Feline stomatitis is a condition which is becoming more common at much earlier ages. Cats as young as a year old are succumbing to this serious problem. Why is it so prevalent now and what can you do to prevent it or treat it?
Stomatitis is a mouth disease. The mouth become inflamed, causing redness, swelling, pain and infection. Rawness, which is tender to touch, and ulcers can appear. If it continues, the next problem is that the teeth can become loose. This is serious stuff for a cat. It rarely happens in the wild. If it did, cats would not have survived to the present day.
When you talk to older or retired veterinarians, they will tell you that they never had to treat feline stomatitis. In the intervening 50 odd years, what has changed to now make this such a common problem?
Two major changes have occurred – diet and veterinary care.
Let’s examine each separately.
Cats are hunters. When they eat their prey, they fully use their sharp teeth to hold and to crunch up all parts of the body. Their mouth was designed, or has evolved, to perfect this action. The crunching action effectively cleans their teeth and massages their gums. This action keeps their mouth in perfect condition.
The domestic cat has a very different diet. Commercial cat food abounds, and nearly all cats are now fed this, in the mistaken belief that it is the best food for them. Soft food doesn’t support the health of the mouth in any way at all. It leads to gum disease.
Hard biscuits, often advertised as being good for the mouth, has little or no effect, although you might expect it to. This is borne out by the fact that most cats are fed hard biscuits, but stomatitis in cats has never been so prevalent.
Diet is complicated. It isn’t just the texture of the food that is important for the health of the mouth. The quality of the food is also important. The quality supplies the essential nutrients, which ensure healthy tissue. This is lacking in the majority of commercial cat foods.
It’s important to supply your cat with a diet very similar to the one they evolved on, for nutritional value, for mental health, for digestive health and for the health of their mouth.
Veterinary care has become such a large industry that many practices have less concern for the health of their patients than they have for the health of their bank balance. Some veterinary schools now teach their students how to maximise their profits, whatever the consequences are for the animals.
Professional veterinary associations which, in most countries, vets must join to legally practice, have a strict code of practice. In general, this does not allow the members to speak freely on such matters as alternative therapies or medication.
Yet all veterinary medication has two enormous problems. They are all toxic to the liver. And they all suppress the symptoms, and so the immune system. This creates further health problem in the not too distant future.
The veterinary treatment of feline stomatitis is to first prescribe antibiotics. When this doesn’t work, even with stronger drugs or for extended periods of time, cortisone is used. As neither of these drugs address the cause of the problem, in most cases the diet, the condition is not resolved.
Sooner or later, it will return. And then surgery is suggested, with many teeth removed. While this drastic measure does mean that your cat no longer has a tooth problem, it doesn’t always prevent gum disease. As with all surgery, it also carries dangers.
It is not uncommon for vets to prop open the mouth too wide during surgery, causing great pain for an extended period afterwards.
The alternatives are much less drastic, not dangerous at all and are much more cost expensive. First, sort out the diet, whatever the stage of the problem, this is a priority. Unless you have to act immediately because your cat won’t eat, it is best to wait and see what effect this has. In many cases, it can completely cure the problem.
If the condition is dire, if your cat is in too much pain to eat, then you need to provide some treatment. The best curative treatment for feline stomatitis, as for any other condition, is homeopathic. This approach treats the unique expression of your cat’s ails, is gentle, non-toxic, easy to administer and most important of all, is effective by stimulating the immune system.
And the icing on the cake is that the treatment is well within the financial scope of most people.
Learn how to feed your cat to prevent this condition.
30 replies to "Feline Stomatitis and How to Prevent it and Treat it"
I have a cat that suffers from this and would love to treat it with homeopathic treatments, but can’t find info on what to give her. Would you know what can help? I am a very big believer in natural treatments!!!!!
Health care is complicated. In homeopathy, there is no one treatment for any condition, because the whole animal must be considered. I suggest you consult with a homeopath. You may be able to find one near you from this global list.
http://hpathy.com/homeopathy-organizations/
I am also looking for options. My cat is only 18 months old and is schecduled for a dental cleaning that will likely include the loss of at least 5 teeth and they make it sound like he could lose all of them, if not now, eventually. I have 7 cats in my house, the others are all older and none of them have the same problem. Can anyone suggest an alternate option that is effective and less drastic?
18 months old is far too young for such a drastic fate. My suggested diet can reverse stomatitis and so avoid surgery.
My 13 year old kitty had all her teeth except her canines removed because her stomatitis is so bad. The infection has returned, and she can’t eat more than two bites of food at a time without being in agonizing pain. Neither the vet nor I want to put her on long term steroids because of the associated risk factors, but I don’t know what else to do for her. She needs to eat and can’t because of the pain. Will the diet you suggest still help her even though she has already had her teeth removed? She is an otherwise healthy and happy cat, and I can’t stand the thought of putting her to sleep just because of her teeth. Thank you for your help.
