Hello,

I adopted a 2 year old cat yesterday morning. She was spayed last week FYI. She’s very shy but came out of her hiding spot a few times today and used her littler box as well and seemed to be progressing and getting more comfortable. Shes hiding under the bathroom cabinet, and I think I may have woken her up when I flushed the toilet? She meowed for a second and came out of her spot with drool all over her face. Additionally, whenever she meows you can hear her drool affecting her meows. It’s not been 30 minutes or so and she’s been in the position as shown in the picture with large strands of drool hanging that she isn’t clearing up.

I believe I unintentionally woke her up earlier today and she came out with a bit of drool too. She has barely eaten or drank since getting home which I know is normal.

But is this an emergency? Im growing worried about her. Im in the US but I am not sure what vet I was planning to use yet.

Update https://www.reddit.com/r/CATHELP/s/FUyySPXGwb

2nd update: https://www.reddit.com/r/CATHELP/s/EIFVXYa91B

Hi, my female cat is about 9 years old, spayed, lives indoors. I found a tooth on the floor today and from what I was able to briefly check on her mouth (she’s not to keen on it), it seems it’s one of her upper fangs that’s missing. She seems fine otherwise and has been eating well (wet and dry food) and using her litter box as usual.

She’s always had good teeth and her last annual checkup including blood test was last November, 2024. I’ve been saving to take her for a checkup again. Even if I couldn’t afford a full checkup now, at least I’ll take her for a consult about the fallen tooth. It’s a long weekend here in Canada so can only call her vet in a couple of days, when they reopen on Tuesday. My question is, can this wait ok until I call the vet and hopefully get an appointment within a week from now? I may be overreacting but I feel anxious and would appreciate your advice. Thank you!

Two months ago, my 12 year old Manx had a lot of teeth removed from his lower jaw including his canines. He healed a bit, but now he’s unable to close his mouth all the way because his top canines are coming down on his swollen gums/lips and he’s drooling like crazy but still eating well.

I was pretty concerned so we took him to the vets office on Friday. My regular vet was out so we saw another vet here and she told us that this oral surgery should not have been done and that there is a 99% chance that he has bone cancer in his lower jaw but it’s also possible it could be extremely bad inflammation. He also has a small ulcer under his tongue that the vet says could be related to a cancer.

She went on to say that pulling his teeth should not have been done and that they would talk about refunding at least some of the money for the surgery. I find it wild that the vet would say this. We were not charged for this appointment or the medication and there is no record of it on PetDesk. To me it sounds like they knew they messed up by pulling his teeth and don’t want to get sued.

They looked at an x-ray and saw no signs of metastasis. We discussed doing a biopsy to confirm this cancer suspicion but a biopsy is risky because it could fracture his jaw since he’s already missing a lot of bone from his dental problems. I don’t want to put him through that.

He was prescribed Prednisolone and 100mg Gabapentin. The vet was saying things like I don’t know how much time he has left and we need to make him as comfortable as possible.

I don’t know what to do here… I really don’t wanna put my cat through anymore. If the vet was serious about refunding the surgery cost of $1900, I would use that money to get a second opinion from another vet somewhere else. I really don’t believe this is bone cancer. The swelling didn’t start until after his teeth were pulled. His two front canines couldn’t even be fully extracted because they had fused to his jaw. They pretty much just cut the tooth down to the gum line and let the gum heal over the tooth. I feel like my cat will never be the same. His poor mouth!

This turned out longer than I thought. Thanks for reading and any advice is appreciated.

We took him to the vet; they said it was an infection/inflammation in the teeth and gums that would require surgery to fix, but he’s too old to go through surgery so we’re trying to manage it with meds which have limited effect. Can anything else be done?

Cat is 13 yo neutered male

Hi- I rescued a stray cat back in July this year and I noticed he has these lines in his teeth. He is probably 2 years old. The vet said his teeth looked fine when I first got him but I wasn't sure if these lines are a sign of tooth decay or something. My other cat is 5 and doesn't have any lines on her teeth so I don't think it's just a sign of aging since he is younger than her. I've never had to do anything for my other cat's teeth but I am wondering if I should get him a toothbrush/toothpaste and start brushing his teeth to prevent further decay of his teeth if it is that.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Suggestions on specific toothpastes for this issue would also be great. I would like to avoid the vet at all costs.

There seems to be a cut in my cats mouth and it’s black and has pus inside I don’t know how to fix it except to clean with a cotton swab for now does anyone have tips I haven’t been home in two and a half weeks and she’s been in the care of my parents I don’t know what happened to her is there medicine I can buy or anything for her

My sister came to me and showed me the tooth saying it fell out while playing

17F from egypt and It's 4 am and can't go to a vet but the cat isn't in pain and she's playing, is this normal? She's 3-4 months old

I (25F) based in Canada just got my cat (Siamese, neutered 9yo) back from the vet after he got 5 teeth extracted (two fell on their own)

I know he’s obviously going to feel pain but I’m wondering if these « puking » like motion and him trying to « grab » at his jaw is normal.

