Does this mean an ER visit? Tommy is fine #15

I noticed Tommy was drooling, and thought, well that's odd. Opened his mouth, he shook to get out of my reach and . . . his fang dropped out! He is an indoor only cat, about age 4 (I have to check).

It is after hours (of course!) so I am trying to figure out if I have to get him to the ER vet tonight or can this wait till morning? I'm thinking he must have a hole in his mouth, open to infection, needs a stitch or 2?

I tried taking photos, but my camera doesn't like doing things this small.
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q..._5212Small.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q..._5213Small.jpg

I tried a butter knife in this one for size
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q..._5214Small.jpg

And a ruler, it is a full INCH long!
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q..._5215Small.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q..._5216Small.jpg

It does not look like there's any blood involved, so I'd say no to the need for an ER visit. Does he seem to be in pain at all? Is he eating and drinking okay?

He raced under the bed and won't look at me, lol. You are right, no blood, no roots??? This is so bizarre!

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Originally Posted by Freedom

He raced under the bed and won't look at me, lol. You are right, no blood, no roots??? This is so bizarre!

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Yup, so it's not like he ripped it out attacking someone or thing! Just watch him when he emerges from hiding, it would be a good idea to get the vet to look at his teeth anyway, as there's likely gum disease or something that caused this, but nothing urgent to need an ER visit tonight, and the expense and trauma to you both/all!

I don't think it's an emergency. Make an appointment next chance you get for a dental. And start saving your money.
Their teeth are so tiny, but our vet charges about $100 a tooth for an extraction. Hopefully, Tommy will get a clean bill of health.

Give Tommy a special (soft) treat. He just saved you $100 by getting rid of the tooth himself. :p

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Originally Posted by kuhio98

He just saved you $100 by getting rid of the tooth himself. :p

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LOL thanks Karen, Kuhio! Whew. Will wait till the morning. Um, does this mean the Tooth Fairy has to make a visit tonight? LOL

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Originally Posted by Freedom

LOL thanks Karen, Kuhio! Whew. Will wait till the morning. Um, does this mean the Tooth Fairy has to make a visit tonight? LOL

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We would like the kitty tooth fairy to deliver hugs, snuggles and lovies. I hope Tommy's toothies are okay! :love: Tommy, sweety, please come out from under the bed so mum can look at your mouth. Please please.

It worked, Elise, he heard you and came out! It is an upper tooth which came out. BIG hole, looks like 2 spaces? Not bleeding, though.

My opinion - go first thing in the morning, but I think you're OK for tonight. You need to see (just like in humans!) what caused the tooth to release.

Agree, Maggie! I plan to phone first thing and see what time they can fit us in.

Fortunately this doesn't require a trip to the ER. My Poppy also lost a fang last year and I just brought him to my regular vet. Unfortunately his broke off and the root was still in the gum, so he had to have that removed. But while he was under he got his teeth cleaned and he did just fine. I'm sure your Tommy will also. :D

I'm sorry to hear that he lost his tooth.:( Hopefully his vet visit will go well and the rest of his teeth are fine. Good luck.:)

My cat Sky's upper canine is slightly chipped. My vet said that it's nothing to worry about yet but in the future he may need to have it extracted.

Filou lost a fang once and we never found it. We do not know exactly how long it took us to even notice (he didn't smile with his tip of fangs out ;)). Anyway once the vet saw it she was purrfectly fine with it. No need to interfere. Hope it goes just as well with Tommy.

That looks like the entire canine tooth, root and all. The canine is a single rooted tooth, and the largest rooted tooth (the root is typically 2/3 the size of the entire tooth itself). My only concern would be infection; a tooth that comes out WHOLE with no breakage often indicates there was infection present in the first place that broke down the ligaments and attachments. It wouldn't hurt to swing by the vet just to make sure there isn't infection present and, since the canine is the largest rooted tooth and leaves the largest hole in the gum/jaw, I would make sure there is nothing stuck up in there and make sure it doesn't need to be sutured closed, but I would not consider it an ER visit.

Good luck... and a side-note, drooling is often a sign of oral pain in cats.

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Originally Posted by kuhio98

Their teeth are so tiny, but our vet charges about $100 a tooth for an extraction.

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:O That is crazy! Even canine 3-root teeth extractions we certainly don't charge anywhere near $100 per extraction!!! Or very often our cat FORL dental or greyhound dentals would cost over a thousand dollars!!!!!

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Originally Posted by Jessika

Good luck... and a side-note, drooling is often a sign of oral pain in cats.


:O That is crazy! Even canine 3-root teeth extractions we certainly don't charge anywhere near $100 per extraction!!! Or very often our cat FORL dental or greyhound dentals would cost over a thousand dollars!!!!!

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I knew the drooling was an issue, which is why I picked him up in the first place, lol. And having just been through it with Willy, my vet charges $126 per tooth for extractions, up to the first 5, then it drops to $100 for the next 5. OK, back to Tommy:

Tommy saw the vet this morning. He had a shot of Convenia for antibiotics, and a shot of (I forget!) for inflammation. The vet said in this case (no roots, no bleeding) we were fine to wait till this morning. Tommy probably was not comfortable and was feeling it, but not too bad and both the shots will help him feel better. She expected to see a mouth full of tartar and plaque as that is normally the case when a tooth drops out -- but no, the rest of his teeth look good! So it is odd. He has a bit of tartar, nothing unusual for a 5 year old cat, and better than many.

My vet said / agreed with much of what I'd learned on here last night from many of you. It didn't need an ER trip; the canine is at least half up in the gum, and half showing; usually the tooth breaks off and because so much of it is under the gum, the vets have a time of it digging around to get the rest out so we were lucky it came out whole; and lucky he didn't swallow it, lol. And yes he DID save me money by having it drop out like this. So kudos to all who provided insight.

It sure was a shocker when that tooth dropped and hit the table last night, ha haa.

Thanks everyone!

So glad Tommy's OK - {{{hugs}}}. :love:

Good job Tommy! Sounds like you got in touch with your "inner dentist" :)

We're all so glad this worked out so well for Tommy and you, Sandie!

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

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Originally Posted by phesina

We're all so glad this worked out so well for Tommy and you, Sandie!

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

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Thank you. ;)

Give Tommy extra hugs from me! :love::love::love:

I'm so glad Tommy's okay! Did the vet have any idea what made that tooth fall out?:confused:

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Originally Posted by katladyd

Did the vet have any idea what made that tooth fall out?:confused:

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Tommy was born feral; he was 3 to 4 months old when I trapped him. She said that feral cats are genetically prone to gum disease. So he likely had a build up of tartar on the tooth, caught an infection and as he is predisposed it just took off. It is hard to see in the photos, but the top of the tooth - the part which would be under the gumline -- is full of tiny holes, where disease ate through it.

He will have a dental in 2 to 3 months. We try to keep the mouth clean on the former ferals (for me, that means Ebony, Chaplin, Bobby, Tommy, Tuppence and Mandy -- I trapped all but Ebony, she came from another colony which I didn't work on myself). We are going to wait on his dental to allow this area to heal up completely.

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Originally Posted by Catty1

Give Tommy extra hugs from me! :love::love::love:

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Some from me too, please :love: :love: Some for Bobby, Chaplin, Ebony, Mandy and Tuppence too, please :love:

Will do, Elyse.

I'm so glad that Tommy is fine and I hope his mouth heals up quickly.:)

Thanks, Tracy. I don't know that he EVER stopped eating, if the tooth was bothering him that much; but he is definitely eating normally at this point, lol.