Here’s the thing: My darling Jay needs dental surgery
My poor Jay
Now, I have two options:
- Tooth extraction
- Root canal treatment
And this is where I need your input. Does any one of you have any experience with either or preferably both? Is one procedure preferable over the other?
I’d like to preserve the fang. I mean, my dentist has always told me that is is ALWAYS better to try and keep the tooth, whenever possible. I don’t see why it’d be any different for a cat.
However, this is my dilemma. The cost of a tooth extraction is roughly $1,200 while the root canal is $1,500. $300 is a lot of money. Jay’s vet says it really doesn’t matter for the cat and the decision is completely up to me.
But I want to make sure I do the best for my cat and not the best for my wallet.
If indeed my Jay will not mind having one less fang (and by that I mean, if HE’LL BE COMPLETELY HAPPY without it) then I wouldn’t mind saving $300.
But if he’ll be better off keeping his fang, I will get him that option no matter what.
Thoughts? Please?
Edited to add a pic of the estimate
Summer Solstice Musings 
What do you feed Jay on? If it’s wet food then he really shouldn’t miss that fang but with dry food he might have a problem listing it into his mouth.
Normally, mostly dry food, with wet food once or twice a week and as much kitty milk as he wants. Sometimes, meat or fish I cook for him
Poor little pumpkin!! I can tell you that one of our cats is missing an upper fang (she didn’t have it when we adopted her, I’m not sure if she just never had one or if it fell out somehow). She has no problems whatsoever.
Good to know. Does she eat dry food?
She eats everything!
oh, so good to hear!
I have no idea, but I really appreciate that you’re a concerned and caring cat owner.
<3
Are you at all familiar with Hello Sailor? (I’m out of the loop when it comes to who knows who.) In any case, the lovely young woman who writes that blog is a veterinary nurse and a wonderfully kind soul. She would be your girl. I’ll send your post her way.
Oh, thank you SO much! <3
Ruby,
What a great idea! Le Sailor could help…
Le Clown
Why didn’t you email me?! Lol. I’m not going to veterinary school for no reason. Extract the tooth. No question. Also— that’s WAY too much money for an extraction. Shop around. It should cost you no more than $500
D’Oh! I totally forgot about you :(
That’s why I put it on Facebook and Twitter too so I would reach more people. Oh, really? even here in Canada?
And why is it better to extract the tooth?
It’s not necessarily better— but the root canal isn’t always successful and sometimes the tooth needs to come out anyway. Also, it really, really makes no difference to the cat. They are completely and totally adaptable.
As far as the price goes, definitely shop around. That’s way out of what’s a normal range in my experience, but it may be normal for Canada. I’d just hate to see you pay more than necessary. <3
I added a picture of the estimate
Will your vet consider payment options, or a payment plan arrangement? For that kind of money, and if you’ve been visiting him for some time, there really should be more comfortable options.
We don’t have any pets because I’m allergic, but if we did, I would seriously consider a raw diet. Both dogs and cats are carnivores, so the best way for them to get their nutrition is from raw meat and the bones therein. Obviously not super-small bones, but you get the idea. ♥
Here are some links I found with respect to raw diets for cats:
Feeding Cats Raw
Raw Food Diet For Cats
Myths About Raw Feeding
hmmmm payment options… Honestly, I didn’t even ask. But will do now, thanks!
I will also look into the links. I do buy for him a special dry food that is made entirely out of meat. No grains for my Jay
I hope he feels better soon, and you’re able to work something out with your vet. Ask around and research your options. Do what feels right for you, my friend.
Much love and huggles. ♥
VW ♥
Thanks. I feel a lot more confident now. This really helped :)
*squishy, squashy hugs*
Raw diets are extremely tricky to balance appropriately— I’ve attempted them for my own cats, having studied feline nutrition in veterinary school, and they are very challenging. Dogs are more tricky than cats, but I wouldn’t recommended it for either species without the close guidance of a veterinary nutritionist; remember that the internet doesn’t know everything. :)
Ruby thought I might be able to help!
