be possible I don't think, as we don't want Betsy to get infected.

It is very sad, he has been neglected, he has a bit of a limp and three broken teeth. None of which bother him he gets around fine and is not in any pain, and after spending some time getting him socialised again he is a lovely and very good natured cat.

I'm feeling pretty devastated right now, as he's had a shit time of it and I wanted to give him a safe and good home.

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At the Vets this morning, I also paid to get him tested for FIV. The Vet just called to say that test is positive, so him staying with us is not now going to be possible I don't think, as we don't want Betsy to get infected.

FWIW the risk of this is pretty low. It's usually transmitted during fights - proper fights, not just hissy swipy scraps. In your position I'd strongly consider keeping him.

https://aspengrovevet.com/feline-immunodeficiency-virus-infection-fiv/ (have a look at the "How do cats get FIV?" and "One cat in my household is FIV-positive and the others are not. What should I do?" sections)

Well done for taking care of him :-) Even if you do end up deciding it's too risky then he's had a much better chance at life because of your efforts than he'd have had without.

So after Fleurs overgrooming of her tail was found not to be for any medical reason(after a variety of treatments), we were referred to a behaviouralist.
Over the last few months Liz has been home studying more than in the office and the overgrooming has reduced massively.
The behaviouralist has put it down to a combination of boredom, attention seeking focused on Liz and a bit of hunger from the diet she was on last year(she was only a wee bit over 4kg so nothing serious).

She has an epic new toy which is a glorified version of the fishing pole type with real feathers and strict instructions on use/reward play.
She’s getting fed more(easy to deal with a chubby cat than an anxious one that’s grooming itself silly) and now has activity feeder and her food broken into tiny portions hidden around the place to get her hunting again.

She’s having fun and smug about more food. Liz back to work full time this week so expecting a relapse in the behaviour but hopefully the hunting play will help.

She’s still a cutie tho..

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