Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hello. I am new here, and very stressed. My cat has on-going mouth issues where hes licking, pawing, grinding and scratching his face. It hasnt been bad all year, but this weekend it went crazy. I booked him in for a dental and it got so bad they took him in for a emergency appt Wednesday. He had 3 teeth out that were roots left in from previous vet, lots of tooth fragment and infections in gum and jawbone. It was a big surgery. He come home, but is still going crazy at his mouth with the same symptoms and he has now started doing this stranged jolting motion with his head. Its like hes getting electrocuted and his head moves sharply backwards. Its distressing to watch. So I went back and got stronger pain relief (metacam wasn't helping him at all). Hes now on opium stuff that has worked and hes completely settled and is resting in his bed rather than cowering under the sofa.
My questions are, has anybody else experienced this? If so, what was it? Does anybody know hoe long a cat is like this after a dental? Its causing me so much sadness to see him like this, I adopted him two years ago in April and hes been my knight in shining armour since Covid bc im single and live alone. Im so scared what is happening because he is my best friend. The vet says keep him on this opium for a few days and then see how he goes. Any advice or experience would be helpful. Im worried hes got some neurological complication. (It has stopped now hes on the opium by the way.)
Thankyou

Welcome to the forum, hopefully people here can give you some help.

Personally, while I'm no expert, I would think that the problem was to do with pain. Having teeth out is painful, having an infection in the gums is painful, and it sounds like he had to have a lot of work done to sort out the issues. As the stronger painkillers have worked this seems to indicate that pain was the cause of his reaction, it could also be that the healing is causing itching or pins and needles in his mouth. It is possible that the roots, or broken bones were putting pressure on nerves and now that pressure is gone it feels wrong to him and he has to get used to how it should feel. In the end the strong painkillers have had an effect, and even if he doesn't fully recover there may be other medication that can help him. Tests may have to be done to try and find the cause if the reaction returns, but you don't want him in opiates permanently, fortunately there is likely to be other things that could help if needed.
Hopefully he will make a full recovery soon.

Thankyou Ruth. He went in today and has an infection in the extraction site, so hes now on antibiotics. Im still holding out hope hes gonna be ok. The head jerking/bobbing has happened today quite badly. I got it on camera and have mailed it to the surgeon. Fingers crossed.

Any updates, I have a cat with similar ongoing problems.