Cat dentistry: The solution to my woes?

You’ll see improvement, but don’t expect a miracle. Advanced dental disease and chronic pain has certainly been influencing her personality and behavior, and having the teeth extracted will help. You’ll see an improvement in her breath, she should be more willing to groom, she’ll eat better, and be less distressed as a result of being healthier.

Wow. Your cat is a handful.

Something to consider is that your cat might have something called autoimmune gingivitis. Two of my rescued cats had that.

Tiger-Tiger (short for Tiger, tiger burning bright in the forests of the night) had it in the days when folks weren’t sure what to do about it other than give him both steroids and antibiotics. They helped, and allowed him to eat well and live fairly happily for about 10 years. However, the steroids eventually damaged his kidneys.

Franklin the Blue-Eyed Wonder Cat also had it. We tried the same thing as with Tiger-Tiger but it didn’t work all that well. Then, however, my vet read an article about a radical treatment: complete removal of all teeth except for his four fangs, in order to get rid of the gum line where the gingivitis occurs.

It worked. Franklin hasn’t had a recurrence in many years. He eats well, his saliva and mouth don’t smell, and he has no problem cleaning himself. I can’t say he is cheerful because he has a rather moody personality, but he is a good cat to share a house with as long as you aren’t a dog who looks too closely at him (he has the dogs terrified even though the largest outweighs him by a factor of 10).

It is quite possible that many of your cat’s oddities will clear up once her mouth feels better. However, it may also be the case that she has more than one issue. But then you can always come back and ask another question. :-)

Just wondering—is she “fixed”?
I know so very very little about cats, but in other house pets, (bunnies and doggies) the smelling bad and peeing all over are often helped by ‘fixing’ them. Just a thought.

I would guess she already is though, based on the fact that you’re willing to shell out the dough for cat dentistry.

It tends to be male cats that are guilty of smelling and peeing. Since this is a female, even tho. spaying is definitely a good idea if she hasn’t already been spayed, getting her “fixed” probably wouldn’t help the inappropriate elimination. Un-neutered female cats go into heat, which can be quite onerous on her family in that she will howl for hours on end and will take a very specific posture to invite mating.

I did have one rescued cat that was spayed but still seemed to go into heat – it turned out that she had a kidney infection that caused that symptom.

There could be a number of other issues that affect her cat box use. The location of the box may upset her (cats usually prefer privacy), the type of filler used may bother her (some cats have specific feelings about what touches their paws), and even the frequency of changing the litter may affect her use of the box. In addition, a bladder or kidney infection can upset her elimination habits, too.

In addition, some cats communicate displeasure by where they choose to pee or poop. If she is regularly using the same “wrong” place you may need to put your detective hat on to figure out what she might be saying.

As to howling and dragging towels around, that sounds a lot like hunting behavior and bringing a kill back to her kittens. If she has had kittens in the past she may have fixated on that, or she may be attempting to “feed” her owner. One possibility is adding extra playtime into her day to wear her out and use up her hunting need.

However, one step at a time is best. Start with any health problems, such as her teeth, and then go from there.

Darwin, you’ve been so helpful! Maybe that weird dragging thing IS a baby-feeding instinct. Maybe she cries to announce to her kids that it’s dinner time.

And i was unclear about “elimination.” She’ll poop in the direct center of our guest bathroom, or right outside the litter box. I think it’s because she’s a persian with long fun, and she doesn’t want it to get dirty. But I clean the box every day, and she still does it. It’s maddening. She doesn’t urinate outside the box, I have a Breeze litter box that she urinates (but will not defecate) in. That’s actually really convenient, as it’s (almost) ended her urination problems. She likes to go on bath mats. I think it’s the texture.

She is fixed.

What if you got a second litter box that you put a rag in and set it next to the one she pees in? Perhaps over time you could replace the rags with newspaper or something more available to throw out, or possibly experiment with some of the other litters. Some are in the form of pellets, some are made from old newspaper or from corn or even wood shavings.

One of my cats won’t use the official box but will use a large plastic tray that I got from a restaurant supply place. It is easier to clean that continually mopping the floor.

Well, my cat is under anesthesia as I type, and she needs 10 teeth out. The vet nurse scared the shit out of me and tried to convince me that she has FeLV, FIV, and hyperthyroidism. So I’m waiting on those tests.

There goes my christmas bonus. :(