One of my cats has been having problems with her fur matting. I took her to the vet today, really hoping that it wasn't another flea problem. They got fleas last year, and it was terrible to have to deal with it. For them and for me. They had to have medicine put on their fur - which of course they hated. And I had to get an exterminator in to deal with the infestation in my carpets and furniture. Lovely.
As it turned out, the matting wasn't being caused by fleas. Good news. But the vet isn't sure what is causing it. Of more concern from the vet's perspective was the fact that she had lost a pound. A pound for you and me isn't much. But for a 12-pound cat, it's about 10% of her body weight. Since I wasn't trying to get her to lose weight, the vet was concerned. And then he looked at her mouth. Oh boy. She has almost no teeth left. She has her canines (ironically) and only one molar. Which she's in danger of losing since it was covered in tartar. So the vet speculated that, perhaps, she's just not cleaning herself adequately anymore since her mouth hurts. I had noticed that she wasn't eating quite as much, but nothing dramatic. Other than the fur situation, she didn't seem to be experiencing any problems.
So I came home and looked at the mouth of my other cat. She has only one tooth in her whole mouth, as far as she would let me see. One. One lone canine. Bad, bad, bad.
And now I feel quilty that I hadn't noticed that my cats were having so many problems with their teeth. I am a bad kitty momma. :(
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