Cats with stomatitis frequently have significant mouth and gum inflammation. Cats of any age or breed could be affected. Stomatitis is an extremely unpleasant condition. Thankfully, most cats react well to a routine of regular dental care, medical supervision, and dental surgery that includes practically a full mouth or complete extraction.
What Is Stomatitis?
Actually, feline stomatitis is a painful, severe gum and mouth inflammation in cats.Swelling of the gums, often known as gingivitis in medicine, is one of the early signs of dental disease. Stomatitis is a more widespread inflammation of the mucous membranes in the mouth. Lesions that can affect the lips, tongue, gums, and back of the throat generally result in painful lesions and ulcers developing in the mouth.
Symptoms of Cat’s Stomatitis
One of the most typical symptoms of feline stomatitis is excruciating pain. This could manifest in a variety of ways. The pain a cat with this condition occasionally feels prevents it from opening its mouth to feed. 1 In certain cases, the cat’s prolonged discomfort may cause behavioral changes, such as retreating or getting agitated. If chewing on their dry food becomes too painful for some cats, they may only eat canned food from then on. As a result, even though the cat genuinely has oral pain, it may commonly be referred to as a picky eater.
Signs of Stomatitis in Cats
- A lot of saliva bad breath
- Loss of weight, mouth-flapping, and a reduced appetite
- Maintenance is neglected because it hurts too much to groom
- Having red, inflamed gums
- They hurt when you touch their faces.
- Fatigue caused by pain difficulty swallowing
Why stomatitis occurs
Sadly, there is still a lot to discover regarding cat stomatitis’ causes. This means that the cat’s immune system mistakenly kills its own oral tissues in response to oral bacteria, which is the most common theory for the reason. The feline calicivirus, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), feline leukemia virus (FeLV), kidney illness, diabetes mellitus, or an autoimmune issue are just a few examples of the systemic or viral conditions that many cats with stomatitis may also be dealing with. Additionally, certain dental conditions, most notably periodontal disease, can cause stomatitis. Periodontal disease, which inflames the gums and tissues that support the teeth, is caused by the accumulation of plaque (bacteria) on and around the teeth.
How to Identify a Symptom of Stomatitis
If your cat is exhibiting any of the symptoms mentioned above, schedule a checkup appointment with your veterinarian. Your cat will initially get a physical examination from your veterinarian as well as some basic bloodwork, like a complete blood count (CBC) and chemical panel, to screen for any underlying systematic disorders. Furthermore, your veterinarian could advise particular tests for underlying illnesses like FeLV and FIV.
It may be difficult to inspect the mouths of stomatitic cats since they may be reluctant to open them due to pain. Your veterinarian could suggest anesthesia to make the examination more comfortable and thorough.
Results of the physical examination and clinical signs are usually used to make the diagnosis. Through a dental examination and dental X-rays, your veterinarian can determine the severity of periodontal disease. On rare occasions, a veterinarian could suggest submitting a tiny sample of oral tissue for biopsy.
Treatment for stomatitis
Treatment and management of stomatitis may be challenging because its cause is not well understood. Treatment for stomatitis will vary depending on the severity, stage, and reaction of the ailment in each particular cat.
The initial lines of defense are typically routine dental appointments and medical supervision. Routine dental cleanings and x-rays should be performed while you are under anesthesia to treat any inflammatory dental diseases, get rid of plaque and tartar, and clean the tissues below the gum line.
Ideally, cats’ teeth should be brushed on a regular basis after the dental cleaning; unfortunately, cats with stomatitis sometimes have mouths that are too painful to brush. It could be beneficial to use mouthwashes or gels.
The two major goals of treatment are to regulate pain and reduce inflammation. Regular dental cleanings under anesthesia and at-home treatment using chlorhexidine gels or rinses may be well received by certain cats.
If medical treatment, including the aforementioned, is ineffective, your veterinarian may advise having all or some teeth pulled under anesthesia. Although it might sound extreme, cats can usually survive without their teeth. Remove the teeth from cats with stomatitis to treat periodontal disease and lessen the bacteria that aggravate the immune system. Bacteria can stick to the surfaces of teeth. Cats lacking teeth are nonetheless able to eat and live quite full lives.
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