Bad breath/halitosis at a young age?

[lawrence38]

Hi cat lovers

As per one of my previous posts here we adopted a small kitty, Sorellina last Nov. , to keep company for our other cat who has been left without her sister last year.

The small one...well, not that small by now is a super-powered,turbo-action, non-stop, trouble making bundle of joy , finally growing up a bit

We've noticed from the time we took her in she had a bit of a stinky breath, although not something to be very worrisome, assumed it has to do with being fed mostly wet food and probably of lower quality at the overcrowded shelter she was in.

Now, many months later, we only feed her top-quality food, not raw or homemade, but they pretty much get the best there is on the market, a combination of mostly wet and also some dry food. Our other cat, Corleone is her name, has the shiniest, dangerous looking set of white death I've come across in a cat, and she's not afraid to use it when she needs to make a point Our small kitty though, the one I'm opening the thread about, she still has pretty much quite an unpleasant breath/smell in her mouth, and I examined her teeth on few occasions, besides some slightly reddish gums during the eruption of back teeth, nothing seems to be out of place. The only difference I can think of is that she definitely eats more wet/sticky food, whereas Corleone kind of favors dry food,she likes to lap up cat soups or homemade brothy chicken my wife makes ofr them, but she's very fussy otherwise, she hardly touches any wet food from pouches such as Cosma, Hill's or Royal Canin.

One side-effect of the smell is that Corleone, our other cat, does NOT allow Sorellina to lick her after all this time, sometimes she licks her, but not the other way around, and I'm pretty sure its because of the smell, because she actually makes faces and sometimes she even smacks/pushes aside Sorellina if she tries, which means its sort of preventing their bonding time together (they do sometimes snuggle or sleep or just sunbathe on the windowsill beside each other.

We are considering taking her to the vet as well soon now that most are open here but just asking here as well in case some of you also faced this situation and maybe have some advice which would be much appreciated.

Thanks and Happy 4th for those of you that might be reading this from the US of A.

 

[cataholic07]

How old is she? If she is under a year old she could be teething or have juvenile gingivitis. Do you brush their teeth? If not I would recommend it. Something like healthymount water addictive can help. Raw chicken necks can help with teeth to as well as large chunks of meat. Wet food is actually far better then dry food, though neither help with teeth really but good quality wet food prevents dehydration and has less carbs which is important.

 

[lawrence38]

How old is she? If she is under a year old she could be teething or have juvenile gingivitis. Do you brush their teeth? If not I would recommend it. Something like healthymount water addictive can help. Raw chicken necks can help with teeth to as well as large chunks of meat. Wet food is actually far better then dry food, though neither help with teeth really but good quality wet food prevents dehydration and has less carbs which is important.

She is about 10-11 months old I reckon, we don't know her exact DOB, we took her in when she was about 3-4 months old.
No, never tried brushing their teeth, our other older cat, Corleone's teeth/breath are very clean and minty-fresh by comparison , as well as her sister that sadly passed away last year also had very clean mouth, whenever they used to lick one another or when she licks herself it smells like septic fresh for lack of a better description, that's why I don't think it can be tied in any way with their diet we feed them.
Both of them drink plenty of water BTW, we have a ceramic fountain for them as well as several bowls around the flat, all kept fresh, and they definitely drink, especially now in summer.

 

[lawrence38]

Our other cat, Corleone is her name, has the shiniest, dangerous looking set of white teeth

Of course it was teeth I was implying to say here, somehow pressing wrong keys + autocorrect took over. She really has very white, not stained at all teeth at +4 years old she is now, and even the vet remarked last time we went in Jan this year before the lockdown that she has very nice/healthy looking teeth, despite that she eats something like 3/4 of her diet as dry food, she just seems to prefer it and even when we tried "weaning" her dry food preference, it did not help much, she always cried and even showed us where to take the dry food out from when she felt we're not understanding her .
We only buy very high protein content dry food (Orijen and Purizon), and as mentioned few times per week my wife gives them fresh slightly poached chicken breast or salmon

P.S. Now I understood also what you meant about the water "addictive", autocorrect again , thanks for the advice, I'll try to find and buy locally the water additive too!

 

[lisahe]

One of our cats used to have very, very stinky breath (and gas, too!) but it pretty much went away after we realized she had a sensitivity to potato -- it also made her barf. She was about a year old then. Just about anything in a food can cause issues but I'd especially watch for vegetable matter like potatoes, peas, and other legumes, which are in many foods these days. They aren't part of a cat's natural diet and can be hard for cats to process.

Edwina's mouth issues (which also included gingivitis and gunk buildup) improved even more a year or so later after we had her tested and treated for the bartonella bacterium, which can cause all sorts of (inflammatory) issues in cats.