I hear stories like this all the time. Vets don’t treat the cause, their measures only treat the effect, and often not very effectively. I suggest that you seek out homeopathic help for your cat as she is in dire straits at the moment. Homeopathy (from a good practitioner) works very well, even on seemingly hopeless cases.
Having got her through the immediate problem of pain, then it is imperative that you change her diet to a more natural one, otherwise, the problem will only recur.
Please see my ‘consultations’ in the menu above for my details.
You may prefer to find someone through this list of global organisations. http://hpathy.com/homeopathy-organizations
Hi Madeleine. I have been meaning to thank you for a while for giving me the same advice as you have given on this site. In Dec/12 I had just adopted a 5 month old kitten from a local rescue when I noticed that he had bad breathe and didn’t crunch his dry food like my 7 yr old cat. I knew this was a problem and when I went for my free vet check the vet looked at his gums and told me he probably had stomatitis and gave me some print outs on what to expect. She also told me to return him to the rescue! I’m a long time believer of alternative medicine and so off I went searching for a solution on the internet. Early January is when I came across you and when I emailed you I was so impressed when you emailed me back within 15 mins from Australia!! You had given me the same advice as I see here – raw food and chicken necks, plus I bought and downloaded your E Book. At first I made up my own raw food (bits of chicken, livers, beef, fish oil, spirulina etc) and then I remembered that you could buy frozen, ground patties of raw food (for cats made locally and a variety of meat and fish with bits of bone in it) from a pet food store in town AND they sold frozen “tiny” chicken necks! So now Cooper is just turning 1 yr old in 1 day and his meals consist of 1/3 – 1/2 cup of ground meat (I get the “variety” pack) for breakfast and for dinner I cut up one tiny chicken neck into 3 pieces and he eats anywhere from 1 – 3 pieces depending on his appetite. If I’m forgetful and forget to defrost some chicken necks and for maybe 2 days he doesn’t have the chicken neck (just the ground meat), he’s back to bad breathe again!
I’m so glad I started him so young (he loved this food from day 1 (he likes it from the fridge). Day 1 when I gave him the chicken neck he was in heaven, his eyes got all dream like and he was chewing away! I remember thinking “You won’t crunch the kibble because your gums hurt but with the chicken neck you sure don’t act like a cat with sore gums!”
So once again, Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Ps. Cooper hasn’t been back to the vet since his free check in Dec/12! He’s full of vim and vigor being a crazy little kitten.
When people ‘get it’, a whole new whole of health opens up! Well done! Healthy, quality, natural food is the key to good health. For everyone.
I am interested and have a cat with Stomatitis. I’d like to know– Is there currently any documentation noting successes using Homeopathy for cats with Stomatitis????
Probably, but I don’t know where. Every disease has complicated origins, and each individual is different. So no two cats can be treated the same. However, diet is the number one reason why cats get stomatitis in the first place. Start addressing that and everything starts coming right. My ebook explains the best diet for optimal health that is easy for the human as well as healthy for the cat! In the early stages, this can completely cure the problem. More advanced stages will need the services of a homeopath.
Hello,
Thank you for helping our dear sweet cats. Does “all” the food need to be raw meat or can some be cooked? Could you also use Science Diet in with this food? Thanks, ALisa
Science diet, along with all the commercial pet food, is hazardous to the health of cats.
I feed my cat Blue Buffalo. Is this a good dry food? She will not eat
wet food.
In my experience, there is no commercial cat food that is healthy. Dry food is one of the worst things that could ever have happened to cats collectively, as they are semi desert animals and so don’t drink much naturally. This means that ALL cats fed dry food are likely to be chronically dehydrated.
She drinks plenty of water, and urinates several times a day.
She also has periods when she will symptoms of allergies runny nose sneezing ect.
I think she may be allergic to cat nip even the organic brands.the symptoms
occur after she eats or sniffs it and last about two weeks. I often have to give her allergy medicine for about one week. This is no easy task. Is there an easy to administer medicine to cats? Skittles sure puts up a good fight and I’m usually on the loosing end. Thank You 🙂
You need to shift the way you are thinking. Think what causes the problem, rather than struggling to medicate (and so mask) the symptom. Cats dislike meds, so why force them on her? She is the only one who knows what is happening inside her.Food is the main cause of allergies.
Even a cat who drinks a lot can still be dehydrated as the water doesn’t hydrate them.
I now feed my 2 yr old -all white neutered male cat half a can of wet food once in morning and once at night, and a dry cat food called Orijen Regional Red. So this dry cat food is 80 red meat, fish & egg ingredients, 20 fruits, vegetables, and botanicals, and 0 grain, potato, or GMO.
