Cat Chat Feline Forum

My 9 year old cat (female) is a bit overweight, which we are trying to fix by giving her less and healthier cat food. Besides that, I noticed today that the Mandible (bottom jaw) is moving in a way that, to me, doesn't seem right. I was looking at her teeth by gently pulling up on her whiskers, and noticed the 6 teeth between the canine (?) Teeth were off alignment quite a bit. Upon further investigation, the 3 teeth on either side move up and down pretty freely, independent of each other's side. The canine teeth also move along with each corresponding side. Basically, I am asking if it is normal for the bottom mandible to essentially be in 2 parts, left and right, with what appears to be a split in the middle, between the front two teeth, to allow opposite vertical movement of each side? It was a bit scary to me, being that us humans have a solid jaw, at least along the bottom - front teeth. Thanks in advance! I just don't want her to be in pain, however she did not move or anything when I was articulating it. There's literally a quarter-inch of movement from the left side in relation to the right side and vice versa going up and down...sorry if the description sounds a bit confusing, it's hard to explain...I can get a pic of the mandible and highlight where I'm talking about.

Unless I have understood your description incorrectly, it sounds like she has broken her bottom jaw? The bottom jaw of a cat is commonly broken thru impact of car accidents etc, but if each side of her lower jaw moves independantly then you will need to get to a vet ASAP...... Good luck hope she is ok.

Purdy's jaw was broken like that. She had to have it wired. Get your girlie to the vets ASAP!

Interesting reading this. We've just taken in a stray (assuming all goes well with the cat already here), and he had a wire on his jaw. No idea how long it was there.