Mackie is our geriatric kitty that’s around 15 years old with only 6 teeth left. A cat with a full mouth of teeth would have 30 teeth. We have been asked multiple times if Mackie eats rocks. He really doesn’t, but he does love to chew on plastic and toys.

It seems like each year we have Mackie, another tooth is pulled. Last January was Mackie’s last teeth cleaning and yet another tooth was pulled. As it turns out, another tooth needs to be removed. Originally, we thought Mackie’s kidney disease was progressing which was causing him not to eat or drink. Then, his faced swelled up with infection from an bad tooth.

The challenging part with traveling with cats is finding a vet that will see them. We found a vet that supposedly was cat friendly in Normal, Illinois. I say supposedly because they tried to muzzle my cat. Anyone whose had cats will know something like this does not work. Anything near the mouth causes the cat to become even more upset. You need to swaddle a cat also known as kitty burrito (like swaddling a human baby). This approach works quite well. The vet confirmed kidney disease had not significantly progressed and could not tell if the teeth were an issue.

The vet said “if you see swelling, contact your vet or us right away for antibiotics.” Needless to say within a day we saw the swelling. I believe part of the swelling was the vet aggressively messing with the teeth and gum area which could the tooth to become even more aggravated.

We picked up antibiotics. The earliest we could get Mackie in for a surgery for tooth extraction was a week later. The good news was the the antibiotics significantly helped with this tooth issue. The swelling went down along with the pain. The meds were easy to give, since Mackie would eat it mixed with lickable treats. After a few days, Mackie started eating again. Yeah!! The downside was the antibiotics did not agree with his digestive track and he had diarrhea the whole 3 weeks he was on meds. Plus, the meds had to be given every 12 hours. So, our life was a little chaotic between the meds, kitty cleanup, and trying to get Mackie to eat & drink.

During this process, I took pictures of the room that suppose to be kitty friendly. They did add cat special items but I’m not sure just how kitty friendly the office was. In the corner, you can see the carrier with Cleo in it. Cleo came to each of Mackie’s appointments. We do this because Mackie will smell different and Cleo will forget who he was and hiss at him.

I will create a separate post on the tooth extraction ordeal…