My cat has bad breath, is weak, and won't eat or drink. What's wrong?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | Siamese | Male | unneutered | 1 year and 3 months old
Cats breath smells very bad. He won't eat or drink anything. Is weak and can barley walk.
5 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on April 13th, 2016
Poor cat. He is very young to have so many health concerns. Your kitty's symptoms are almost indicative of "shock" symptoms and this is very concerning. Based on the severity of your cats condition I am highly recommending you take him to your vet asap for some blood tests, physical exam and medical intervention at this point to help stabilize him. I am suspicious of a congenital kidney defect here if the breathe is acidotic. I hope that you get him the care he needs soon and that he can recover from this. Best wishes!
9Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
-
Published on
He needs to be examined by your veterinarian. He may have periodontal disease or kidney disease. He is young for both but there are congenital conditions that can present at his age. At the very least, supportive care is required if he is unable to eat or drink on his own.
8Pet Parents found this answer helpful
-
Published on January 5th, 2018
Some of these symptoms are consist with kidney diseases or ulcers and stomatitis is the mouth or a viral infection such as feline leukemia and aids. Since it is has been so long he needs to see a vet for testing and to see if he is dehydrated. They can look in his mouth and do a simple blood test to check the rest for you to determine the best course of treatments
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
-
Published on December 30th, 2016
Oh dear! This is very concerning - open-mouth breathing in cats is a sign of severe respiratory distress, since they never do this under normal circumstances. This could be caused by heart disease, a severe respiratory infection, free fluid in the chest cavity, or even a lung tumor of some kind. This is a serious, life-threatening problem, so I would recommend taking your cat to an emergency vet immediately. He/she can listen to his heart and lungs to check for any abnormalities, and will also probably need to take chest x-rays to help determine what's wrong and see what can be done to treat it.
3Pet Parents found this answer helpful
-
Published on December 18th, 2016
Many conditions can cause this symptoms such as a foreign body in the GI, an infection, gum disease, kidney failure and more... You need to take him to the vet ASAP, he will need a blood test to start with, there are good chances that the diagnosis will come from there.
2Pet Parents found this answer helpful
My cat won't eat but he will drink and hes breathing heavily
My cat wouldn't want to eat Nor drink. Hes very weak. And always lie down after 3-4 steps. His breath smells bad too. :( he didnt poop that much. He is 12 years old.
Hello, my pet is a Siamese cat and he's about 16-17 he doesn't eat but he wants to, he eats just abit and it's mostly milk that he drinks/eats, he has breathing difficulties, he breathes very slowly and hard.
14 yr old Cat has very serious symptoms. he won't eat and won't move. He doesn't look himself. He has been hiding in the house. He has a dry nose and is breathing heavy and quickly.
My cat has a spot on his lower lip that I can't tell is abscessed or not. His breath also smells awful, and he hasn't been eating or drinking on his own. I've managed to syringe water into his mouth. He has also lost a bit of weight. This has been go
Hi my cat has not been eating all day today and seems very weak. He is also developing an odor, what should I do?
Hello, I found my baby who is two years old this morning lying down and who was not responding when I called him, just to discover that he was breathing quickly and his eyes remained wide open,(and meowed loudly while I held him). He was not likely t
15 year old cat: Breathing fast and heavy all the time, episodic breathing with mouth open and making a coughing noise, become quite skinny, not active and is lethargic, seems to have a bit of weakness in hind legs, is restless and not sleeping much,
My cat came up to the steps the other night he is unable to walk. He has yet to use the bathroom or anything. Won't eat or drink. He has no puncture wounds on him either.
My cat is not eating. Has lost a lot of weight that he is now just skin and bone over a few days from being a very plump and healthy cat. I can not pick him up as he cries to much. He seems lethargic and out of breath. Please can you help me?
Book an appointment with the pros – our expert vets are here to help.
