The cat is one of the domestic mammals with fewer teeth: it has 30, and like other mammals it loses its deciduous teeth between 4 and 6 months. The health of the cat’s mouth is paramount since it uses its mouth to hunt, cleanse and most vitally: feed itself.

Gingivitis is the inflammation of the gums and it is a frequent problem in cats, but if it is not treated properly it can get worse. Gingivitis can affect cats of all ages but occurs more often in young or young adults.

In this article we are going to tell you how to recognize the gingivitis in cats and how to act in the face of feline gingivitis.

Recognize a gingivitis: symptoms of gingivitis in the cat

The first thing to help a cat with gingivitis is identify the problem: A gingivitis usually begins with a thin red line along the gums and shows red and swollen gums. A cat with gingivitis will suffer pain and can eat less especially refuses to eat the dry feed because this type of feed is hard and causes more discomfort and pain than a wet and soft feed, can also present bad breath and stop cleaning.

Gingival pain can lead behavioral changes like depression, our cat can also become more irritable and may even tend to bite more. The most important signs that we can observe in cats with gingivitis in cats are:

• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Difficulty swallowing (dry feed)
• Do not let your mouth touch
• Bad breath
• Excess salivation
• Behavior changes

It is important to emphasize that many other pathologies of mouth and teeth, other than gingivitis, will cause these same signs, so if you observe these signs you should go to your veterinarian so that he himself makes a differential diagnosis and confirms that it is a gingivitis.

Causes of gingivitis in cats

The first thing we want to avoid is a poor oral-dental hygiene: dental plaque contains toxins that can cause gingivitis, which is usually associated with the presence of tartar.

But the cause of gingivitis is not necessarily bad dental hygiene, there are other factors that can promote the triggering of a gingivitis in your cat: a diet with I think soft, an immune problem associated with bacterial activity.

Feline gingivitis can also be caused by a virus in the mouth of your cat: the most frequent virus guilty of the appearance of a gingivitis is the calicivirus. You can vaccinate your cat regularly to immunize it against the calicivirus.

The feline leukemia virus can also be a trigger for feline gingivitis, as well as kidney failure. You will find in some tips to remove tartar from cats.

Treatment of feline gingivitis

In cases of mild or moderate gingivitis, usually the veterinarian can give some analgesics and then to control the bacterial plaque the cat will receive antibiotics together that clean the mouth and dental polish, in addition to brushing at home and mouth swabs.

If some diets present odontoclastic resorption, the affected teeth will be extracted. In the case of cats suffering from calicivirus, a specific treatment with interferons will be made to fight against the virus.

En more advanced cases or severe, the complete extraction of the teeth affected by gingivitis must be performed.

Prevent gingivitis in your cat

The best and only really efficient measure to prevent the appearance of gingivitis in your cat is brush your teeth.

Brushing a cat’s teeth may not be an easy task, so we advise you to accustom your cat to it since he is a kitten: brush his teeth a 3 times a week It is a good rhythm, you should use a tooth paste for cats because the human contains fluorine that can be toxic to your cat.

Brushing your teeth also allows prevent oral problems in general and it is a good opportunity for you to check the oral health status of your cat.

This article is merely informative, in .com we do not have the faculty to prescribe veterinary treatments or make any kind of diagnosis. We invite you to take your pet to the veterinarian in case of any type of condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Gingivitis in cats, we recommend that you enter in our section of Other health problems.