Let me copy the ingredients for the readers:
With crude protein of 40%- Ingredients are IN ORDER as follows:
Boneless wild boar, boneless lamb, boneless beef, beef liver, boneless pork, whole herring,pork liver, beef meal, lamb meal, herring meal, salmon meal, pollock meal, lamb fat, green lentils, chickpeas, red lentils, bison, whole egg, yellow peas, beef tripe, herring oil, lamb liver, beef kidney, alfalfa, kelp, pumpkin, butternut squash, spinach greens, carrots, apples,pears, cranberries, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, sodium selenite, mixed ocopherols, chicory root, dandelion root, chamomile, peppermint leaf, ginger root, caraway seeds, tumeric, rose hips, choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, niacin, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, freeze dried lamb liver, freeze dried beef liver, freeze dried wild boar liver, freeze dried tripe. dried Eneterococcus faercium fermentation product. It is obviously low glycemic and the first 10 ingredients of premium animal source. Ingredients and food preserved naturally, no DHA, BHT or Ethoxyquin added. Of all the foods on the market including Blue Buffalo (has there been any cat that DIDN’t spit out the life source bits?)- Orijen Six Fish and Orijen Regional Red are the only two products he will enthusiasticly eat as a dry. So while I am at work for 10 hours I am confident he is eating well. He has had no more flare ups of his stomatitis but I am watching him carefully. His breath is fresh,and his energy level is way up. He is now playing with his toys for the first time, chasing his laser dot daily. I come home to a bowl of kibble either empty or with only 3 or 4 kernels in it. His coat is LUMINOUS and is marveled at by my friends. When light hits him he glows!
I found your site and am looking for a Probiotic to supplement what seems to be working for him.
I’m afraid I think this diet is terrible. If he has improved on this, I shudder to think what he was on before. My reasons for this are:-
way too much carbs – cats are carnivores, not herbivores
toxic chemicals to preserve – ETHOXYQUIN is highly toxic, causing cancer and organ failure
supplements are synthetic
cats should not be permitted to graze – two meals a day is the maximum unless ill – cats are not grazing animals
kibble is one of the worst things that happened to cats
I just rescued a stray a couple days ago. Took her to the vet to get checked out, she has stomatitis which I had never heard of. Of course they want to pull her teeth. I was wondering if the chicken necks and other food need to be organic, grass fed? I know that would be best just not sure I can afford it. Thanks
You don’t have to pull any teeth. Organic is best, but not essential.
It is an absolute coincidence that this article appeared yesterday, as I was JUST talking to my husband about purchasing a grinder for making our own cat food. We stopped feeding, as our cats wouldn’t eat the food we made for our dogs, which is chicken, various vegetables, etc. I since learned that the best way to feed cats is raw homemade food. THANK YOU, as you just helped me prove that I was correct in homecoming, and gosh, I will get on a better solution for our cats straight away. THANK YOU!!
A grinder is not necessary. Cats have teeth that do a better job!
Hi there; I adopted a cat, Copper, from a shelter a few weeks ago and was he’s been diagnosed with stomatitis and has already had most of his teeth pulled out (the vet had recommended this as he said it was the worst case of feline stomatitis he’d ever seen). Only the lower canines and little teeth in the front (top and bottom) are left. Since the surgery (over a week ago) he actually seems to be in even more pain when he eats. He’ll be OK for several seconds, then he will yowl, paw at his mouth and stick his tongue out and gag. Finally he gives up trying to eat. I spoke with the vet and he suggested we bring him in again so they could try some more antibiotics, steroids, pain meds, etc. I probably would have tried raw meat/bones first if I had known. Now I am not sure how/if I should try feeding him any of that stuff since most of his teeth are gone and he could probably choke. We’ve been feeding him “pate”-style canned food and sardines. He is severely underweight so any time he eats, we are happy. Is there anything you can suggest that might help? I wish I would have seen this site before I had the teeth pulled. It’s to the point where if he doesn’t improve, we may have to think about having him put down, as I do not want to see this poor cat suffer. He’s estimated to be about 3 years old. Any help you can offer would be much appreciated; thanks!
Such a very sad story and yet one so common. Stomatitis is easily prevented and yes, easily resolved with proper species-specific nutrition and homeopathic treatment.
My maine coon is 10 years old and has stomatitis. He’s the only one of my cats that would rather starve to death than eat anything other than the dry food. I came home a week ago and his nose, mouth and other parts looked like he’d been the neighbourhood bully cat’s victim again. Next day he couldn’t/wouldn’t eat, so I gave it a couple of days, as that’s always worked in the past. Not this time. I only saw the pink raised tongue inflammation after this. As I’m unemployed I knew I could only help him with what I had at home. I researched and gave him one powdered slippery elm tab, a pinch of zinc and 10 drops of cats claw mixed with water -4 teaspoons 3 x daily. He accepted it for a couple of days and by the end of the 2nd day was able to eat a bit. It was a joy to hear him crunch away again. But int the past 24 hrs again, he’s hardly eaten again. This morning I realised his teeth were affected when he swallowed without crunching. When I tried to give him the mixture again, he ran away. Then I thought I’d try my remaining MMS, but that also needs 8 doses daily for effectiveness. Do you have any suggestions at all? I’ve read something somewhere about borax, which I have. Do you know anything about it as a remedy for stomatitis?
