My cat's gum is bleeding from a toy. Is it infected? How to heal?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Tora. I recommend that he sees his veterinarian. He will need to be anesthetized to have his mouth properly evaluated. The gingivitis present along his gumline is significant and there is a chance that tooth would need to be extracted. This can only be determined under anesthesia. His mouth is likely painful which could be why he bit you. Brushing is great once the mouth is cleaned and the gumline is healthy again. I hope this information helps!

Poor kitty. Do a really good check of kitties mouth and see if you can identify the source of the bleeding. If it is coming from the tongue and if it has stopped bleeding for the most part, but only starts again after kitten eats, then this may be manageable at home. Get kitty a pet friendly oral rinse from your local pet store and flush the mouth daily to keep things from getting infected. Then I would make sure that kitty eats soft canned food only to avoid friction on the tongue and hopefully keep the bleeding episodes to a minimal. The tongue heals relatively quickly in most cases (within a few days), so anything beyond that would concern me that there is potentially another source of the bleeding, at which point it may be best to have kitty seen by your vet for a thorough exam.

That is a little biot more blood than I would like to see. Very carefully open your kitty's mouth and check the gums, teeth and tongue. There may be ulcers or an injury or he has a tooth that is meant to come out but stuck at a funny angle. If so your kitty needs to be seen by a veterinarian for an exam. If there are no wounds other than where he lost a tooth, then there is nothing you need to do and the bleeding and discomfort should go away soon.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It is not possible to know the full extent of this just based on pictures though this does look like significant gingivitis and dental disease. Sometimes this is due to pure inflammation secondary to dental disease and sometimes there may be an infection. I recommend you have her evaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. Good luck!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! At this point this would warrant reevaluation. This could be something else such as a mass which is why it has not resolved or perhaps an abscess that is not sensitive to the antibiotics that were used. Your veterinarian can reevaluate this and treat according to that. Good luck and have a great day!

Unfortunately gengivostomatitis (gums inflammation) can be a very frustrating disease. It is a very good news that Symba is FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) negative but inflammation might be also secondary to infection as feline herpesvirus or feline calicivirus (an oral swap could be done and viruses can be isolated in laboratories). If neither herpes or calicivirus are involved, it is very likely that the inflammatory disease is due to an abnormal response of the oral immuno-system. In the future the disease might remain stable and no other treatment are necessary but if the symptoms get worse might be necessary to start: antiinflammarory drugs, drugs to suppress the immune system and control the proliferation of bacteria within the mouth. In severe cases surgical management (removal of all of a cat’s teeth) might be the only solution.

Keep little Muse calm and quiet and schedule a vet visit as soon as possible to evaluate the tooth and get pain medication if needed. It’s hard to tell if that adult canine is damaged or not- if so, dental X-rays or a dental cleaning and extraction may be recommended. If she seems not to want to eat, offer some canned food which may be easier to eat with a hurt mouth. I absolutely DO NOT recommend giving any sort of over the counter pain medication to Muse as they can be life-threatening and can interfere with medications your vet may want to use.