5 month old with dental problems already?

[Stxrcane]

Obviously getting her to the vet asap but I'm just confused as to how this came on so quickly. Rescued at a gas station at ~2 weeks, bottle raised just fine. Suffered a cold a few weeks ago that won't seem to go away, and now I think I know why-- her infected canine is causing cold-like symptoms. I feel terrible for not checking out the bad breath weeks ago around when it started, but I'm a foster dealing with heartbreak and kitten season right now. Does anyone know what this is? It seems like there's more gunk around some molars as well.

Ignore the flea, they've been hard to get rid of lately.

 

[Norachan]

Has she been blood tested? I rescued a stray kitten when she was about 6 months old and she had to have all of her teeth removed as soon as she was healthy enough to spay. Her gums were all infected and her teeth were black, She had FIV. It's rare for kittens that young to be infected, but if it does happen it can be one reason why their teeth and gums are in such bad condition.

FIV could also explain the constant cold-like symptoms too.

I'm sure your vet will blood test her as a matter of course when you take her in.

Our FIV cat did fine without her teeth and lived a relatively normal life up until her last year. Please keep us posted. Lots of TCS members have experience with FIV cats, so if that does turn out to be the problem we can offer lots of support.

 

[Alldara]

Just here to second Norachan

 

[neely]

Just here to second Norachan

Having had a very young cat with FIV I completely agree!

 

[Stxrcane]

Has she been blood tested? I rescued a stray kitten when she was about 6 months old and she had to have all of her teeth removed as soon as she was healthy enough to spay. Her gums were all infected and her teeth were black, She had FIV. It's rare for kittens that young to be infected, but if it does happen it can be one reason why their teeth and gums are in such bad condition.

FIV could also explain the constant cold-like symptoms too.

I'm sure your vet will blood test her as a matter of course when you take her in.

Our FIV cat did fine without her teeth and lived a relatively normal life up until her last year. Please keep us posted. Lots of TCS members have experience with FIV cats, so if that does turn out to be the problem we can offer lots of support.

Update on this, she developed FIP shortly after I posted this and was euthanized. I didn't know that there were treatment options at the time. I'm now treating three with two successfully treated already

 

[Alldara]

Sorry for your loss

 

[fionasmom]

I am very sorry for your loss. The thread will be locked out of respect for this little girl. If you would like, you can post a tribute to her in our Crossing the Bridge forum.