What this means
To see the gums, gently lift your cat's lip beside the teeth. Healthy gums are pale pink, smooth and snug against the teeth. A red line at the base of the teeth, a puffy edge, a reddened gum all over or bleeding when touched are changes to show a vet. Many cats do not tolerate this kind of inspection, so if your cat spits or pulls away, do not force it.
Gum inflammation can flare in patches or involve the whole mouth, and once it drags on, it hurts your cat at every meal. But a cat hides pain: it often keeps eating, but chews carefully, picks softer food or leaves the harder pieces, drools, rubs its face or grooms less. Sometimes it becomes irritable or avoids being stroked.
The cause has to be found by a vet looking at the whole mouth, because red gums can hide tartar, a sore tooth or another mouth disease. If your cat has not eaten for more than a day, it needs a vet.
Possible causes
These are things that can cause this sign. It is not a diagnosis, and they are not equally likely for your cat.
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Plaque and tartar
A film of bacteria and hardened deposits irritate the gum edge, and it reddens and swells.
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Long-standing gum inflammation
The gums can stay inflamed for weeks or months, bleed easily and hurt during eating.
About the condition: Chronic gingivitis -
Dental disease
A sore or loose tooth, or inflammation of the tissue that holds it, can redden the gums around it.
About the condition: Dental disease -
Wider inflammation in the mouth
Sometimes the inflammation reaches beyond the gums into other parts of the mouth lining, and the mouth is very sore.
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An infection
Some infections can affect the lining of the mouth and redden the gums, usually together with other signs.
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A wound or foreign object
A stuck object or a scratch can cause local redness and swelling.
What else to watch for
These observations help your vet build the picture faster. Note down what you saw and when.
- Whether only the gum line is red, or the whole gum
- Whether the gums bleed when touched or when eating
- Whether your cat eats carefully, drops food or prefers softer food
- Whether it drools, rubs its face or grooms less
- Whether there is a strong smell from the mouth
- Whether your cat has become irritable or avoids being stroked
When to book a routine visit
Book a visit if the gums are red, swollen or bleeding, even if your cat is still eating. If it has not eaten for more than a day or its face has swollen, go the same day.
Related conditions
Conditions whose entries mention this sign. The list is somewhere to read on, not a way to reach a diagnosis.
- Chronic gingivitis Teeth and mouth The gums stay inflamed for a long time: they turn red, swell and bleed easily. The inflammation can drag on for weeks or months and make the mouth sore.
- Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) Infections A virus that slowly weakens a cat's immune system, so the body finds it harder and harder to fight off other infections. An infected cat can look perfectly healthy for a long time, even for years.
- Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) Infections A virus that spreads between cats through saliva and can cause anaemia and lymphoma and weaken the immune system. Not every infected cat falls ill, but a cat in which the virus takes hold faces serious disease.
Body systems: Teeth and mouth Infections