HI,
Please can someone help?
My cat is about ten years old, she started having very bad breath, the vet cleaned her teeth but bad breath is still there. She drools a lot and this stains her lips brown or black slightly.

We took her back to the vet and they gave her antibiotic. no improvement.
Then the vet gave ver a steroid to supress immune sytem, they thought it could be an allergy. no improvement

So after lots of visits to the vet and lots of money absolutely no change.
Vet did blood test and they said thyroid and liver ok, cant remeber i they said anything about the kidneys. When we see sifferent vets they seem to contradict.

She has been wormed and treated for fleas. She has long hair.

The current syptoms are:
Bad breath
Drooling and slight bubbling sound when she breathes
Stomach gurgling
Stains around lips

We live next to a field and she does eat mice now and again.

Help much appreciated

Thanks

Hi there and welcome!

Firstly, when was the dental? I'm assuming the vet ruled out mouth ulcers but it this wasn't recent I'd ask him to check thoroughly again. The reason I'm suggesting these is that stomach gurgling is usually a sign of stomach acid which can cause mouth ulcers to form which can cause bad breath and drooling.

I'd also like to know the kidney results because renal problems can manifest themselves as bad breath and combined with the stomach acid I'd suspect this might also be a cause. Again how recent were the blood tests?

How's your cat's appetite and general health otherwise? Any previous illnesses? Stomach acid can cause nausea which can lead to inappetite.

Hi,
Thanks so much for the reply, we appreciate it.
She had an antibiotic injection at the end of March.

The dental clean up and blood tests were beginning of April. They said the thyroid, liver and kidney results were all good. They didnt mention anything about mouth ulcers, they said she had a bit of gingivitis.

Then, 9th May she had steroid injection! They said to suppress the immune system?

She is in general good health, coat good, teeth clean and sleeps well. She eats randomly. There is no previous illnesses that we know of as she was a rescue cat, we got her nine years ago. She does get fur balls now and again as she is long haired. She seems to gurgle more when you pich her up, her belly is a bit round. Her breath smells rancid. She has slight dark stains on the fur round her lips where the saliva is staining her fur.

Thanks for reading this, its great you cna provide some help for our cat.

All of those point to bad stomach acid! Sooty had most of those symptoms, especially the gurgling from his tummy. However I don't know what the stomach acid could be a symptom of!

Ems x

__________________
Mummy to;

Sooty 9.6.1996 - 28.04.2011 Rest in peace my love!
Storm (Sueragdandy Phantom) 28.02.2010
Benji (Kassaro Benjamin Franklyn) 08.03.2011

Hi Ems,

Thats interesting about sooty, did you eventually sort it out?
I wonder whether iots to do with food and whether we should change the brand of food, we give her a variety of dry and wet food at the moment

Roger

Yes, it stuck me food would be the next thing to look at but if her breath is this bad ie rancid ( and the vets have ruled out kidneys and liver problems ) I can't help but still think teeth or mouth problems!

How about a second opinion? This would be my next step. In the meantime you could try changing the food - what are you currently feeding her? - and see if it makes any difference! Mind you though, unless you changed the food at around the same time the problem began it looks less likely as a cause but even so it's worth changing to a good wet and see if things improve!

Hi Roger,

sadly Sooty passed away from bone cancer and we never got round to treating it as we were up against so much other stuff. I do believe there are tablets though that help them, and also small regular melas would be the best as Ianthi pointed out, an empty tummy makes them nauseated due to the stomach acid.

Ems x

__________________
Mummy to;

Sooty 9.6.1996 - 28.04.2011 Rest in peace my love!
Storm (Sueragdandy Phantom) 28.02.2010
Benji (Kassaro Benjamin Franklyn) 08.03.2011

ruby seems to love felix pouches and has at least two a day some fish and some meat,also I leave whiskers dry food down only a handful in the bowl.She has fresh water daily.She also loves catmint grown in the garden and occasionaly eats wild grass.Vermin is top of her menu though and only eats the heads of the mice!Yuk!Would you suggest i see another vet and look for mouth ulcers and maybe indigestion?Or can you suggest a wet food for us to try....many thanks

The vet she has seen before has suggested a weeks course of antibiotic pills.
I wonder whetehr we should do this or get a secong opinion from another vet?

Roger-Sorry thought I'd already replied to this!

I would try a change of food ( regardless of any changes with symptoms it's a good idea ) to one of the wet good quality ones like Bozita, Animonda. If she likes pate style food then the tins are your best option. Have a good look at Hobbs' excellent A-Z Guide. No mouse varieties that I'm aware of!! BTW is her worming up to date with all that wildlife?!

Has she had a course of antibiotics before? If so I'd try an extended time on them and see if what happens BUT I'd definitely ask the vet to check her mouth again. Can't help but feel they're missing something here!