Are dental problems in diabetic cats caused by their diabetes?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I am not sure what your question is but if you are worried about him losing a tooth, it is not uncommon. I would recommend the vet take a look at his teeth to see if any more need to come out. It is ok if Carter loses teeth because he can still eat without them. But if there are more diseased teeth he needs to have them extracted to prevent pain and further decay. If the vet says his teeth look good, I would recommend daily brushing with cat toothpaste to prevent further tartar build up. Good luck and kisses to Carter!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I think you are between a rock and hard place. I would find a Vet comfortable with Harley's kidney disease and is fast with dental extractions. Specialists aren't always the fastest at removing teeth. Sometimes the general practitioner is quicker and what Harley needs is to NOT be under anesthesia for 3 hours. Your Vet may just not feel comfortable with the severity of his teeth, his age and underlying kidney disease. Who and how they monitor anesthesia is also important. For the sake of his kidneys they need to be sure his blood pressure is stable and doesn't drop too low. I think you can have his teeth done, but there is risk due to his age and kidney disease but you don't have much choice at this point. I would find someone with in your budget that feels comfortable and you need to be willing to accept the risks and go for it. I wish you the best!

The scaling and polishing portion of the dental is the least time consuming, and most inexpensive portion of the $1000 estimate. In addition, tartar left on teeth can further aggravate gum disease. The necessary extractions cannot be done without anesthesia or pre-anesthetic bloodwork to make sure that Baxter’s liver/kidney function appears normal enough to handle anesthesia. With severe gum recession/fractured teeth, cats can develop serious tooth root abscesses and oral pain resulting in weight loss, poor health. If there are in fact diseased teeth in Baxter’s mouth, having a complete dental scaling/polishing with necessary extractions will likely significantly improve his quality of life and decrease the chances of oral bacteria causing heart valve issues in the future. Good luck!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Cats with FIV can live a very long and healthy life! If he has dental disease and needs teeth removed I recommend doing it. The dental shouldn't cause progression of his FIV and will likely improve his quality of life. Leaving diseased teeth in the mouth of an immunocompromised animal isn't good either! i hope this helps!

Hello. I am sorry Beanie is having these issues. Cats can get an auto-immune disease where the immune system basically attacks the teeth. Since the teeth are so strong, the gingiva (the gums) get red and sore as an 'innocent by-stander'. The treatment is either medications life-long to decrease the immune response, which has many side-effects and would leave Beanie immuno-compromised her whole life, or to do a full mouth extraction, where you take out all of the teeth and Beanie would wet food for the rest of her life. Although this sounds dramatic, it is done under anesthetic and they are actually very comfortable afterwards and tolerate this life very well. If you want to be sure this is the disease process that is going on, you can have a visit with a dental specialist. Best of luck to you and Beanie.

Diabetics can have a peculiar odor to their breath, especially when they are producing a compound called ketones. The breath kind of smells like nail polish remover, and this can indicate that that Missy is in diabetic ketoacidosis, which is a potentially serious complication of diabetes. It's also possible that Missy has dental disease (which, by the way, can make it difficult to regulate diabetes in cats, so I would recommend specifically asking your vet about that) and that could be causing the odor you are smelling. At this point, it's worth calling your vet and inquiring whether you might need to bring Missy in to check her urine for ketones, which is the most reliable indicator of ketoacidosis.

Hi and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I cannot say for sure, but if Tommy's teeth are black/worn away, it is likely a dental issue. I would recommend a visit to your veterinarian to look into Tommy's mouth. If this is the case, Tommy would likely benefit from a dental cleaning which includes scaling, polishing and sometimes xrays of the teeth with extractions! Good luck and I hope he feels better!