Gelato needs your help -

Meet our chatty, senior orange tabby, Gelato. When she came to the shelter about a month ago, we noticed her breath was really smelly and her coat was unkempt. So, we made an appointment for a dental cleaning. However, the procedure couldn’t be done as Gelato was diagnosed with a severe case of stomatitis. This would explain why she hasn’t been grooming her coat and is constantly licking her mouth. We also discovered that she’s much older than we thought…in the range of 6-10 years.

Stomatitis is a very painful condition in which the gums and the entire inside of the mouth are severely inflamed. It affects a cat’s quality of life, specifically its ability to eat and groom. It’s not yet known what causes stomatitis but, unfortunately, the only known cure is a full-mouth extraction of all the teeth.

We referred to the Pet Dentist in Wesley Chapel for the procedure. However, when we called to make an appointment, we were given an astronomical quote of $4300 to $4500. Therefore, we scheduled an appointment on Monday with our full-service vet at Pet Care on Highland for Gelato to have an exam and get a quote for the procedure.

We will update everyone after the appointment on Monday with, hopefully, a much easier quote on our wallet. We’ll need to create a fundraiser to be able to gather the funds for the procedure.