You have to be careful what you give cats. Plant based foods or supplements can be detrimental to their health. It can take 3 weeks (almost mostly it is much less) to convince a cat to eat healthy food and there are ways to convince them. It’s all about you being determined. But you won’t be until you realise and fully appreciate the harm you are doing to your cat by feeding them inappropriate food. Dry food is THE worst food you can feed your cat, whoever makes it. Stomatitis is easy to heal fully with the right diet and homeopathy. Without these measures, it is likely to be a real problem.
Many thanks for your response, Madeleine
I had no internet connection for a while, so couldn’t respond sooner.
May I first say on behalf of all of us cat lovers – deep gratitude to you for all you do for others -especially your availability here in time and expertise – for us and our felines. And for your committment to helping us grow our awareness in more natural ways to help our cats.
I’m quite happy with myself at present and re my cat’s now-healed stomatitis, as above.
So it may be of help to others, I want to share what I did after his teeth got inflamed also. I wasn’t able to buy a thing, so had to use whatever I could find at home. My cat’s claw tincture was finished, so I went net researching again.
I found that cats responded well to turmeric, so I chose to continue with my daily pinch of crushed zinc picolonate tab mixed with 1/4 tspn pure tumeric and mixed with coconut oil. I dyed him yellow with this 3x daily, pushing globs into and around his teeth and gums and a bit on his paws also. Within 24-48 of this he began to eat a bit again, although on one side only for a time. I was overjoyed! By day 3, he was eating again as usual and when I looked into his mouth, both the gums and tongue no longer looked inflamed.
His last ‘injury’ was a gash on his nose that just didn’t seem to be healing, even after 2 weeks. Until Tuesday this past week. For a few days before then I decided to do the exact same externally with the zinc and tumeric – now applying to his nose. It took just a couple of days and by Tuesday it was all healed up.
He’s back to his usual greedy self now. 🙂 But alas, still on the dry poison. Although I bought some chicken wings and necks, there was a little bit of interest from 1 or 2 of the others, but only if cooked- and they still didn’t eat it. While raw, they wouldn’t touch it. Ultimately, none of them ate it. And he, especially, went nowhere near it.
One of the local rescue organisation’s cattery ladies seemed, pretty impressed with my story, instead of the usual trying to put the fear of God (not that it ever works) into me and pressure me to run him by her vets.
My urge to her was simple: to please pay it forward and share what I’ve done and what I’ve used with other financially-struggling folk who have diagnosed their cat with same. Amazingly, she agreed.
Well done Shellee. I would like to make a couple of points. Cats are carnivores, so don’t keep giving turmeric. Only use it for the problems and discontinue if you don’t get results. Be careful of the zinc picolonate as this is synthetic and can cause problems if used extensively. And yes, cats can be difficult to convert, but it IS possible AND desirable. You have to be committed.
You keep saying, “Stomatitis is easily prevented and yes, easily resolved with proper species-specific nutrition and homeopathic treatment” yet I haven’t been able to read a single thing from you on how this is done. You say don’t give too much of this or too much of that for a long period of time except for what actually works. Please enlighten and elaborate, step-by-step on what to do for Stomatitis. My cat is FIV+ which adds another complication. He has been on various antibiotics for at least 5 months now, going progressively to stronger and stronger antibiotics but they don’t help at all. I’m sorry to sound this way, it’s just that I’m SO desperate to help him. Dry food hurts his teeth and the juices in wet food sting his gums. He seems to be able to eat more canned food though if he mostly licks it down and avoids getting it on his gums. The Stomatitis is in, what the vet calls, “a very, very mild case. He’s no where near the worst case scenario.” But I don’t like to see my cat suffer. It’s like periodontal disease (comparable to humans). I had very similar problems last year and the pharmacist, nurses, doctors and dentists all said the same thing: gargle with warm salt water because it helps draw the infection out. Will this work on cats? AND should I maybe start giving him Lysine?
No, I don’t ever give specifics as every case is different and every person different. What is obvious to one person is incredibly hard for the next. So I work WITH people, helping them overcome the hurdles. As in your case, reading something on the internet is NOT going to get to the bottom of your cat’s health issues. And that is probably the only way to help him. So instead of spending all your cash on vets, can I suggest you redirect your focus into holistic therapists?