March 28th archive, question and answer

Question: My dentist wants to charge 250 dollars to do a dental on my cat. That seems expensive to me.

Answer: Hello. When a dog or cat needs to have pet dental work it is necessary to have the animal under general anesthesia. Humans are nice enough to open their mouths voluntarily. This is an added expense. Also, if your Veterinarian has to extract teeth, or do gingival work, that will drive up the cost as well. Ask your Veterinarian to break down the cost so you can see the individual charges. Thanks, Dr. Chris

Question: My cat has not been using the litter box lately.

Answer: Hello. More information about the situation would be helpful, but I can give you a few suggestions. The first things that come to mind is that maybe your cat has either inflammation or an infection of the urinary tract. If the cat seems painful on urination, or the urine seems bloody this may be the case. If so, you need to take your cat to your Veterinarian for a physical exam of cat health. Also, it might be as simple as that you recently changed cat litter brands, or moved the litter box to another location. Thanks, Dr. Chris