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My cat has stomatitis and won't eat. What dental solutions help?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | American Shorthair | Male | neutered | 8 years and 7 months old | 5 lbs

My cat, 8 years old, has stomatitis. I have made many trips back and forth from the vet and nothing has helped much. Swelling has gone down, slightly, but he still refuses to eat due to pain and now I can't get him to take the antibiotics. He's lost a lot of weight. The vet says we can't remove teeth until the antibiotics get rid of the infection, so that option is looking grey. What do I do to make him eat and help get rid of the infection so we can get it removed along with his teeth?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on January 26th, 2017

I'm so sorry to hear that Basie is having this issue. I honestly think you should consult a veterinary dental specialist. Often times steroids are needed to reduce the inflammation so the cat will be comfortable enough to eat and to keep the stomatitis at bay. Once the inflammation is quieted down then the teeth should be OK to be removed. Usually there is not an associated infection, the mucous membranes just look infected because they are so red and inflamed so you are not likely to get much resolution with antibiotics alone. You do understand that ALL the teeth must be removed. This alarms many people but I assure you that cats do great with no teeth and can eat well (including dry food). I would not leave a full mouth extraction procedure to a general practice vet. I really recommend you use a veterinary dentist. In the meantime I would recommend blending canned food into a soup to see if he will eat that. You can also feed just tuna juice that he can lap up. Obviously this is not enough calories to sustain normal body weight so I would recommend the trip to the veterinary dentist ASAP. If you need help finding a dentist: http://www.avdc-dms.org/dms/list/diplomates-map.cfm I hope this helps. Best wishes.

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    Answered By Dr. Leigh, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    So sorry that he is having this problem. You could ask your vet about an injectable antibiotic called Convenia so you won't have to give oral antibiotics. One injection is given by your vet and it lasts 2 weeks. You could also ask your vet about an appetite stimulate and possibiy an anti-inflammatory. Also taking your cat to a veterinary dentist for an evaluation might be a good idea to see what a specialist recommends for treatment.

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