I’m a Veterinary Nurse in the UK (I’m guessing you’re in America seeing as you are talking in dollars!)
Generally, here, we don’t do root canal treatment treatments on animals. We can do them, but mainly they are from an aesthetic point of view, rather than from a functional point of view. I have known cats go through “total clearance” of all the teeth because they have decayed and they can still crunch though thier kitty biscuits fine!
I don’t think Jay will mind being minus one fang. Is he very old? He looks quite young from what I can see of his teeth!
I kind of agree with Jessica (although unfamiliar with dollars to pounds) $1500 dollars looks expensive. It’d probably only cost you £300 here and that is for the scale and polish of the teeth, extraction, anaesthetic…. the whole thing.
Hope he gets on OK and this helps you make a decision!!
Sailor xox
Thank you so much for your input.
Jay and I live in Canada. He’s 9 years all but he’s in very good shape (or so his vet said last week). I should have added that the estimate includes a dental prophylaxis as well. I’ll take a picture of it and add it to the post.
Everything seems to be more expensive here in Canada :(
I’ve got no idea. But I do love that you’re thinking of Jazzy Jay. ((((hugs))))
love from Rach.
Thank you! <3
I don’t have experience with extraction, I wish I did. I do in reference to me but not in reference to my kitty ((((Hugs)))) I do understand your dilemma though!
Thanks, yes. I’m just trying to do the best for Jay without going broke :)
So very nice of you to think about Jay =^.^=
Hope he gets better!
Purrs to you and him!
Thank you Texas. I’m very worried my poor Jay is in pain :(
He most definitely is having pain, they will never let you know it, but they really don’t feel well, poor babies.
Yeah. I really wish he could let me know how he feels. The thought of him being in pain and me not being able to do anything to help is heartbreaking
I don’t have experience in this — just know that I’m hoping for the best and I’ll ask someone who may know. Oh good I see Carrie’s responded — you’re getting good feedback!
Yeah, thanks! <3
My mom has had cats with this same problem and she has always chosen the tooth extraction. If is is no more than two or three teeth the cats adapt and do just fine. And there is no guarantee the root canal will be totally successful and might need to be removed later.
Thank you, Tigger! Much appreciated
My elderly kitty recently had her last 4 teeth removed. They were two molars & her fangs. She had been eating fine with only these four teeth, but unknown to me, they were terribly infected & she had been in a lot of pain! My vet also felt they could save the fangs until he actually got in there during surgery & found that the decay was so high up into the jaw, that there was no way to save them, even though the xrays didn’t show it! So, now she has no teeth at all and still eats perfectly good, they adapt quite well & are very glad to be pain free! Save your $300 & do your baby a favor, there’s no guarantee that the fang won’t become more of a problem even with a root
canal,,,,heck it may fall out in a month, who knows? And you’d still be out the money. Good luck!
Thank you! Yes, I think I’ll go for the extraction and maybe use the rest of the money to buy him a nice kitty condo ;)
And glad to hear your kitty is doing well!
take out the fang. animals don’t miss them as much as we do. so says my animal doctor wifesy too. xo, sm
Thank you very much for your input! :)
My cat Abbey lost her fang (some call it a canine). We found it in her bed and she does not seem to miss it. I soppose if she was in the wild she would need it. Anyway, $1500 seems way too much for an extraction. We had a cat’s molar removed for around $350.
yeah, the technical (medical) term for a fang is a canine. And that’s what Jay’s vet said too. That he wouldn’t need it because he’s an indoor cat but he would if he was a feral one.
$1500 includes taxes. We Canadians are heavily taxed
yeah, the technical (medical) term for a fang is a canine. And that’s what Jay’s vet said too. That he wouldn’t need it because he’s an indoor cat but he would if he was a feral one.
$1500 includes taxes. We Canadians are heavily taxed, unfortunately.
Many thanks for your input! :)