cat with sore gums - advice please!

[Carrierpenguin]

My 2.5yo rescue cat has red gums and has lost a few teeth due to this. His teeth appear clean but he has bad breath.

I took him to the vet twice. He's been given some toothpaste to lick on his paw. Apparently as his teeth are clean a dental is pointless according to the vet. Vet said he'll see cat again in a month and may give antibiotics ie steroids but they are a temporary fix, he thinks he'll have gum problems for life and will lose more teeth

I'm going to take him to another vet as this one doesn't seem very interested, I'd rather treat my cat than wait for his teeth to fall out!

He's negative for fiv and aids and leukaemia. What treatment may help him?!

Have a read of this - particularly the bits about gingivitis and resorptive lesions. Is he having any trouble eating or any other symptoms?

Do you have any other vets reasonably close by?

Our cat had feline stomatitis, and this sounds like it - the smell is basically because the gums are so badly infected. It's a result of an autoimmune response. The only cure for it is to remove all the teeth, and it's less expensive and less traumatic to do it all at once. Please look it up and ask your vet about this, as it's not uncommon, and if you remove the teeth, the problem goes away. If you don't, it will continue to get worse, and eventually the cat will stop eating. He will need to live indoors after the operation, of course.

The good news is that we have a brand new cat who doesn't have breath that smells like month-old roadkill!

Oh, and our cat still eats regular wet and dry food, even without teeth.

Yep - stomatitits is covered in that guidance. I think, myself, I'd be heading for a new vet.

Yes, OP's vet sounds pretty useless. Sorry, cozie, didn't read your whole link.

Oh no poor boy, to have all his teeth removed! Thanks for the replies, it sounds just like stomatitis. Interesting that they can eat wet and dry food after teeth removal!

I'll definitely be going to another vet, there's a different one locally who I really like, I'll try her.

Why can't he go outside with no teeth? He loves sitting in the garden and mooching, he's not a hunter though.

Well, cats use their teeth for defense, don't they? He'd only have claws to use after that. If he only ever goes in the garden it might be all right, but be warned - our cat is quite a different personality after the operation. He's gone from quiet and sleepy to bouncy and all over the place, because he's not constantly fighting off infection. Your cat might discover a new love of travel.

Ooh dear, if he has the op at the new vets I'll have to keep a close eye on him. He loves his daily outdoors, so hopefully he wouldn't get into fights as he stays very close to home and non confrontational. We shall see though...

He might be just fine outside, might not - who can tell until after the likely op. I'd always say you should keep them in from dusk to dawn in any case - it's a lot safer that way.

I've got lots of toothless cats that all go outside. But then 'outside' is really only the garden and they never seem to want to go further. So it depends on your situation really - it's not a blanket 'all toothless cats must stay in' thing.