What does a normal cat's mouth look like?
Normal animal mouths contain natural features and holes that can naturally appear dark or large. Because owners fear being ignorant and causing their pets issues later, they end up hyper-fixating on these harmless anatomical details to report to the vet.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Posting pictures online to ask experienced owners for visual confirmationDid this help you?
- 2Rubbing the teeth with bare fingers instead of using a brush and toothpasteDid this help you?
- 3Posting pictures on online forums to ask for visual confirmationDid this help you?
- 4Monitoring the pet for behavioral signs of discomfort or excessive lickingDid this help you?
- 5Taking the pet to the vet for a professional opinionDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I'm not sure how a cats mouth suppose to look but this can't be normal right? Her mouth has been like this since I adopted her.”source ↗
“Don't want to be ignorant and then it causes her a lot of issues later.”source ↗
“He has started to act a little different, so I’ve started to pay extra attention to any possible thing to tell the vet.”source ↗
“How do I train her to brush her teeth? I been trying to slowly introduce her to brushing her teeth but she doesn't like the toothpaste. She lets me rub her teeth with my fingers and brush but once the toothpaste is brought in, it's over”source ↗
“I don’t know why, but his holes look darker and bigger than the last time I noticed them. Do they look normal?”source ↗