Kitty Dental Specialist
 

Dr Manganaro (Park Hts Animal Care) has recommended that our new rescue kitty see a dental specialist. She suggested Univ of FL Small Animal Hospital in Gainsville OR AVS (Affiliated Veterinary Specialists) in Orlando and Maitland. Has anyone taken their cat to either of these facilities and, if so, how was your experience?

Thanks in advance for any info.

kathy

One of our cats had excellent care at UofF. She needed dental surgery. In addition to the those at the Vet hospital, a dental surgeon from the dental school assisted in the surgery.

We have had great results with a dog and a cat with Dr. Amy Stone at The University of Florida Small Animal Hospital in Gainesville. She and the staff there are great.
In addition. they have specialists in all other veterinary medicines.

Not a cat, but we took a dog to U of F in Gainesville that we adopted and came to us with lots of dental issues from teeth extractions to nasal fistulas. Very pleased with them.

Thanks, everyone, for the info. We can't get him into either place for weeks/months so we are taking him to Buffalo Ridge for deep cleaning and xrays under anesthesia. (Buffalo Ridge was the vet's third choice and 1/3 to 1/2 of the cost of the other two.) If they find anything that requires ongoing/extensive treatment we will take him up to Gainesville.

k.

A couple of things to know about cats and teeth: domestic cats, if fed appropriately, would have no need for teeth at all. Ground food - raw or canned, whether home-made or commercial, in pate or minced form. Remember cats can't chew anyway; they don't have molars. Their teeth are designed to rip and bite - nothing else.

Some cats are genetically predisposed to losing teeth. It's not a medical problem as long as you feed it appropriately. My current cat lost a lot of her teeth while she was still a kitten. Definitely the genetic part, the doctor said she was healthy, but overweight, when I adopted her (I got her when she was just around 1-1/2 years old). She has her lower fangs but not her upper canines or incisors, and she's mostly gums on the left side of her mouth.

I give her those tiny little grain-free kibble bits as treats every night, but other than that she eats exclusively a wet diet, mostly pate, sometimes shreds. But I usually have to mince up the shreds for her since she has trouble breaking them into swallowable pieces.

Malkie is a rescue. He was living with a feral cat colony in Wildwood for some period of time -- at least a year, possibly much longer -- although he is not feral. Vet thinks he is 6 to 8 years old. Although he may have had a home at some point he wasn't neutered until last January so who knows. I do know that his diet for at least the last year was not optimal.

He has some gingivitis that needs to be addressed. He is also FIV+ and so it is very important that his teeth be taken care of. After our initial evaluation at Buffalo Ridge I feel comfortable having his teeth treated there. Taking him in Thursday. Wish us luck. Thanks for the info.

k.

Very helpful information. Thank you.

Just don't freak out if they recommend pulling the teeth. And again, as long as he's eating primarily wet and and easily "mushed" by gums, it's OKAY to say "no root canal, please just pull it out." You don't have to, but it's okay. Gums and bone (jaw) are still a big deal for cats. Teeth, not so much. Glad you found a dentist to address the gingevitis!

One time I couldn't get a dental appointment at UF for my cat and they suggested I try the Pet Dentist in Wesley Chapel for an earlier appointment. The Pet Dentist was wonderful. My kitty was older and they used as little anesthesia as possible and she was actually alert when I picked her up only a few hours later. I took Brandi to The Pet Dentist every time after that.
It's called The Pet Dentist of Tampa Bay but they have an office in Wesley Chapel.

but it was something far more serious.
 

Don't assume your cat has gingivitis. That's what I thought but it was something far more serious.

I rescued a kitty who was found to have the calicivirus and unfortunately, transmitted the virus to one of my other cats. It is highly contagious. Both kitties had to have all their teeth extracted which ended up costing many thousands of dollars.

At that time Buffalo Ridge recommended a dental specialist in Maitland. That specialist, Dr. Brown, actually was brought in from her office in Boca Raton and that is where I took the cats to have the extractions performed. She was far less expensive than the quote the Maitland office gave.

Don't kid yourself . . . they can eat crunchy food as easily as soft food once their mouth has healed. Let them eat whatever they prefer. In addition, there are a lot of negatives regarding dogs and cats only eating grain-free food.

Do your cats eat meat and fish? Ours can read the price of the can of Tuna. They have also each day five different kinds of dry foods and will eat that too. They could NOT be less interested in any thing we eat ...except occasionally chicken...but only until we get out of the chair and put it in their bowl.

Just for my own clarification... did you take the cat to Boca Raton, or did Dr. Brown come to Maintland office and do the surgery for less than Maitland's original estimate?


I ask because I have had, and still have, experience with Maitland. I was not so thrilled with their orthopedic section but absolutely swear by their dermatology section. It seems as if there might be hits and misses at AVS.

Dogs yes, cats no regarding grain-free food. Cats are obligate carnivores. That means their bodies are created to digest and process raw moist meat, and their bodies are NOT created to handle non-flesh-based foods efficiently at all. The cats that the domestic felines are most related to, only chew grasses when their stomachs are upset, because it helps them to vomit whatever is causing the upset stomach. They get 100% of any vegetable matter they need by eating the uncooked still-warm stomachs of their prey, most of which are herbivores and omnivores.

Cats cannot chew, because they have no molars. So if they are eating crunchy kibble that's too big for them they have to crack the kibble with their incisors. It's akin to being forced to only eat your food inside of nut shells and not being provided a nutcracker to open the shells. Of course it will eventually have an impact on your teeth and gums.

The smaller kibble they swallow whole because, again, they don't have molars to grind food (chew) with.

Kibble is made with some kind of starch to bind the food into hard nuggets. The starch is typically grain or gluten, but can also be in the form of cheap pea protein, which is also not easily digested by cats. Corn is not digestible by cats at all (and isn't easily digested by humans either for that matter). Cats do not have a nutritional need for carbs or fiber. They are not omnivores (which do have nutritional need for carbs and fiber).

I believe Dr. Brown came to the Maitland office once a week (?) as their dental specialist. I found out Dr. Brown had her own practice and knew she had to be less expensive than the Maitland office's fee so yes -- I traveled to her own office to have the extractions done on both cats. The Maitland office, like Buffalo Ridge, is owned by a non-veterinarian. Those offices have a manager because the owner is an in-absentia owner.

I did make a mistake. Dr. Brown's own office is in West Palm Beach, not Boca. I wouldn't hesitate to take my dog or cat to her again if I had a serious dental issue with one of my pets. (Your Pet Dentist | Veterinarians West Palm Beach, Florida | Advanced Veterinary Dental Surgery

The vet you like at Maitland might be a permanent staff vet or possibly, like Dr. Brown, could have her/his own practice elsewhere. It wouldn't hurt to (privately) ask.