Hi Lisa,

Thanks for your question.

Here’s the problem. I see a lot of symptoms and concerns that you have shared in your question. No matter how well you explain them, these symptoms can match a hundred different disease states and many are common in cats. Not only that, but there can be a few different issues occurring here at the same time and may not be just one disease.

Just to share a few of them….

Inflamed gums in cats with tooth loss can be due to stomatitis, feline leukemia virus, feline immunodeficiency virus, calicivirus, herpes virus, or bacterial gingivitis.

An increased appetite in cats and weight loss can be due to hyperthyroidism, diabetes, heart disease, gastrointestinal parasite or an intestinal disease to name a few.

To begin the investigation, I recommend that you start by performing blood work, urine testing, fecal testing, a viral panel and whole body X-rays. I’m sure this will give you some idea of what is going on and what is not going on. I fear that if you don’t determine a cause, you will delay treatment and the condition can worsen and cost you even greater expense for less success down the road.

I hope this helps.

Dr. Clayton Greenway