Understanding feline tooth resorption, the most common dental disease in cats, its welfare impact, and why extraction is the treatment of choice.
Feline tooth resorption represents chronic dental pain affecting a large proportion of the cat population, the majority of whom are never diagnosed. The masking of dental pain is so effective in cats that owners routinely report their cat eating normally, unaware that eating has become a painful accommodation rather than an enjoyable activity. The behavior change after dental extractions — cats becoming more active, more playful, and more affectionate — reveals in retrospect the chronic burden of pain they were carrying. Routine dental radiographs under anesthesia at every dental procedure are essential for identifying resorptive lesions, as they are invisible without radiographic assessment in many cases. Prompt extraction when lesions are identified prevents progression and the associated chronic pain.