Why does my 5-month-old kitten's mouth smell and bleed when brushing?

I am sorry to hear about your concerns!!! It sounds like your kitten is of the age when it is getting its final adult teeth (usually 6-7 months) so it is possible your kitty is just losing her baby teeth. When kittens are teething sometimes they do have a bad breath/odor while they are teething. When the teeth fall out we can have some bleeding at the gums as well. If the bleeding was prolonged, your kitty is having trouble eating or is lethargic or pawing at her mouth, I would recommend an exam by the vet to look at the oral cavity to ensure there aren't any signs of infection, a foreign body stuck in the gums, or ulceration. Best of luck to you and Nala!

At this age the bad breath might be because of teething, which occurs until the age of around 5 months of age, after that if the bad breath remains it's probably due to gum disease, which is very common in cats, in most cases it doesn't bother the cat and thus does not require treatment.

Meshmesh should not have bad breath. He may have an infection in his mouth. If you are unsure or worried, you should have him examined by a veterinarian. He also needs his first vaccinations now and needs to be wormed as well.

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.

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.

Halitosis (bad breath) in a kitten can be caused by oral infections such as gingivitis (inflammation of the gums) or feline stomatitis (inflammation of the oral mucous membranes at the back of the mouth). Teething can also cause bad breath. Another cause that is harmless is certain food like canned soft food can sometimes cause the kitten bad breath, for example, smoked oysters or canned tuna. Other causes such as kidney/liver disease and diabetes are less commonly found in kittens. I would suggest to take the kitten to your vet to examine the mouth and identify the cause.

The best way to help this problem is to brush his teeth every day. The stimulation of the gums that happens when brushing will help with the inflammation. You must use a toothpaste made for animals. I don't know what products you have available to you in Tunisia so it's hard for me to make any recommendations.