Mary Allen
Affected cats are in severe pain.
Symptoms
Cats suffering from this disease are usually severely restricted in their general well-being due to the severe pain. They eat little, salivate more, and do not groom themselves. Overall, the picture emerges of a chronically ill cat with a shaggy coat that suffers quietly. The cause is – in addition to numerous viral diseases (e.g. herpes, calici, FeLV, FIV) – often undiscovered dental diseases or leftover tooth roots.
Therapy
The therapy is primarily a comprehensive tooth restoration – which, due to the high-grade inflammatory changes in the mucous membranes, places high demands on the treating dentist. An X-ray examination before and after the tooth extraction is absolutely necessary in order to be able to rule out the remaining root residues. Only complete extraction of all diseased teeth, and sometimes even all molars, can bring the disease under control. Alternative approaches – such as anti-inflammatory drugs or immune modulators only make sense after a tooth restoration. Due to the complexity of this disease, the affected patients should only be placed in the hands of specialists. The success rate with professional therapy is still good. In about 80% of cases, tooth extractions lead to healing. About 13% need additional drug therapy and only 7% show little to no improvement.