Feline stomatitis is a severe, painful inflammatory condition affecting the entire mouth that often requires aggressive management including full-mouth tooth extraction to achieve comfort.
Feline stomatitis causes some of the most intense oral pain documented in companion animals. The severe inflammation involves not just gingival tissue but the pharyngeal tissue behind the last molars (caudal stomatitis), making swallowing painful. Affected cats may be unable to eat despite obvious hunger, leading to weight loss and malnutrition. The appearance of affected cats - drooling, crying when eating, refusing food - indicates severe suffering that owners find distressing. Despite seeming counterintuitive, full-mouth tooth extraction is transformative for most affected cats because removing the teeth eliminates the bacterial trigger for the immune hypersensitivity. Cats recover chewing ability over time and the reduction in pain is dramatic and sustained in most cases.