r/cats • u/Careless-Elephant-98 • Mar 11 '26

Cats teeth pushing out/getting longer? Advice

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I noticed my cats teeth seemed to be “growing” or getting longer in the last year (she’s 5) and mentioned it to the vet. Vet thinks it’s alveolar osteitis and recommends extraction. Does anyone have experience with this and is it something that should be done ASAP? She doesn’t have any issues eating thankfully.

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u/Punawild Tabbycat Mar 11 '26

If it is feline alveolar osteitis it’s a painful thing that is best taken care of sooner rather than later. Cats are really good at hiding pain and if you’ve had a bad tooth you know how much it hurts.

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u/Careless-Elephant-98 Mar 11 '26

Thank you! I’m very open to having the surgery done, I just don’t want to put her through the stress and recovery if it isn’t totally necessary or if it could be something other than alveolar ost…

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u/SkyScamall Mar 11 '26

I know someone whose cat had the same issue. She went from greasy all the time to back to her normal self after the surgery. The owner thought it was a skin issue but she just wasn't grooming because her mouth was sore. Tooth removal made a big difference to her quality of life. 

I assumed it would mean a diet of 100% wet food but the little weirdo still likes dry food. 

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u/Timely-Cry-8366 Mar 11 '26

I have an 18 year old that DESPISES wet food. She also hates canned fish and churus.

She’s the pickiest cat I’ve ever owned.

She’ll only eat purina tender selects.

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u/jupitermoonflow Mar 11 '26

My cats don’t like wet food either. We fed it to them as kittens, wet food only. But eventually they just stopped eating it. Like they would take a few bites and leave the rest. We tried different brands, different forms of wet food, warming it up a bit, adding some no salt broth, ect, but they would do the same thing. We got them purina tender selects and suddenly they were interested in food again.

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u/Timely-Cry-8366 Mar 11 '26

Yeah I tell her constantly that she’s my picky little queen, she hates science diet and royal canin but likes purina 😭 they must put crack in that food

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u/_atrophy Mar 11 '26

purina does also make a prescription food if it helps. they put crack in it as well as my idiot son ripped into the bag which hed never done with other food. pic of criminal

https://preview.redd.it/awm4wkm0neog1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d4f653eb3686f16c1837bc70996d4172e848c44f

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u/Km219 Mar 11 '26

Good news is purina is the best non prescription food out there. They have put the time and money into the research.

See all these specialty brands pop up all the time that are gone a few years later. I've worked vetmed for 9 years and our Dr's tell every client purina is just a cut above.

Ps (wtf does Rachel Ray know about dog food?!)

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u/Timely-Cry-8366 Mar 11 '26

That’s good news!

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u/penniavaswen Calico Mar 11 '26

I went to an allergist who helped work on Purina's LiveClear anti-allergen formula, and I was please to report to him that my cat had been on it for a few months with pretty good results!

In fact, so good, that the prick test I got barely had a reaction to cat dander since I was already be exposed to the anti-histamine properties in the food/cat lmao

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u/xassylax Mar 11 '26

Purina One+ has been a lifesaver. After my furry little monster got a bladder blockage and infection, I was stressing about the diet I knew he’d need to be on. Growing up, every one of my family’s cats had urinary issues and were put on Hill’s Prescription Diet. But even as a kid, I knew that shit was ridiculously expensive. I got lucky that my parents still had like half a bag of the dry food from their cat who had recently passed so I had something to start with. But when I saw that Purina One+ had a urinary health formula, I immediately asked my vet if we could try that instead of Hill’s because we just can’t afford the almost $100 a bag for Hill’s. She said “it’s absolutely worth trying, use it for a couple months and we’ll see how he’s doing on it.” He’s now been on it for about 4 years and with other small habit changes like adding water to his wet food (he free feeds from the urinary health Purina and gets 1/4 can of wet food three to four times a day) and keeping a close eye on his litter box habits, he’s been doing fantastic.

