another cat thread-dental

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wondering if WPers have got any ideas for this problem.
Sam is a diabetic sixteen year old and is supposed to need a tooth taken out-dad says she has been getting bad pain in the past few days from it,the vet wouldnt give her a painkiller the last time she was there for blood tests or anti biotics-am sure he had said it was infected.
She is not allowed to have a general anaesthetic, because she had one a while ago to remove cancer tumours,and she stopped breathing-the vet back then said its very risky to do at her age and not to do it again,the current vet said this tooth needs removing.

do vets offer other forms of sedation for pets,like dentists do-IV sedation,light sedation with local anaesthetic etc-are there any pain killers she can get from a vet to help her tooth pain,and should she get antibiotics?
even with all the problems she does have,she has a good life and acts like a kitten now her diabetes is getting better controlled,back when they first diagnosed her with it they recommended euthanasia just because of the price of insulin and needles.

I don't know the answer to your question, but this thread made me frown =(

I believe they do offer lighter sedation for older cats with medical problems. I'll be thinking about you and Sam. I love that name for a cat. I had a Siamese named Samantha.

my cat was always given cortisone shots for his pain, but he also had severe allergies in the summer and spring too and i don't know if that influence what was given to him

Try asking the vet, I'm sure there are alternative methods. If you don't ask, you don't get

If it's infected, the vet ought to have prescribed an antibiotic, which would either take care of the problem entirely or make it much safer to remove the tooth.

Yeah, they can do all those kinds of anesthesia you mentioned, but it's really hard to get an IV catheter into a somebody as small as a cat, so vets love to induce and maintain anesthesia with isoflourane gas alone.

There are not many good take-home pain-killers for cats. There are lots for dogs, but for cats there's pretty much just meloxicam.

Better talk to the vet. There may be some way to pull the tooth without general anesthesia, but it'd depend a lot on the docility of the cat, the courage of the vet, and which tooth it is. Some of them come out a lot easier and quicker than others.