Just to say I am going to buy Dr Addie's e-book and try Lulu for a month exclusively on Butcher's (plus the Metacam of course) and see what happens. I've rung the vet's and thankfully she is FIV/FeLV negative. I got her to eat some Butcher's this morning by squishing it up with my fingers and she is obviously wondering where her Gourmet Perle and Sardine Whiskas have got to but it's worth a try if there's a tiny chance of a cure.

So pleased her tests are ok Dr. Addie has some great advise we use her site as the bible to cats since loosing Merlin, our vet told us about her as he has worked with her in the past. Hope she improves soon

It's such a relief about the tests. I'd never heard of Dr Addie before. I presume she's a researcher at the University of Glasgow? When the vet rings me I'm going to broach the subject of diet again. He'll probably just think she's a nutjob, you know how vets can be, but it can't do any harm and might do some good. At worst Lulu will just be deprived of her favourite grub for a few weeks. I'm assuming (without seeing the book yet, obviously) that I'll give diet a go for a couple of months and rethink the extraction after that.

Dr Addie is a well known and respected vet who has done a lot of research into feline diseases, especially FIP, stomatitis and respiratory problems. Definitely worth trying diet and metacam and anything else from Dr Addies book before making any decisions about extractions etc - let us know how you get on.

Aahh - poor Lulu, and poor you - what a decision to have to make!
My cat, Cassie, (gone now, but never forgotten ..) went in to have a couple of teeth taken out and came home with only a couple left!!!
It was a different situation to yours - she was a persian, and her teeth were growing at just about every angle imaginable, so were particularly difficult to keep clean, so she suffered terribly with gingivitis etc..! Anyway, she was absolutely fine after a while - once her gums had healed, she was back on the feline t/d (big biscuits to make sure they are chewed before swallowing!) I tried her on so many different foods that I thought would be easier for her, but she liked what she liked, and she managed fine with next-to-no-gnashers! As I said, obviously, it was a completely different situation to yours, but she was also only a couple of years old at the time! They're amazingly resilient, and sometimes I wonder if we give them their due credit?!!
Fingers crossed the diet thing works - Hope all goes well.

I recommend a second opinion. Cats can live quite happily without their teeth and you may be saving Lulu a lifetime of pain and suffering.

Metacam is bad news for cats, and I would never give it to my cats, I know it is approved for use in cats in Europe, but, if you put her on that be sure to get blood work regularly, and I mean every few months, because metacam can cause acute kidney failure in cats.

In my opinion a life without teeth, for a cat, is preferable to a life on pain meds.

Thanks. I'm already feeling a bit disheartened about the diet business. If it was so easy then surely everybody would be doing it? I bought vast quantities of Applaws yesterday and Lulu is not very keen, and somebody told me that Butchers is such poor quality that it's not very likely to help, so I don't know what to think really.

The vet is leaving the decision up to me but his personal opinion seems to be that she is terribly young to lose her teeth and would be better on years of Metacam. I think you're right that it would not be good for her health and it would be better to have the teeth out. At the moment I'm trying the Metacam/diet route but with no great hope of success.

Butchers Classic isnt poor quality - its lower in meat content than some brands like Bozita for instance - but unlike many canned/pouch diets - it doesnt contain any cereals, and no additives or preservatives, which is one of the reasons it is thought to be good for gum problems, as there is some thought that additives and preservatives can make gum problems worse. I would think in that case, that any preservative/additive/cereal free food would help, so something like Bozita that I mentioned earlier may also have the same effect? and is higher meat content than Classic.

Don't expect Lulu to take to dietary changes straight away, I always recommend making changes gradually. Applaws tinned isnt complete, so shouldnt be fed as the sole diet, but Butchers Classic is complete.

Dr Addie does say that diet alone can be all thats needed in some cases - but not in all case, so a combination of treatments would be the way to go.

Thanks. I haven't seen Bozita anywhere. The biggest petfood store I can get to is Pets at Home. I thought Butchers was OK quality but someone I spoke with told me it has antifreeze in it, despite the only admitted additive being caramel when I emailed them in the past to ask what the EU permitted colourant on the label meant. I'm still not clear if Dr Addie's suggested diet includes dry Applaws - Lulu likes that. I've emailed Dr Addie to ask but got an out of office reply. Vet rang me a little while ago and did seem to be putting pressure on in favour of longterm Metacam. He'd not heard of Dr Addie but said he would google info. He wants to see Lulu in two or three weeks so I will stay with the Metacam for that time in any case.