Expert: Jessica - 9/7/2009

Question
My four year old male cat has lost 2 eye teeth (both top) and now has a black spot on one side next to the bottom eye tooth.  He is a twin and his "sister" has none of these issues. They eat the same food: Purina Healthful Life, water, no milk,no table scraps. Onhis last vet appointment the first missing tooth was discovered. The vet did not seem overly concerned. Now he has lost the second one maybe a month ago and now the black on the bottom gums.

Answer
Hi Pam.  Cats lose their teeth for different reasons.  He may be forming "resorptive lesions".  This is when the body begins to break down and absorb the ligament that holds the tooth in place.  The result, of course, is that once the ligament is resorbed, and the root of the tooth often goes with it, the crown of the tooth must fall out.  Many cats who suffer from these resorptive lesions are quite toothless before they are far into their middle ages.  There is not a great understanding of why this happens.  Many believe it could be a type of immune reaction linked to a virus that most cats are infected with as kittens.  Although we can't see the process happening because it's occurring under the gumline, it does take a matter of months, sometimes longer than a year before teeth fall out.  And, unfortunately, the process can be painful.  Most vets judge by how inflamed the gumline is in order to make a determination as to whether the teeth need to be surgically removed in order to give kitty some relief.

And there are other, more fearful diseases such as lymphocytic plasmacytic stomatitis, which could be causing his teeth to fall out.  This tends to be an extremely painful condition, characterized by bleeding gums, tooth loss and bad breath.  Again, not well understood, it's suspected to be an immune response, perhaps to plaque.  Hence, the body attacks all the teeth at the gumlines.  While antibiotics and steroid use can sometimes yield temporary relief, removing all the cat's teeth surgically is the only real treatment for this disease.

I would definitely have your male looked at by the vet once again.  It could be he just needs a good oral cleaning.  

Hope all turns out well!

Jessica