Black stuff around cat's mouth

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TheCatsMum
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by TheCatsMum »

Forgot to say, I have an oldie as well - 18.5 year.s
bethmachine
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by bethmachine »

sorry to resurrect an old thread but i think i might br able to help-

i have a sphynx whom ive had since he was a 2 month old kitten- being hairless this breed requires a bit of maintenance, they need baths every other week for a couple different reasons- 1) general dust and dirt from every day running around and being a cat. theres no fur to disguise it. 2) the completely bald sphynx cats get oily and will leave stains on your furniture.. i have the kind that has peach fuzz fur which helps keeps the oilyness at bay; and 3) YEAST build up- particularly in the ears and toenails, and ive noticed the exact same symptoms as everyone has described in this thread and im certain the black crusty stuff around his mouth is yeast as well. its just something that is characteristic to their breed- im not sure if its linked to their hairlessness, but the breeder warned me about it and said it was something that is just commonplace for sphynx cats when explaining the maintenance aspect of caring for this breed. my sphynx had to have an extremely invasive surgery (ate some string that wrapped itself around his intenstines, resulting in an $8k operation to get a piece of his stomach carved out and creating the most expensive piece of string ever) and was put on heavy duty meds afterwards, including a course of antibiotics. during this time, all the yeast cleared up instantly - ALL of it, gone in a flash! - but less than a week after the run of antibiotics, the yeast came back all the same. the time he was on the meds has been the only time hes been completely free of the yeast. ive tried various creams and ointments and cleanses, but none of them really work, or at least not for long. hes healthy and happy otherwise, it doesnt bother him, and allows me to do his daily yeast checks without any resistance - swab out his ears (very carefully with q tips and wipes), scrub his nails gently with a soft nail brush and wipes, and usually a kleenex dampened with warm water around his mouth). i bathe him every other week which hes not a fan of, but lets me do with very little protest.

anyway, i cant say for certain if all of your cats have the same, but from what you guys have described sounds identical to what my cat has. while it may be commonplace for sphynx cats, i dont think its supposed to be for other breeds so i would definitely still have your furbabies checked out, but i just thought i should share my experience because it seemed like this thread had a lot of questions but not many answers. for googling purposes, i think yeast or yeast infections around the mouth is called thrush. anyway, hope this helps.. good luck
Judith61coast
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Judith61coast »

Thank you everyone. It has been helpful reading all your posts about this black crusty lip problem. Seems fairly common on many breeds of cats and all ages. My girl has this problem but does not seem bothered by it. She loves having the sides of her face and mouth brushed which gets some of the crust off. Someone said they were trying coconut oil which I think that I will try first. I had been a bit concerned also about cancer but am not now after reading all your posts. An antibacterial may be in order but must be safe to injest. There was another product posted that sounds good. Thank you all. Sounds like a variety of causes with the same scab reaction. I would be interested in hearing more about the outcome of various treatments.
My girl had kitty acne when she was young. This is not acne.
It was interesting to learn about their scent glands too.
So glad to have this forum.
Judith61coast
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Judith61coast »

November 24,2018
Just three applications of a tiny bit of coconut oil healed my kitty’s lips of the black crust which had been a problem for weeks!
Her lips are lovely again and ingesting a bit of the oil is very good for her. Thank you for posting this suggestion.
Seems a fairly common problem.
Ida1975
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Ida1975 »

Hi, I am new here. Came about this topic from google. My cat has the same problem of the tar like crust at the corner of its mouth. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I will try with the coconut oil though my cat will not like it. Hope it works!
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Hairyskinback »

My boy who is a ordinary ginger moggy has this same black stuff around his chin. I figure it is from dribbling
but we should get a carrier box delivered in the next day or two and then will take him for a trip to the Vet.

Will post and let you know what he has to say.
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Kay
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Kay »

In the case of gingers, for some reason unknown to me, their gums often become spotted with a black pigment, but it isn't crusted or raised in any way, and is harmless
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by enoluv »

i found this question when i was trying to figure out what was wrong with my baby cat. she had some gooey black on her lower lip for days. at first i thought it was just dirt, but after a few days i tried to wipe it off and she was very upset and meowing and squirming away. i put some coco oil on it too and she didn't like me touching it. so i thought it might be a wound and/or infection like some said here. about a day and a half later, she was very sick, screaming in pain if i moved her and not wanting to eat or drink. i dipped into my savings to take her to an emergency vet appointment.

