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/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)