Cat with either a dirty mouth or gum problem?

I thought my cat (male age about 8) had a dirty mouth from eating, but
went to wipe it clean and I think it's attached.

On one side, a piece of gummish kind of thing LOOKS to be attached.
It's almost like a skin tag on a human, but the same color as cat gum.
It's at the very bottom of his gum, where the gum ends and his fur
begins.

Then on the other side, he's got two little white places that I can't
decide if it's dried milk or some kind of something.

I tried to examine as best I could, but he doesn't care for exams. Any
ideas if this is just crud or if it's something else? I'd rather not
take him for another vet appointment if I can avoid it, because it's
high trauma. But of course I will if needed.

Thank you for listening.

On Mar 14, 5:39 pm, "cybercat" wrote:
wrote in message

...



I thought my cat (male age about 8) had a dirty mouth from eating, but
went to wipe it clean and I think it's attached.

On one side, a piece of gummish kind of thing LOOKS to be attached.
It's almost like a skin tag on a human, but the same color as cat gum.
It's at the very bottom of his gum, where the gum ends and his fur
begins.

Then on the other side, he's got two little white places that I can't
decide if it's dried milk or some kind of something.

I tried to examine as best I could, but he doesn't care for exams. Any
ideas if this is just crud or if it's something else? I'd rather not
take him for another vet appointment if I can avoid it, because it's
high trauma. But of course I will if needed.

It is needed.

What could it be???

wrote in message
...
I thought my cat (male age about 8) had a dirty mouth from eating, but
went to wipe it clean and I think it's attached.

On one side, a piece of gummish kind of thing LOOKS to be attached.
It's almost like a skin tag on a human, but the same color as cat gum.
It's at the very bottom of his gum, where the gum ends and his fur
begins.

Then on the other side, he's got two little white places that I can't
decide if it's dried milk or some kind of something.

I tried to examine as best I could, but he doesn't care for exams. Any
ideas if this is just crud or if it's something else? I'd rather not
take him for another vet appointment if I can avoid it, because it's
high trauma. But of course I will if needed.


It is needed.

wrote
It is needed.

What could it be???

It could be oral cancer, that is why you need to get your cat to
the vet.

On Mar 14, 7:19 pm, "cybercat" wrote:
wrote

It is needed.

What could it be???

It could be oral cancer, that is why you need to get your cat to
the vet.

Very oddly, the thing that looked like a skin tag seems to have
disappeared. The white spots on the other side are still there, so
I'll take him in, but it's weird. It may have just been a dirty
mouth...he sometimes does make a mess on his face.

wrote in message
...
On Mar 14, 7:19 pm, "cybercat" wrote:
wrote

It is needed.

What could it be???

It could be oral cancer, that is why you need to get your cat to
the vet.

Very oddly, the thing that looked like a skin tag seems to have
disappeared. The white spots on the other side are still there, so
I'll take him in, but it's weird. It may have just been a dirty
mouth...he sometimes does make a mess on his face.

You'll feel better if you take him in. Always better safe than sorry. Let us
know how it goes, and thanks for being such a caring cat person.

On Mar 14, 11:31 pm, "cybercat" wrote:
wrote in message

...

On Mar 14, 7:19 pm, "cybercat" wrote:
wrote

It is needed.

What could it be???

It could be oral cancer, that is why you need to get your cat to
the vet.

Very oddly, the thing that looked like a skin tag seems to have
disappeared. The white spots on the other side are still there, so
I'll take him in, but it's weird. It may have just been adirty
mouth...he sometimes does make a mess on his face.

You'll feel better if you take him in. Always better safe than sorry. Let us
know how it goes, and thanks for being such a caring cat person.

Hi, I just wanted to report back that he's been diagnosed with
stomatitis. He got a steroid and antibiotic shot and is on oral
antibiotics to bring down the inflammation, and then is having a
dental. He had a dental two years ago as well. So that "dirty mouth"
was in fact goo from his poor mouth. My poor boy had lost three
pounds!!! (He needed to lose it, but not like this)

He also had a fever (103), but nothing else was out of order, no lumps
or anything. Now I'm just waiting to take him in for his surgery and
see if he loses any teeth. (He lost a canine a couple of years ago)

I'm also trying to learn more about this stomatitis. I feel just
terrible that it had been going on long enough to lose three pounds.
He's always been so good about letting me trim his nails and things
like that, but I've never been able to get him to allow tooth
brushing. I don't know if that would help or not. He also eats wet
food....I'm wondering if I need to force some dry food on him. He'll
eat it, but with great protest.

My vet takes a conservative approach on things, but did mention
there's a school of thought to pull all the teeth at some point. :
( I'm hopeful the dental will help, and then I can learn what to do to
keep this from getting bad again.

Thoughts?

Thanks again for your support!

He also had a fever (103), but nothing else was out of order, no lumps
or anything. Now I'm just waiting to take him in for his surgery and
see if he loses any teeth. (He lost a canine a couple of years ago)

I'm also trying to learn more about this stomatitis. I feel just
terrible that it had been going on long enough to lose three pounds.
He's always been so good about letting me trim his nails and things
like that, but I've never been able to get him to allow tooth
brushing. I don't know if that would help or not. He also eats wet
food....I'm wondering if I need to force some dry food on him. He'll
eat it, but with great protest.

I'm very glad you took him in. Cats can be very stoic animals and hide
their pain well, so you did the right thing. Don't feed him dry food.
Canned is much better for him all around. There's been a lot of talk
about dry food and dental health--but cats don't chew like you and I.
They bite, tear, and swallow, so dry food does nothing for them. In
fact, many cats swallow dry food whole.

If he needs most or all of his teeth pulled out, he will do just fine,
especially with canned food, which he can lap up. If he does keep some
of his teeth, you can try to brush them with a C.E.T. brand brush
(make sure to get the cat version). This is the best brush I've found
and even my more anxious cat will let me use this on him.

Just to report back....he's out of surgery and lost all of his upper
teeth behind the canines. Poor guy. He also lost one canine (and had
lost one in a previous dental), so he has two canines left plus his
lower teeth.

My poor big boy. But he's going to feel better once he heals. He
definitely has stomatitis, too. At least it wasn't cancer, and all of
his blood tests were fine.

He spent his first couple of years of life as a feral, so didn't have
the best start in life. He already eats just canned food so that's
taken care of.

I'm just marking time until I can go pick him up.

wrote in message
...
Just to report back....he's out of surgery and lost all of his upper
teeth behind the canines. Poor guy. He also lost one canine (and had
lost one in a previous dental), so he has two canines left plus his
lower teeth.

My poor big boy. But he's going to feel better once he heals. He
definitely has stomatitis, too. At least it wasn't cancer, and all of
his blood tests were fine.

He spent his first couple of years of life as a feral, so didn't have
the best start in life. He already eats just canned food so that's
taken care of.

I'm just marking time until I can go pick him up.

Thanks so much for letting us know, and bless you for being such a
great cat mom. I am so glad it was not anything more serious--this
sounds serious enough.


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