Cat with REALLY stinky breath?

I don't really know how to start this post, so I'm just gonna start by saying that the youngest of my three cats, Finn..stinks, REALLY bad.

she's about 5 months old now give or take.Well ever since I first got her, I noticed that her breath has stunk HORRIBLE, I thought originally

that it was due to her coming from a home who had people who smoked, and from having a bad diet, but after a few weeks, no change in her stinky breath.

Now, I must admit that Finn is just a gross cat to begin with, she literally drools on herself when she licks herself, she she'll have globs of dried spit in her fur, which ofcourse smells like her breath, and she sleeps in her litterbox!, millions of other places to sleep and she chooses to sleep in her litterbox, which makes her stink MORE.

She has been to the vet, and had her teeth, gums and mouth in general checked out, and there's nothing wrong with anything in there (my aunt had a cat who had some sort of genetic thing that was literally causing his body to reject his own teeth, so they were basically rotting out of his head, which caused his breath to be stinky too) well her teeth and gums are clean and healthy.

SO the other only thing I can think of is her diet.

All three of my cats are on a 50/50 diet of both RAW diet and canned food, Finn won't touch dry food and the other two don't eat it faithfully enough.

if her breath doesn't sound like a health problem I won't really worry too much but I'd like to know how to make her breath smell better xD..because she likes to breathe on me u_u

I can't think of anything but bad teeth so I don't have a clue what is causing her breath to smell really bad.  As far as sleeping in the litter box one of mine did that when he was a kitten.  He outgrew it but I don't know why some kittens do that but they do.

Stinky kitten breath can sometimes be due to teething and does eventually pass. In the meantime, perhaps she would like a Petstages Mint Stick to chew on? (but only under supervision - I have a power-chewer that ate and swallowed the "leafy" ends).

Has your cat actually had a dental though? A vet looking at teeth and gums is not the same as a cat being under anesthesia and having x-rays and a proper cleaning.

Our Chumley got a "clean bill of health" with a non-anesthetic dental. A year later, he had a full dental. Turns out he had pockets of rotting teeth under the gum line that would have been a problem for much longer than since the non-anesthetic dental, and he had to have three teeth extracted.

Our Spooky has bad teeth and gums, and she needed her first tooth extracted at one year old - which means at five months, there was probably already a problem brewing.

Before going nuts, I'd get a proper dental done. :dk:

Stinky breath can also be caused by internal illnesses. Stomach or kidney problems can cause stinky breath. And that excessive drooling....seems to tie in with there is something medically wrong.

I would start with blood-work to check organ function. If there's nothing showing up, the next step would be an ultrasound of the internal organs. Perhaps an internal medicine specialist, if your vet is at a loss.

Has she been FeLV/FIV/heartworm tested?

She was FeLV/FIV tested by the people in the home she was born in and was negative, she was tested for Heartworms when I took her and was also negative.

she has not had an actual dental cleaning done, because honestly as of right now I cannot afford to have something like that done (I broke my ankle recently and that has pretty much drained my limited funds for now u_u)

I did manage to look in her mouth the other day and it looks like she's got a double canine o3o a large one in front and smaller one directly behind, it is a little red at the base of the teeth (the two canines) but I assume that is from the second tooth coming in. it doesn't effect her and she eats and drinks and lets me play with her lips without pulling away, so she's not in pain around her mouth, ofcourse she doesn't like having her mouth messed with but I've never had a cat that did.

She might have some bad bacteria in her tummy thats causeing the bad breath maybie try feeding her a little plain yogaurt mixed in her food it may help coat her stomach and the good bacteria in the yogaurt may help ph balance the bad. when was the last time she was wormed that can cause tummy problems as well if she has worms or tape worm.

I'm thinking bad tooth/teeth or some type of bacterial issue in the digestive tract.  You might want to have the kitty examined for a dental and see if there is anyting in some blood work.  Might just be a minor thing that is easily rectified with probiotics etc.  Good Luck!
 

Gibbly said:

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I did manage to look in her mouth the other day and it looks like she's got a double canine o3o a large one in front and smaller one directly behind, it is a little red at the base of the teeth (the two canines) but I assume that is from the second tooth coming in. it doesn't effect her and she eats and drinks and lets me play with her lips without pulling away, so she's not in pain around her mouth, ofcourse she doesn't like having her mouth messed with but I've never had a cat that did.

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Sounds like she is teething and that is probably the cause of her bad breath.  I had a cat that happened to once and the bad breath came on very suddenly, and went just as quickly when he finished teething.

I second what Oriental Slave said about teething. Cookie did this a lot when she was little, but it just went away.

Hmmm... that's interesting to know.  I didn't experience any of the odor problems with my 4 during their teething months.  I wonder what causes the odor when teething... saliva I suppose.  Learn something new every day.
 

Yeah, at 5 months and with a double tooth showing, and a clean bill of health at the vet-- I would chalk it up to teething, which can cause horrible stinky breath. It should pass with the teething, but I'd say keep an eye on her and make sure the "baby" fang you noticed does eventually fall out (most likely you won't find it, it will just be gone one day).

My 7 month old's breath is terrible right now. I found one of his kitten molars on the floor the other day so I assume my little guy is still teething as well.

I find that there is a severe lack of kitten teething toys compared to what's available for puppies. Is there no market for such products? Catnip flavored teething rings would sell like crazy

I think you all were right about the teething, which I had honestly never thought about, because half the time I forget that cats do teeth, I'm so used to puppies and baby people that chew chew chew when they are teething, and none of the three kittehs did that, Paint and Emry didn't get stinky breath either u_u' Finn doesn't stink nearly as bad as she did a few days ago, and she is generally acting like she's feeling better too.