my cats breath is SOO BAD! and her gums are slightly red but she shows no discomfort, should i be worried?
Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at
12:16 pm
i read that it might be a sign of gingivitus? but she doesnt show any discomfort when she eats or drinks…im planning to start brushing her teeth since i am worried and i cant stand her FUNKY BREATH! i feed her soft cat food…any tips or suggestions to brushing her teeth? and should i be really concerned about her bad breath/redish gum problem?
Filed under: Bad Breath Gum
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Hi Debbie…feline gingivitis merits medical attention. There could be tooth decay or an infection which may need to be treated with either teeth cleaning or antibiotics.
Consider ringing your vet to discuss if a visit is necessary.
Here are some articles on Feline gingivitis:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=223&S=2
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?articleid=368
http://www.nativeremedies.com/petalive/gumz-n-teeth-prevent-pet-gingivitis.html
Here’s a step-by-step video on how to brush cats teeth by Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine: http://www.felinevideos.vet.cornell.edu/brushing_teeth/
YEOWWWWWINGAAA
well i know for dogs you can buy these like sweets that clean their teeth but i’m not sure about cats. Check with your vet what you should do.
She probably has a bad cavity or two. for a cat,, this can be serious,, a infection in the mouth can cause death as the infections can spread to the brain quite easly. You need to take her in to have her teeth cleaned and have any bad ones pulled very soon, two days tops. own 4 cats two are 14 and 16, had them since they were 7 months and 1 year,, the other is a 12 y/o stray who now thinks he’s the defender of our house, and another stray probably about 3ish. make sure you take them to the vet for there vacinations to keep them healthy and happy.
It’s not that serious….she wont die or anything but the best option is to get her to the vets, they can prescribe her some special Hills diet food called T/D this is large nuggets of food with different layers so your cat will have to crunch through them when eating and this should remove some of the tartar build up in her mouth. The vet can then manually scrape it off there and then or she will have to be put under and have it cleaned my a machiene depending on how serious it is. Dont panic too much though just get to the vet as soon as you can, my cat had exactly the same problem about a month ago, she didnt need to be put under and she is so much better now, the smelly breath is gone and her gums and no longer inflamed….a much happier cat.
Also about the teeth bushing thing….im not sure if you’ve ever tried that before but I know my cats would never go for it! Your better off with some T/D which you can put ontop of her existing food and they will brush her teeth for you!
get her into the vet and have them look at her teeth and gums, it’s best to catch this stuff early rather than late. it could just be because you are feeding her soft food. but better to be safe than sorry.
here is a video on how to do it:
http://www.felinevideos.vet.cornell.edu/
I agree with ‘Seattle’ below….bad breath & red gums are not good and neither is soft food. Dry food is best for cleaning teeth as a maintance but you must have the vet check teeth first & have them cleaned. By the time kitties show discomfort… the problem has gone too far. Go soon & good luck