Some concerns about my Orange Tabby

Hi my name is Kayleigh, and Iv'e got an Orange Tabby who is about 5-6 now. I've had her since she was a new born, and I do take her to a vet when I -Can- But with no income at the moment, and unable to get a job thanks to our oh so wonderful economy here in OR. I'm unable to do much of anything for her at the moment other then feed her, until my future husband leaves for basic training come may 16th. I've got a few problems, that I need some input on. Shorty (My Orange Tabby) seems to be developing black spots on her lower lip, and right up the middle crease on her nose. She's also got a bad tooth in her mouth, which doesn't seem to be causing her much pain, then again she doesn't talk so, I don't know. But she's still eating and drinking, which is good, her breath is just really rank smelling, which I would guess would be from bacteria or a possible tooth infection. About these black spots, is this something I should be worried about? Is it cancerous or dangerous to her in any way? Or is it like how a red haired person would get freckles? She has a single black spot on the upper roof of her mouth, that caught a vets eye in the past, we were going to a convention and took her there to get tranqs for the road trip. She seemed concerned, and told us if it got bigger to bring her back, but it hasn't appeared to of changed much at all since then. She's just getting more black spots on her lower lip and nose. Does anyone know what is causing this?

The black/brown spots developing are very common in orange cats. My orange cat started developing them when she was about 9 months old. She has a few pin point dots on her nose and a good part of her lips are spotted. As for the the bad tooth and the spot in her mouth. You should get her in to the vet as soon as you are able. We recently had some vet bills we were unable to afford and we signed up for Care Credit. It is interest free for 6 months and you can use it immediately once approved which is in a matter of minutes. It was a life saver for us! Good Luck with Shorty! I hope she has nothing serious going on.

Orange cats have unique freckling that happens as they age. Pretty much every cat with orange in its coat is going to develop a few of these spots over its life. My kitten is 7 months old and he already has one spot on his lower gum and one on his nose.

Please get her to the vet for that tooth ASAP. Cats are the number one most stoic animal I can think of; they will not show pain in many circumstances. You definitely do NOT want to wait until she stops eating to bring her in for a dental. She will only stop eating when the pain becomes unbearable, so she may be in lots of pain now but her hunger is winning out. A rotten tooth can cause serious health problems and even death as the infection spreads, too. You also don't want the other teeth to get infected, which will require additional dentals.

As I was looking it up, I found that someone asked this year in 2009 or something - has some good answers as well:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=204443

Warmly,

Julie O'