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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Need advice please

7 replies

laneyboo · 28/04/2011 19:22

Can you let me know what you think about this please? Our 12/13 year old cat has really smelly breath, I'm a bit worried about what might be causing it. I've really noticed the smell in the last week. The thing is she isn't off her food, not drinking any extra and lets me go near her mouth, but does pull away when i try to pull her lip back. Which I think is probably pretty natural for her as she is, and also has been shy, as she is a rescue cat. She does eat wet food, but has just munched her way through some dry stuff.Do you think its just the smell of the food on her breath or something more?

OP posts:
CarGirl · 28/04/2011 20:13

It could be teeth, or once my cat got a blade of grass stuck up her nose which rotted slowly and stank.

beautifulgirls · 28/04/2011 20:21

Sounds like a trip to the vet would be a good idea. Could just be smelly breath but other causes can cause strange smells to their breath too ranging from dental disease, oro-pharngeal or respiratory infections or in some cases kidney problems or diabetes mellitus. Most cases in my experience would be dental related.

Original poster
laneyboo · 28/04/2011 22:09

Thank you both. I think a trip to the vet is probably best. Can't wait to get her into the cat carrier. [csmile]

OP posts:
ilovesprouts · 28/04/2011 22:15

deffo her teeth if she has bad breath

Original poster
laneyboo · 28/04/2011 22:24

I thought it was her teeth, but she really doesn't seem in any kind of pain with them and is eating everything. I'm quite worried that it may be respiratory, kidney problems or diabetes as beautifulgirls says. Is that more likely to affect an older cat do you think?

OP posts:
beautifulgirls · 29/04/2011 18:08

It doesn't necessarily follow with cats that they do not have dental problems if there are no signs of eating issues. Cats will tollerate a lot or oral pain before they will show signs of problems. This was once demonstrated to me by a poor cat that had been involved in an accident with a car. She had bad injuries that included a full thickness laceration of her tongue about 2/3 of the way across it. Due to the other injuries we were unable to deal with her tongue until she was properly stabilised and so amongst other treatments was given some pain killers which will have helped but not stopped the cat being in pain. The same evening with her tongue still "flapping" she actually chose to eat some soft food that was offered to her, much to everyone's astonishement. At that point I was certain that many cats have to be in a hell of a lot of pain to actually have eating issues.

Original poster
laneyboo · 30/04/2011 13:00

Thanks. I have an appointment with the vet for wednesady

OP posts:
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