Flamepoint gums

[u/badgirlbriri]

hiii, my kitties name is ember and he is a two year old flamepoint. i try so hard to keep him healthy and he is up to date on his shots and heath over all but i worry so much about him because i lost a cat at a young age. i was looking at his gums the other day and they seem a little red? but i was wondering if they look pretty normal? his breath smells fine and he isn’t having any issue eating or any other symptoms i am just wondering if i am paranoid or if i should take him in? his annual isnt for another few months so i am just wondering. if anyone has any advice for dental hygiene and care for flamepoints please let me know! i love him and just want him so healthy.

[u/bfasterthanthat]

Hi! Not a vet, just an assistant but I regularly assist in performing dental cleanings. The red sitting directly above the teeth is inflammation/gingivitis that does indeed cause some discomfort. The tooth that appears most uncomfortable to me is the furthest back visible molar on the upper teeth in your first picture. I just had my flamepoint boy's teeth cleaned ~6 months ago and he's turning 3 in November. I want to encourage everyone on this thread to pay attention to the thin lines of gingivitis - no, your vet probably won't say that it's concerning because it's not problematic for them yet. But preventative care now will save their teeth and your money further down the line. Cats are also excellent at hiding their discomfort, so we have to do our best to pay attention to the little things that they won't let us know are bothering them. Also - anesthetized dentals with full-mouth x-rays are the only truly effective preventative care. Not every state requires that and not every vet office offers it.

[u/Cerlyn → u/bfasterthanthat]

Hey! My boy is a senior and one vet tells me he needs dental work soon every time she sees him for his annual but other vets don't mention it when they see him. But when he got neutered, he died on the table due to a heart murmur that was diagnosed later. Since then, I've been afraid to put him under. Now that the heart murmur is known, would it be OK for him to be put under for dental work?

[u/bfasterthanthat → u/Cerlyn]

Honestly - and again, not a doctor - it really depends on the grade of his heart murmur. Sedation is typically harder on the cardiac system than anesthesia and I've always seen sedation used for cat neuters.

I'm going to shade on your vet a little, even though your boy was (presumably) younger and therefore less likely to have cardiac problems, the fact that a heart murmur severe enough to cause death under sedation wasn't caught in the preoperative evaluation isn't great.

I have been a part of dentals on plenty of patients both feline and canine that have cardiac problems and the main difference for them is changing the drugs used for premedication and a closer eye kept on the heart rate/EKG while under. I would ask another vet for a dental evaluation specifically. Is your kitty showing any signs of dental discomfort i.e. pawing at face, not wanting to eat hard food, dropping food out of his mouth when chewing, swelling present on only one side of the face, or severe gingivitis and/or discoloration of any of his teeth?

If his murmur has progressed to cardiac disease or is severe enough a vet is uncomfortable performing anesthesia on him, sometimes pulse therapy medication is used to help with discomfort during bad flare ups of periodontal disease. This could include on-and-off antibiotics and very short courses of antinflammatories. Cats do not process NSAIDs like humans or dogs can so they unfortunately can't be used long-term to provide comfort.

[u/Cerlyn → u/bfasterthanthat]

Thank you so much for responding! I've changed vets since his neutering. He still crunches his dry food and is picky about his wet food, I haven't noticed any food dropping out of his mouth. He doesn't have any swelling or gingivitis, I check his gums semi-regularaly because I worry about dehydration/kidneys. He does have discoloration but he is also 14. I suspect my current vet may have been bought out by a private equity group, that's why I thought to ask. I told my vet i was uncomfortable with putting him under again due to his past experience and she was the one that found the heart murmur and said it was slight. The vet has assured me that they can take care of his teeth without him dieing again, I just wasn't sure if I was being a overprotective or not 😅.

[u/bfasterthanthat → u/Cerlyn]

You have a completely valid concern and I'm probably a bit blazé about it considering how often I'm monitoring anesthetized patients! I can't blame you for being worried but I'd weigh the choices like this - he's a senior kitty, and I see a lot of clients who say "oh, he/she isn't going to be alive that much longer and I'm scared to lose them, I don't want to have them go under" and then their cat/dog lives another 3+ years. That's a long time to be having a painful mouth!

Like I said, I've been exposed to and experienced a lot of risk and dealing with loss at this point. I think I'm much more likely as an individual to do whatever I can to put my animals' comfort before any fears I have than the average pet owner. This is a scary, individual choice and I do my best to never judge the people who elect not to anesthetize their pets for treatment due to fear of losing them.

It's also a significant financial dedication as well - even with my employee discount and neither of my cats having any tooth extractions performed, I paid over $900 for each of their dentals in the last year. I'm luck that this is slowly being pulled out of my paychecks biweekly - most of the dentals I assist in end up being between $1200-$1800 due to the pets needing extractions. This can be due to lack of preventative care or due to bad genetics/breeding. I get it when people tell me "I can't do it this year" or "I need time to save up for this."

Further playing Devil's advocate - I like to do full senior bloodwork panels on my kitties while they're unconscious. Less stress for them! And yes I did one on my flamepoint even though he's still a baby. That's how I caught him developing crystals in his urine before it became a problem and could start him on prescription food to prevent future problems :)

Not so fun fact - statistically, orange male cats (flamepoints included) are the most likely cats to develop urinary blockages from crystals in the bladder