My kitten’s breath stinks. What can I do?

I rescued this kitten from the streets while he was near death and he’s had stinky breath since the day I found him. I assumed the smell was caused by whatever he was thriving on at the time but he’s been living with me for a month now and his stinky breath has followed through. I’m feeding him a vet recommended dried food for kittens called “Science Diet” and Whiskas wet food. He has white teeth and healthy gums. I understand a cats mouth isn’t meant to smell of flowers and sweet things but his breath is unbearable, I gag everytime I’m cuddling him and he yawns or opens his mouth to bite on a chew toy. It’s so bad. Help?
@ Mark: As I stated I never expected a cat’s breath to be minty fresh. But I’ve raised cats in the past and it’s definitely not normal for a cats breath to be this unbearable. I’ll look into your product suggestion.

All kittens’ and cats’ breath stink. Imagine how yours would be if you hadn’t brushed your teeth for your entire life!
It’s completely normal, but you ought to try to switch between different foods till you find one that may be better for his mouth! Try more than two types. There are also chewing “candy” for dogs that get rid of plaque buildup when they chew them. Maybe you could go to the pet store and see if there are ones for cats too.

Edit: DON’T use stuff like what Teal is suggesting. Mouthwash and “things that kill bacteria” contain antibiotica and could cause your cat to form a resistance to antibiotics. That way when she’s actually sick, she could not react to the antibiotics you give her. Never use antibiotics when you don’t have to!

Edit #2: You never thought Listerine contained antibiotics either, did you? Well, it does – and you call it safe but no doctor would ever recommend it so =]

Edit #3: First off, I’m not giving anyone a beating. Secondly. things that kill bacteria are antibiotics. End of story. If she wants to change her mind and say it’s oxydating, then sure, but it doesn’t kill bacteria!

I’d still recommend getting chewy treats against plaque. =) We actually had this problem with a pair of brother kittens that both had UNBEARABLE breath and really smelly gas. Turned out they were allergic or reacted badly to a lot of foods. Simply changing the food a couple of times solved the problem for us.

There’s something wrong with my kitty.?

My cat has been throwing up alot. It started yesterday, and has gotten worse tonight. He only eats dry food, and it’s *not* any of that which has been recalled, because it’s dry. Besides that, I’ve had these kibbles longer than the recall. He’s strictly an indoor kitty, and has no fleas. He does have tremendous bad breath though. Could a bad tooth perhaps cause him to throw up everything? All night? I can’t afford to take him to a vet right now!–I’m unemployed! What should I do?

Is the vomit looks a little bit gnarly like matted? If so then this could be hair balls, Cats can not digest their own fur, and needs hair ball remedy which is really affordable at the local store such as VONS or Safeway, much cheaper than the pet store.

If the vomit is of a different color, like the color of the food, he could be eating too much, also it could be just about anything else that is going on with your cat.

I do not know if you have Pet assistant in your area or not, there are programs that can help you foot the bill for the Vet, and there are Vets that are willing to allow you make small monthly payments as well.,

Being that your currently unemployed perhaps you could offer to trade any form of service that you have experience in, such as computer knowledge, data entry and so on in exchanged for Vet Care for your kitty.

I hope your kitty will start feeling better soon