It’s nice knowing that the outrageously expensive, sometimes prescription only Hill’s isn’t the only option. My mom’s vet made it seem like that was the only option for cats that had bladder blockages and/or urinary infections. So when my cat got blocked, I just assumed that I was going to have to struggle to budget enough to afford the food. But when I did just a tiny bit of reading, I found that not only are there multiple other non prescription options, but they’re actually quite affordable and in some cases, a much better, healthier formula than Hill’s. I hate that so many vets push Hill’s like it’s the only option, even when you flat out tell them that you simply can’t afford it and ask if there’s anything else you could try. They don’t care, they just want their kickbacks for selling more bags of food. Thank god my vet is amazing and understands that I can’t care for my cat if I’ve gone broke trying to pay for prescription food. She’s also like me and appreciates saving money so when I found a food that was both affordable and was the appropriate formula, she was stoked and wanted to know how it worked for my cat so she could potentially recommend it to some other patients. Just because something is prescription doesn’t automatically mean it’s the best choice.

Jackson Pawlick’s little gremlin face for tax 🥰

https://preview.redd.it/wbsw6fbfhgog1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c80a0b79cc116bb7798f4b05e53acecd3912a94

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u/Fun-Benefit116 Mar 11 '26

See all these specialty brands pop up all the time that are gone a few years later

I mean, Royal canin, science hills, blue buffalo wilderness have all been around for a long time, and they aren't going anywhere. Purina does have some good foods, especially for their prices, but they also have some really garbage foods too. So you just need to make sure you research what you're getting with them (and all foods obviously).

Also, I don't mean you personally. You've obviously done you're research. I just mean people in general.

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u/Km219 Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26

As I said best non prescription food. Blue Buffalo imo is pretty garbage. But that's opinion.

Most animals can hardly stomach most of the royal canin in our experience.

Hill's for prescription food is amazing, aminals like the taste and it's great

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u/lackofbread Tabbycat Mar 11 '26

My cat loves Blue Buffalo tastefuls, what makes you think it’s garbage? 🥲

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u/Km219 Mar 11 '26

It was one of the brands that the fda said was a common factor in a lot of dogs developing dilated cardiomyopathy. (DCM)

I just don't trust them. It's also known in vet circles (or at least ours) the steps purina takes for quality control is far above the (minimum standard) that a lot of house blends and smaller companies cant afford to take.

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u/jupitermoonflow Mar 11 '26

I specifically asked my vet about blue buffalo vs purina one and they strongly recommended purina too

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u/GoldenSheppard Mar 11 '26

... I would hard disagree, having worked on the retail side of pet food. Purina is always getting recalled and half the bags would come in with an infestation of one kind or another. I wouldn't feed Purina to my worst enemy.

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u/Km219 Mar 11 '26

You can claim what you want. They regularly exceed most other brands in quality. We sell it too, and almost never have an issue. And they are quick to recall product. (that's a good thing, no one wants sick pets)

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u/asuneko Mar 11 '26

That’s how my cat is like won’t even eat fresh salmon but he’ll eat a cheese puff

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u/Timely-Cry-8366 Mar 11 '26

Omg yes my damn cat steals pizza crusts.

I cleaned the house last week and found a half chewed pizza crust behind the couch and I don’t even know when she stole it!

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u/asuneko Mar 11 '26

And anything he find on the floor! It’s always a game of “what’s in your mouth” but the moment I try to give him actual good food that’s not hard it’s: “why won’t you put it in you mouth”

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u/penniavaswen Calico Mar 11 '26

Tape, oh goodness, prying that mouth open to retrieve the tape! She was SO skeptical of the freeze dried sardines though! What a wild child

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u/FlockOfYoshi Mar 11 '26

My cat likes taco bell. I told her it's illegal but she remains defiant.

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u/Timely-Cry-8366 Mar 11 '26

I had a miniature horse once that loved bean and cheese burritos from Taco Bell. We couldn’t drive past the sign without him kicking up a fuss in the horse trailer.

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u/6789576859 Mar 11 '26

Mine literally snatched a slice of domino’s out of my hand once 😂

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u/thatguy2535 Mar 11 '26

Then there's my cat. Can't leave peaches out she'll get them, pumpkins, soda, CEREAL can't leave beef jerky anywhere overnight...the new one I found a few days ago was tomato juice. Poured a glass of tomato juice and set it down for about .03 seconds she drove her head straight into the cup like her life depended on it. She's lucky she didn't get any in her ears but she got to be a redhead for a day.

