Young cat with Gingivitis

[Slinkycat22]

We rehomed 2 young cats a few weeks ago, they were found abandoned in a box. 😢 They're 6mths old.
We took them to the vets for their jabs & a check over as we'd noticed that one of them had really bad breath. The vet diagnosed gingivitis & has prescribed metacam, but has recommended he has all of his teeth removed 😭
I hate to think of him being in any sort of pain, he's such a gorgeous, loving little thing. I'm just wondering if anyone's experienced gingivitis with their cat & if so what did you do?

My boy also suffers from juvenile gingivitis.

I have chlorhexidine gel that I use like toothpaste on his little toothbrush when I brush his teeth (ridiculous to admit that I brush his teeth but hey ho, needs must!)

I also give him a TINY daily amount of a particular seaweed (Ascophyllum Nodosum is the scientific name, it goes by lots of common names) but that's a bit controversial as seaweed contains high levels of iodine which is implicated in hyperthyroidism in later life. Right now it's the least bad choice though, and it helps immensely in softening plaque to be easily scrubbed away before it turns into tartar that makes gingivitis turn into full-blown periodontis.

At some point he will probably need a full extraction but with his heart problem there is a high risk he wouldn't survive the anaesthesia so for now the vet is ok with me plodding along like this to keep his mouth stable.

(Edit for misspelling)

My three year old has it. When I first got her, we thought she had a reabsorption lesion. And I definitely saw mankey teeth.
A couple of weeks later, there was no sign of the lesion and her teeth are fine. With just a bit of gingivitis. Weird!

He’s very young and his adult teeth are only just erupted. See what decent dental hygiene can do for a few months. If he does have persistent gingivitis get him tested (swabs) for flu viruses and (bloods) for feline leukaemia and FIV. Cats with gingivostomatitis often do benefit from full mouth extractions but I would not make the decision so young.

Thanks everyone. @Patchworksack the vets have just looked briefly at his gums for now & have said they could do the extraction, but would prefer to refer me to another vets where they have dental specialists for the full extraction.
This may sound like a daft question, but does a vet usually carry out dental checks? Should I push for them to look at his teeth to ascertain how bad the problem us & maybe give his teeth a clean? And request swabs & blood tests etc?
I look at his gums regularly when he's sleepy to get him used to me doing that, but I don't think he'd let me brush them yet & I don't want yo make him more sore.
I want to do the right thing by him, it's good to hear that you think he's probably too young to make such a big decision as I feel that too ☹️

I'm so sorry you are facing this problem.I adopted a homeless street Cat. Vet checks revealed he has Calicivirus.
At about 4 years of age he started crying out and jumping away from his food.Next day at the vets she looked in his mouth, what a mess.He had stomatitis and had all his teeth out a few days later.
He still had problems so we opted for Interferon treatment.This was an injection every couple of days.I think he had 5 altogether.It worked like a miracle ,his mouth healed up really well.
He can tackle any food now even with no teeth.
It was a very expensive course of treatments, but I thought I had to give him the best chance after such a rough start in life.
He had beautiful clean white teeth.It upset me so much to have them all out, but it was the best thing for him.
4 years later he's fine.
Good luck.