Will Every Cat Get Gingivits?

Yes, every cat will eventually get Gingivitis if you don’t give your cat the proper care. Please read the following information to prevent this painful condition.

Plasmacytic-Lymphocytic Stomatitis is a chronic condition occurring in cats which causes severe gingivitis and tooth loss. This is a result of another disease. Feline Immunodeficiency and Feline Leukemia is found in some cats. Symptoms include extremely foul breath, excessive salivation and trouble eating. Generally, since this causes them mouth pain, they discontinue eating while rapidly loosing weight.

If  the mouth is examined there will be extreme gingivitis around the back upper molars. The gums will be red and look raw. They may bleed easily. If not treated the gums will start to recede from the tooth as the root of the tooth becomes absorbed causing the teeth to fall out or break off. When biopsies of these areas were conducted they were found to contain lymphocytes and plasma cells, which is why this disease is so named. With the inflammation the chances of a bacterial infection are definitely higher than normal. These cells are in evidence whenever there is a chronic inflammation and result in secondary infections which can cause a bacterial infection in the blood stream. This is quite serious and can infect other organs such as the heart, kidneys, and liver.

A thorough cleaning under anesthesia making sure to get below the gum line with a good long acting disinfectant gel is essential to beginning any treatment. If the cat is given antibiotics this will provide temporary relief and keep the bacterial infection of the gums from getting any worse. However this is not a long time solution. Various treatments have been tried such as ant inflammatory therapy with cortisone and immunostimulants such as immunoregulin.

The only long term treatment that seems to relieve the symptoms and get the cat back to good health is removing the premolars and molars. In the meantime while trying to get the cat back to a healthy animal there are several high calorie, nutritional cat foods on the market that are soft and require very little chewing. Due to the nature of this disease cats are quite reluctant to eat as they are in severe pain. It is imperative that they get nutrition.

Prevention is the best alternative for avoiding chronic gingivitis, since response to treatment for this disease is exceedingly low. It is essential that upper respiratory infections in a household be controlled, since calicivirus seems to be a contributing factor for this disease. Vaccinations for this disease at 6 weeks, 9 weeks, and 12 weeks should be administered to kittens. Until this series of vaccinations are complete, a kitten should be kept away from other kittens and cats. Keep all cats up to date with their vaccinations for best results. Feline leukemia and FIV tests should be routinely done. Any cat showing a positive result to testing should be immediately removed and isolated from all other cats.

Two new products came on the market in 1997 that were designed to control and prevent tartar and gingivitis. TD, produced by Hills, is a dry food that was made to fight the build up of plaque and tartar. Chews, produced by Vrx pharmaceuticals, is a freeze dried fish food that has antibacterial enzymes to fight gingivitis and also provides abrasive cleaning action. Both products can be obtained through your veterinarian. They just may be the key to preventing feline chronic gingivitis thus saving your cat from losing their teeth and succumbing to this painful disease.

Opinions on Gingivitis/Stomatitis in Cats
About two weeks ago, my male 9 year old cat was almost definitely diagnosed with chronic gingivitis/stomatitis, a condition that is treatable with corticosteroids shots and antibiotics.

How Can I Treat my Cat’s Refractory Gingivitis?
Severe, recurrent, refractory gingivitis in cats can progress to a syndrome called stomatitis.

Feline Gingivitis
Some cats suffer more than others. My cat, a 16 year old moggie has great teeth. I have never done any work on them except inspect them.

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