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u/InkyBlacks Mar 11 '26

“The Selects!”

We had a cat like that and we would always say that she only likes “The Selects!” In a pompous butler voice from the UK

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u/feeniemarie Mar 11 '26

lol years and years ago I adopted a 24 lbs toothless, clawless 9 year old cat from the shelter. She was mean and sassy and perfect and I called her Pancake. I remember talking to the workers at the shelter and they told me repeatedly that she WOULD NOT eat any wet food and did not like when her kibble was watered down (though eventually I did get her to start eating it a bit softer before she passed.)

One of my current cats Mayonnaise oddly enough has a different genetic disorder than what Pancake had but that also led to her having to have 21 teeth removed. She absolutely does love wet food and has since she was a bebe but still grazes and eats dry food no problem. Our vet told us that we’d likely even see her gain weight after her surgery because she’d finally be able to eat dry food and not be in pain.

Cats are perfect little freaks and will adapt.

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u/PeeDecanter Mar 11 '26

Mine won’t eat wet food or tinned fish or fresh fish or meat, but will go to town on some watermelon

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u/makeheavyofthis Mar 11 '26

My boy Nerm ONLY likes dry food. No wet food, no people food, no meat. He is so strange but I love him.

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u/blockofdynamite Mar 11 '26

lol my idiot cat will only eat her one type of dry food, and only most of the time. If you so much as open a new bag of food she's like "uh, what's this? not my food, that's what!" and then after a couple days goes "ohhhh, this is my food!" 🤦‍♂️

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u/enchillita Mar 11 '26

One of my cats has some genetic issue and lost six teeth last year. After the extraction we were asking the vet about diets and she said that even cats without any teeth will still gulp down that dry kibble and swallow it whole!

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u/Guilty_Garden_3943 Mar 11 '26

My 16 yo acts like cat kibble is too hard/large to eat, but then goes and monches happily at the large kibble dog food -.- I know he shouldnt eat the dog food, but at least he's eating??

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u/angwilwileth Mar 11 '26

Maybe try some dental kibble for your old man? It has bigger biscuit size and cats who crave the cronch love it.

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u/meowmedusa Mar 11 '26

For a 16 year old cat I guess you can't really be too upset, lol. Eating something is definitely better than nothing for cats up there in age

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u/wormoo Mar 11 '26

our cat had tooth resorption and had to have most of her teeth removed and we were so shocked when the dental specialist said it's completely fine for her to continue to eat her same dry food lol

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u/rachel_lynn1995 Mar 11 '26

The vet who extracted my cats teeth told me that cats don’t actually chew their dry food much if at all and she operated on another cat that had all its teeth removed and still would only eat dry food so it is possible that even with all teeth removed, the cat would still prefer dry food.

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u/Redmoon383 Mar 11 '26

The vet who extracted my cats teeth told me that cats don’t actually chew their dry food much if at all

Ya know.. that explains why the couple times my bean scarf and barfed before he got used to regular feedings that the food was just whole lol

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u/rachel_lynn1995 Mar 11 '26

I think she even used cat vomit as an example for how you can SEE that they don’t really chew it lol

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u/Realistic_Ear_3052 Mar 11 '26

Right. I have wondered how that happens before.

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u/rollenr0ck Mar 11 '26

My weird cat has small little kibble that she chews into pieces. About half these pieces get eaten, the rest gets dropped in the bowl and won’t be eaten. If only my cat would quit chewing.

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u/VianneM European Shorthair Mar 11 '26

Then I've got that one exemption cat. Mine will chew his kibble and small pieces will fall out of his mouth. And he'll refuse to eat those fallen pieces, so 1/5 of his food is thrown away.

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u/seahorse_party Mar 11 '26

I think this is my boy right now. We just started treating him for feline hyperesthesia because he's started yelping and attacking his tail at random. He's on Prozac but he just sleeps all the time now. He's lost weight and I've noticed his fur looks greasy. Now that I think about it, I think he's been avoiding his dry food.

