My kitten has swollen neck glands and terrible breath. What's wrong?

Hi. An enlarged lymph node usually is due to infection or inflammation in the area that lymph node drains. The blood and mucous in stool may or may not be related. I would recommend seeing your veterinarian on monday. They will do an exam, a fecal test, an oral exam, and possibly a sample of that lymph node. I would also recommend a feline FELV and FIV test. Good luck

Hi there. The area of inflammation should be monitored. Sometimes lymph nodes swell with a mild infection, and when it is just one that is swollen, it is safe to monitor at this time. If Bambina continues to act normally, I would wait 7-10 days if the swelling remains the same. If it is still swollen after that time period, I would have your veterinarian check it out. I hope that helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I would say from your pictures that Jax's gum is quite swollen and I imagine it's very painful to him. It could be that his tooth has broken off and is rotten causing the swelling and bad breath. It could also be he has a tooth root abscess. This is definitely something that needs to be treated sooner rather than later, so please call your vet to get him an appointment asap to have this treated. I would soak his dry food in warm water or gently warmed chicken broth to make his food softer to eat, or you can give him canned food for now. Best of luck, I hope this helps.

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Coffee grain type material from the ears is usually associated with ear mites. These can be treated with any broad-spectrum deworm/deflea product, please ensure it is designed for cats. Redness on the gums that you are displaying could be a sign that this cat could have a condition where the immune system attacks the teeth, and the gums become red as bystander damage and inflammation. The treatment is to remove the teeth. The other option is that Leo could just have very bad dental disease. Both of these are consistent with bright red gums and bad smelling mouth. Both are also very painful and uncomfortable. I recommend you have Leo seen by a vet in order to assess the teeth and make a plan for either removal or cleaning. Best of luck with Leo!

The enlarged lymph nodes could be due to a number of different infectious diseases, unfortunately this includes the FeLV and FIV viruses if your kitten has not yet been tested. Gingivitis in a young kitten can be related to these viruses as well but some kittens will have juvenile gingivitis that they outgrow.

Swollen glands can be due to a number of things, sometimes they are reacting to an infection, sometimes they swell for no real reason and sometimes it is a cancer called lymphoma. In Albert's case I would not be overly worried as he is so young, but I would definitely have him checked as the vet will know better how much swrlling is significant. He may have an infection that needs treated or the vet may want to sample the lump to get a definite diagnosis.

This may be the start of an upper respiratory disease. They usually do have a fever and swollen lymph nodes (possibly causing the face to swell) early in the infection, which will make them feel bad. They also tend to avoid eating and drinking early in the infection. It appears that both sides of Blue's face are swollen, but if it happens that only one side is swollen, then this can indicate a local infection/abscess. This can happen with bite wounds, other puncture wounds, or dental disease. I wouldn't be too concerned about this being an emergency, but it's best if you can get Blue to a vet within the next day or two. While these infections are often mild, they can become complicated, which will make things much worse. The vet would be able to narrow-down the cause of this and prescribe the necessary treatment to make him feel better and keep the infection from getting worse. I hope this helps and Blue feels better soon.