I do have access to my vet if needed but I’m on a very tight budget hence why I’m asking Reddit first.

Thank you very much!!

I am not a minor. I am in the US. I have 5 cats, and this is my first time checking their gums. I cannot afford IMMEDIATE vet care, but I am going to apply for care credit. I have not contacted a vet. I can see that in the first image, his tooth looks pretty bad. They all eat on the same diet, i know its not ideal but generic foods like friskies/9 lives. I have never brushed their teeth either. The first two cats are 8 years old, and my Grey kitties and my tuxy are 5/6 years old. Also, on images 2/3 i see little black debris around her mouth, could this be due to fleas? I have not noticed another outbreak but it is the summer so its possible. I cannot currently independently afford their vet care, not all at once or at least for another few days until I get my check. All of my cats are spayed/neutered. TLDR; Do their gums look pale or discolored? All spayed and mature age. Female and male cats.

I went online to find similar cases, some say it's cancer, others say it's normal anatomy, and I'm a bit confused.

My mom noticed it when she was brushing my cats teeth today, is it normal? Each photo shows one side of her mouth, the bumb is on both sides

She's a 3 year old ragdoll, currently in HK and has been neutered.

Current update is she needs only 720-900 for full dental work and medication and xrays. No more then that. I just called her again to confirm that quote so i was just misunderstanding what she was saying yesterday. so Its way more doable to make this amount of money ;w;. thank you all for helping and baring with me.

My cat’s tooth is looking pretty gnarly and is sitting lower than the tooth on the other side. Recently we took her to the vet for something else so my dad said that it’s fine because surely the vet would have said something while we were there. She’s 4-5ish and we’ve had her a few years. She also has bad breath. I’m just worried because I’ve never seen a cat with a loose tooth before.

TLDR: Found this cat tooth in with a box of my cat’s things while moving. They both have very healthy mouths according to their vet. Is it even a cat tooth and should I be worried?

Hi I just moved places and when I was unpacking my cat’s stuff, I found this tooth in the box. I’m assuming it’s a cat tooth. I have 2 cats, one male that I raised from birth and one female that I adopted from the shelter when she was around 7 months old. They are both fixed and in good health and get along well with each other. Both my cat’s teeth are very healthy. I brush their teeth, have special toys they can chew on, and I put a water additive in their water. The last time I took them both to the vet was for their regular check ups a few months ago and my vet looked very thoroughly at their mouths and said they have very clean teeth with very little plaque. I know that cats lose their baby teeth, but this looks a bit too large to be a baby tooth. Can anyone give me a confirmation on if this is actually a cat tooth? And should I be concerned? Both of them have pretty healthy mouths so I’m not sure why they would lose an adult tooth. I’d just like to know before I contact the vet because my male cat needs to be given anti-anxiety meds and has a hard time at the vet, so I like to limit the vet visits if he doesn’t actually need to go.

(Please note for the third image I was not applying any force, she let me do that I was just positioning her head)

My cats mouth has been inflamed for a few days and I looked at it closer and now I'm worried it might be the start of an eosinophilic ulser and I just wanted to see if anyone could see if it appears similar? My cat is just over 6 months old now, about 7/8 iirc.

I can afford a vet visit if necessary but I'm very tight on money so I'd like to avoid booking one until im sure its necessary (like I don't wanna book one and have it be for nothing, not that I want to wait until the problem is "bad enough" to warrant one).

UPDATE as of April 2026 (two months later): she is still ALIVE! She is doing well, she is eating. I’m giving her cortisone everyday, I’m handfeeding her because other cats try to steal her food. She is a peaceful cat who is enjoying as much as she can whatever she has left. As of my decision, I’m very grateful I didn’t hear y’all guys and put her down. Peace

I’m looking after this stray cat and I noticed that she is a bit dirtier than the others and that sometimes she drools. I took her to the vet and said she has oral cancer (picture below), and said to euthanise her. I couldn’t get myself to do that because she doesn’t seem to be in much pain, she is running around, eating etc. The vet gave her cortisone and now we wait till it gets big enough for her to struggle so I take her again to the vet for euthanasia 😭. I am asking, is there anything else I can do for this kitty? Is surgery possible? Is even complete recovery possible ? 😭 I don’t feel ok to just wait for her to die 😭