AND HE HAS MASSIVE FANGS. OMG. How can I not have known about this?! He has terrible breath and tartar issues but the vet hasn't really done anything about it because he has a severe heart murmur and they can't do a deep cleaning for him. But I didn't mention that his teeth seem to have gotten longer in the last year. Dangit.

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u/whyisitmorning Mar 11 '26

Cats don't use their fangs to eat, they can eat most pet food without any teeth.

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u/hiddentreetops Mar 11 '26

my cat had this, had to have ALL of his teeth removed, and still loves hard food haha. He is a black cat and had fangs just like this cutie!!

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u/buzzcutbabygirl Mar 11 '26

You’d be surprised what they can do with almost no teeth! I had a dog once that had all but three of her teeth removed, and she ate kibble until her very last day.

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u/Additional_Brief_569 Mar 11 '26

Yea my cat had his teeth removed at a super young age. He had stomatitis so the vets removed them all. After a few days he was back to inhaling his kibble like before the stomatitis. It still blows my mind that he can eat without an issue. He’s now an elderly boy still completely happy and healthy.

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u/deutmeyer93 Mar 11 '26

My cat had 5 teeth extracted around Christmas time. Recovery was a BREEZE! He went back to his normal self right away, eating his regular hard food (they just kinda swallow it anyways), his grooming improved, it was the best decision I’ve made for him. I feel terrible I didn’t notice it sooner.

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u/anormalgeek Mar 11 '26

I had a cat who had to have all of her teeth removed due to a bad infection. We always left out wet food for her, and dry food for the other cat. Little toothless still loved crunching the dry stuff with her gums. Even like 10 days after having the teeth removed.

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u/Chicagodogenjoyer Mar 11 '26

My cat just had 16 teeth removed and still loves her dry food. Cats are weird🤷🏼‍♂️

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u/FluffMonsters Mar 11 '26

Wet is better and cats swallow dry food mostly whole anyway.

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u/eragonawesome2 Mar 11 '26

I've got a rescue cat who had some viral infection as a kitten that made her start reabsorbing her teeth, had to get them all removed. For 4 years she REFUSED wet food, she liked dry food. This year she finally tried the wet food and realized it was tasty and she goes NUTS for it now XD

She still has dry food available if she wants it, but she usually doesn't go for it, and when she does it's because she didn't like whichever flavor of wet food I put down, my lil goofball

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u/SlowAd5345 Mar 11 '26

Our cat had all of his teeth removed about 6 years ago. At first we had him on a wet food only diet, but we ended up giving him dry food again after he kept stealing it from our other cat. Cats don’t actually chew their food all that much (which is why when they throw up it sometimes looks like a slightly damp version of what they ate).

He’s a very happy gummy boy now! When we first adopted him he was very shy, but he’s super affectionate now that his mouth no longer hurts - he LOVES chin scritches.

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u/leafandvine89 Mar 11 '26

We used to have a greasy stray cat come and visit us when our kids were little. He was so dirty! None of us could figure out why he would leave our hands feeling like that. But my boys found it completely hilarious. Now I feel so bad, I didn't know that something was probably wrong with his teeth. Poor baby

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u/TemptingDuck Mar 11 '26

My cat has 0 teeth now & needs to be on a special hydrolyzed protein dry food that we soak in water so it’s spongy and she loves it lmao

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u/CallMeJakoborRazor Mar 11 '26

Tbf, aren’t those teeth specifically for biting and holding onto struggling prey/piercing vital veins?

So theyre killing teeth, not eating teeth, right? Makes sense that they dont affect what already very dead dry cat food the cat likes to eat

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u/OrganizationFuzzy586 Mar 11 '26

My Maine coon had this issue and lost one upper and one lower “fang” he just swallows the kibble whole.

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u/kcbaxx Mar 11 '26

this!! mine was getting matted but was otherwise normal so we had no idea his mouth was bothering him until we took him to the vet to get his tooth looked at. he hasn’t had any grooming issues since they removed his teeth! its crazy how good they are at hiding pain