Yoyo goes to the dentist
Play
A cat who loves to talk faces mouth problems
IN THE EARLY morning, eight-year-old Yoyo is usually one happy cat. He strolls throughout the house, exploring all his favourite corners and checking the patios on each floor.
Yoyo has all sorts of vocalisations, from a “hunting chatter” when he sees a bird outside, to a breathy moan when he wants attention from me or another cat.
This morning, though, he stretches out on the sofa where I’m sitting and gives me a low groan. “I’m dying,” I think he says.
At first, I ignore him. The boy really does talk a lot, and most of the time he’s just commenting on the weather. If I answered him every time he spoke, he’d control my life.
The groans gradually stop, but Yoyo, the clever boy, puts his front paws on my lap. Then he sticks his nose in my face and makes another sound. It's not precisely a vocalisation. Instead, he makes a sound that’s part tooth-grinding, part sucking, with his tongue protruding.
He’s having a problem, but what? If he has teeth problems, he’s hidden them well. He certainly hasn’t stopped eating.
I take Yoyo’s head in one hand and try to lift his lips to see his teeth, but he pulls away. For a cat who talks about everything, he won’t let me discover what’s going on inside his mouth.
Nevertheless, I hold him in my arms and run my fingers around his mouth to check if he’s been salivating. Some dogs and cats with tooth problems are in so much pain that they can’t even swallow their saliva easily.
Yoyo’s lips are dry, but I decide to take him to the vet the next day. If he has teeth and gum problems, they won’t go away by themselves. Without treatment, your dog or cat is going to suffer terribly from the pain.
Even worse, untreated teeth and gum problems can lead to kidney problems.
Yoyo isn’t shy. At the clinic, he groans to inform the vet he’s dying, but he does allow her to look inside his mouth.
“Laurie,” she says, “it’s pretty bad in there.” The gums on one side are badly infected, and his teeth need scaling to remove the huge calcium (or tartar) buildup.
My vet has the techniques to clean most dogs’ teeth without giving them a sedative first, but in her career, she has cleaned the teeth of only one cat without sedating her, my elderly cat who had fallen in love with her.
Yoyo has to wait a few hours though, just to make sure he’s digested his breakfast. Otherwise, under the anaesthetic, he might vomit up undigested food, which might then enter his windpipe and kill him.
Experts tell pet owners to start brushing their pets’ teeth at an early age. You can’t use human toothpaste, however, but specially developed toothpaste for dogs and cats is available at most pet supply shops.
Me, I’ve never been able to get a toothbrush into anyone’s mouth.
Back home a few hours later, Yoyo is still under the effects of the anaesthetic and unsteady on his feet. He groans unhappily, as in “I’m dying!”
Manohra, the flying kitten, tries to groom his nose, and the other animals, including the dog, cluster around him, but he’s in no mood for calming influences.
Throughout the night, he continues to groan. Now he wants comfort. He wants love. He stops only to eat some food before he starts moaning again.
Well, he’s never had his teeth cleaned before. For him, it wasn’t a pleasant experience, as he reminds the entire household for days to come.
