A Reader’s Forum story by Cortney Rynex
Posted March 3, 2019
In January the SPCA posted an urgent “12-year-old” cat who was found emaciated in a trailer park and had stomatitis. No rescue would take her, even after they did a full mouth extraction (FME) but she started doing better and a few days ago she was cleared for adoption.
Her story was so similar to my cat KiKi, who I lostΒ a couple of months ago due to a brain tumor/possible lymphoma.Β It felt like fate. I brought her home yesterday. Her name is Dori (formerly Dolores).
Dori is currently in my spare bedroom and she settled in instantly. She has so much energy. They estimated her age to be 12 based on how bad her teeth were but she literally runs around and plays with toys, takes a nap for a few minutes then is running around again. She’s eating well and has an awesome personality.
She was badly matted and was missing a lot of her fluff when she groomed. Dori’s not having any trouble grooming me and herself. I’m going to have my vet check her out sometime this week.
Hopefully, the FME worked. Just wanted to share her with everyone π
Cortney
Note from Elisa:
I wanted Cortney to share this story because a lot of cat advocates worry needlessly when the time comes for a full mouth extraction, which is often the only treatment to help a cat with stomatitis. I’ve watched the Facebook groups devoted to this topic and noticed most cats improve within a day or two after the teeth are removed. Cats do fine without teeth. Our Sealy is proof. He was toothless when we adopted him February 2012.
Dori is oozing with energy and curiosity. She is really pretty too…look at that tail. I am so happy that Dori found a forever home. πππΎποΈ
π
I had a cat (Baby) who had stomatitis and who stayed small until I finally had her teeth removed. Yes that was a tough decision and I did some first, then the rest. Unfortunately it was soon discovered (after the FME) that she also had cancer throughout… The specialist who should have caught that BEFORE doing the FME was very apologetic, but I didn’t get my money back (though I probably should have).
I live in a fairly affluent county in a fairly affluent state but I still wonder about the caliber of vets overall. I’ve had issues with many of the regular vets and a handful of serious blunders by specialists, so I wonder how bad it can be in other areas.
Well, that was NC so I’m not surprised.
I don’t know whether they still do it but the Greenville shelter used to list the majority of their cats as TWO. You didn’t know until a vet visit to get a better estimate. There were cats we fostered who went to rescue and were adopted out and the people returned the cat to the rescue because the age was WAY off. Then there was a shelter cat listed as 23 who turned out to be 12 in NC.
Sam had the same issues, but I was dealing with vets who didn’t know what to do. I know better now.
For most cats, guessing age by teeth works, but not in cases of bad teeth or being a stray. Nellie was thought to be at least ten when caught as a stray. That would make her 13.5 now. Her new human’s vet thinks she is younger.
Mr Spunky had great teeth for many years.
Pets age differently just like humans.