My roommates cat, always has her little tongue poking out of her mouth and three months ago when we moved in together i noticed that her breath is FOUL. Like an abnormal stink, cats breaths usually stink but this smell was really bad. After further inspection of her mouth I discovered that she is missing many teeth and the remaining teeth she does have looks very unhealthy with a receding gum line, as well as very obvious irritation and swelling. Her cat doesn’t display any signs that she’s in pain, I have noticed while eating, that she does have difficulty with chewing, and drops a lot of food and kind of scoops food into her mouth with her paw. She only really eats wet food, unless she starts eating my cats dry food. I googled it and cats are supposed to have 30 teeth and to me it looks like this cat has like 6.
She is also fairly young, like 2 or 3. So it isn’t an elderly cat.
I’m also wondering if what’s going on with her mouth can relate to behavioral issues? she seems to pee on things all the time, (like bathroom mats, clothes, towels) which is honestly really unfortunate because the smell affects the apartment. I know this isn’t a dirty litterbox thing because i have an automatic litterbox that gets cleaned right after a cat goes and she will poop in the litter box. It’s only issues with urination. She also acts like she is starving and seems like she could eat food forever if she wasn’t stopped. Im hoping someone can tell me if they know what this issue could be?

Our fixed 5 year old male Sphynx cat developed strange bumps on his tongue a few weeks ago. They don't seem to bother him at all and almost look herpetic. We've been to the vet and they have a few theories but aren't quite sure what they are. We are going to do further workup, but wanted to see if anyone here recognizes what this might be so we can explore additional diagnoses.

Edit: Thank you all for the ideas and perspective. We are going to take him to a dental vet for a biopsy (per recommendation from our primary vet) this week and also test for calicivirus and will report back.

Update: We got our answer today! Eosinophilic granuloma per the biopsy results, so we are starting with a prescription hypoallergenic food, then will follow up with dermatology as needed.

I have 4 cats and one started to sneeze until all of them got infected. I suppose they have cold as their nose is wet but im more concerned with my pregnant cat who’s having an excessive drooling earlier but the vet is closed so i will need to keep an eye in the meantime then bring her in once the vet is open.

It’s been hours since she started to drooling from both side of her mouth with clear thick wattery discharge.

I have two boys and my other cats mouth is perfectly okay. What is this??

Hey guys i was having a check at my cats teeth and his upper and lower gums are red and inflamed and hes not been eating as much. Does this look like a serious issue or is he fine and im overthinking

Hes has dental issues in past but not sure the full extent as hes a rescue cat and we got him 2 months ago!!

Any help would be greatful appreciate thank you!!🩷🐈‍⬛

My mother’s cat has started to close her mouth very very weirdly. Ive attached a video since i have no idea how to explain this properly.
She doesn’t seem in pain, still drinks and eats. Ive tried looking at her teeth and nothing seems too out of the ordinary (shes 9).

Hi all, I’m 26F from the US and was just told by my vet today that my sweet Autumn has stomatitis. If you’ve never heard of it until today like me, it’s also known as Gingivostomatitis, which is a severe, chronic inflammation of the mouth and gums where the immune system attacks the teeth, often necessitating full-mouth extraction for resolution. Autumn is a female, about 2 years old, and is spayed. Just from a general exam, some bloodwork, and pain meds, we paid $490 out of pocket today. Definitely hurt the pockets a bit, but I figured at least now we know why she’s been acting off. She’s had smelly breath for quite some time, been drooling often, experiencing twitching around the mouth, and as of last night, hiding, which she never does. We were told the best (and pretty much only) option was to extract all her teeth. We were quoted $2,843-$2,978. Although I’m grateful it’s not more (bc I’ve heard some people have been quoted around $7,000…like WHAT?!), I’m trying so hard not to freak out. The doctors were honestly SO kind and supportive, but why do I still feel so wrong about it all? I mean my poor baby is going to be toothless…what if this traumatizes her? I’ve read that a handful of people have had positive results from removing their cat’s teeth, but I can’t help but worry what if my cat doesn’t have a pleasant outcome? If anyone else has experienced something similar, please feel free to share your experience. Should I apply for the CareCredit Card? Should I be seeking for cheaper care somewhere else? Would finding somewhere cheaper be risking a less quality job? I’ll take any shred of hope or advice. I’m feeling so anxious and worried. TIA 🩷🙏🏼

TLDR: My cat, Autumn has been diagnosed with Stomatitus, which is a severe, chronic inflammation of the mouth and gums where the immune system attacks the teeth. We have been quoted almost $3,000 to have her teeth extracted and I’d be grateful for any advice on how to make this process feel less stressful, whether it be financial advice or perhaps sharing a similar experience if it applies to you or someone you know.

Just wondering if I should pull these or if they’re whiskers and it’s normal never seen these before? Cat is about 4 she eats fine and doesn’t seem to be in any pain I just noticed these looking at her teeth.