These green patches are kudzu. It sprouted back just a couple days after the fence was put up. It was impossible to keep it out of the hedge, without killing the hedge too. I zapped it with Roundup right after this picture. There will finally be no more kudzu on the property! My back yard may look as neat as @Joe Riley's one day.
(11/7/23) Tuesday The cat is not improving. Today (Wednesday) marks 6 weeks since the dental surgery. She is still snorting/sneezing, pawing at her mouth after she eats or grooms. Throwing up undigested food almost every day now. It seemed a little worse Tuesday. The vet practice said bring her in at 4:15. She has been much easier to catch lately, so I only allowed 15 minutes to do it. Big mistake. If she is not feeling well, she doesn't want to be caught, and no amount of time helps. I was just about to call and cancel, when her habit of running down the stairs, just as I go up, provided the opportunity. It wasn't pretty. Squirming, hissing, growling. The surgeon, another vet, and a technician looked her over. No fever. Mouth healing very well, they said. No visible infection. Guaranteed me the stitches were gone, even deep inside. They don't have a clue what's wrong. The throwing up bothered them most. One suggested IBD. (Symptoms don't match that at all.) Suggested a shot of the long-term antibiotic to see if it helped. It's possible there is a deep infection in the bone that's not showing on the surface, or in elevated temp. They think X-rays or ultrasound may be necessary. People always think you are making a fuss over nothing. I guess it's because there are a lot of people who make a fuss over nothing. So last night I got a video of the behavior. Will email it to them, or give them a YouTube link, when they open. I hope they watch it. On closer look, it seems more like something is stuck in her throat, like I originally thought about stitches. I think they are right about the X-rays.
Sorry to hear that your little one is still in distress. .....if she could only talk! You are lucky to have each other.
Received a reply from the vet clinic. It has been 6 weeks since the surgery. Since they don't think it's serious, I'll post the video. Personally, I can hardly stand to watch it. (1:30 mins) Has anyone seen anything like this before? . . .
Not a cat expert, but I did work for a vet. It looks like the cat thinks something is getting caught or is stuck. Perhaps a jaw joint issue like TMJ. @Ken Anderson ?
I can't say. I'd go with what the vet suggests for the time being, but your cat should eventually get used to new feelings in her mouth, and everything has had plenty of time to heal. Had you not included the information about the dental issue, my concern would have been that this is precisely what a former cat of mine looked like while eating when she had mouth cancer. I don't want to scare you into thinking she has mouth cancer because it may well be that the reaction to the dental issue happens to be the same. She is having some difficulty or discomfort eating, though.
It looks like something is definitely getting stuck in her mouth or throat. Maybe try the pate' style foods for a while, Nancy. Poor little kitty.
They sent a tissue sample from the area around the abscessed tooth to a lab and it tested negative for cancer. That doesn't mean it couldn't be somewhere else in the mouth, but all this started the day after surgery.
I still think they are all wrong about the pate food. Just because she gave a couple of licks on the exam table doesn't mean much. When you're frightened you don't worry about your mouth hurting. The dry cat food is the best. It's the only thing she eats consistently. She swallows it whole. Now the FLAVOR of the food, and whether it's juicy and saturates your mouth, might make a difference. Those were pieces of raw liver in the dish. She likes it raw, but can't pick up the pieces because it sticks to the dish. When it's cooked she won't eat it. {sigh} There must be something about liver juice that makes you lick a lot. Yum!