the vet said that the stuff on her lip was just some nasty drool, haha. he wiped it off no problem. he wasn't sure what she was sick with, maybe a virus. he gave her a shot with fluids, antibiotics and painkillers. she felt better after that, but i could tell when the pain killer wore off that night and she was crying out in pain again. i had more to give her. her black lip goo came back, but she groomed it off herself the next day (she still was not okay with me doing it.) it's a few days later now, and she's 90% better. thank goodness.

so i'm out $400 but my kitty is worth it and i'm glad she's okay <3.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by mocha »

Hi.
I thought I'd join into the conversation as well, as I have been noticing this exact issue with my cat for the past few weeks, and we just adopted him a month ago. He's a 2 year old tabby so I thought it would be feline acne too, but it does not seem to be the case. We also use stainless steel bowls.
We might bring him to a vet regardless for his first check up, but I will try out the coconut oil method before going. Are the oils just rubbed along all "infected" areas daily?

Thanks in advance!
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Mollycat
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Mollycat »

Is this similar to the dry black crusty bits cats get in the corner of their eyes?

I nearly had a heart attack when I first saw my Ragdoll's red tears, but they are perfectly normal and dry to form those dry black crusty bits. He gets them a lot more than normal cats do and they can be quite hard to pick off once dried, probably uncomfortable. He has quite weepy eyes and gets them in the outside corners of his eyes as well as the inside corner.

My hunch would be dried saliva, if it dries hard on this very sensitive skin area then it probably would cause some discomfort especially when we come along wanting to wipe or pick it off. And something like coconut or olive oil would help it come off easier and keep the area clean.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Lilith »

Ummm, this is interesting, because in the last few days my Molly has had a bit of bother with HER eyes, resulting in black gunk in the corners. This has now almost cleared and I suppose it was useful because I was in the middle of (after 7 years of owning her or should that be her owning me?) gently training her to let me stroke her face. At the same time I've noticed two tiny pinhead spots beneath her chin of the dreaded black tarry stuff ... she's scratted one and there's a fleck of dried blood. She has let me stroke away the muck from her eyes ... on occasion. I swear by coconut oil (just the bog standard stuff unless you're into gourmet cookery) for skin, healing, whatever, will try this on her chin. If she'll let me.

She's ginger but none of this is the smooth black pigmentation around lips that gingers (who are actually dilute black cats) accumulate with age. She's a semi-housecat - that is, she doesn't go out into the secured garden unless I open the back door on a warm day. Her sleeping places are rather like the joke about the pet gorilla (what do you call it? Sir. Where does it sleep? Where it likes) and all the doors in the house are left open so I can guarantee she chooses somewhere cosy and out of draughts.

My darling Emily (avatar) arrived after a year's feralness with 5 kittens and persistent black gunk round her eyes and nose; due, I reckon to what they call a low grade infection from sleeping under cars etc. Have you ever picked a cat's nose? It's fun (not!) but the cat feels very relieved! In later life this cleared up but her poor ears started with the blackstuff. She was such a good girl; she let me clean them with a fingertip (short fingernail) and tissue and she even purred and rammed her ear against my finger to gain relief. We used eardrops too.

So. This is a mystery!

I'm not surprised this thread has lasted for years; how does this black gunk happen?
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Hipkit »

It's possible that the black bits around the mouth are flea poop, especially if they turn to blood when you try to clean them. If one of my cats had persistently weepy eyes it would be a trip to the vet; this could be a sign of a blocked tear duct. I used to have a cat, Polly, who had a blocked duct and eventually learned to enjoy having her eye wiped.

Eyes are precious and easily damaged. Don't hesitate to go to a vet.
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Lilith
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Lilith »

Hi, Hipkit, she really is much improved, brighteyed and bushytailed, and worry not, if I thought the vet was needed, I'd contact them. She hasn't got fleas either ... errm I know EVERYONE says that but truly we haven't ... I say 'we' as the little dastards always bite me first and owing to long acquaintance with cats I know what flea turds look like ... arrgggh, I'm itching at the thought!

Where's the backscratcher?

No, Molly, I didn't mean you!

But it IS a mystery - and one I'll keep my eye on ...
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Mollycat »

Yes Lilith I have to pick a cat's nose on a regular basis because Boo has been sneezing and coughing periodically since I had him. It's only in the last few months one switched on vet explained about latent herpes infection after several over the years have shaken their heads, announced that his upper and lower respiratory tract are clear and said all they have left to offer is a chest x-ray. That's despite it clearing every time the poor love has had antibiotics for anything else. So we have the crusty black stuff from the left nostril as well. Most of the time a wipe is ok but occasionally it scabs and hurts.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Mom4ever »

Our vet just examined our cat and said he has stomatitis, a reaction to tartar around his teeth. That caused the black stuff. He put him on prednisolone and doxycycline. Hope he doesn't have to extract any teeth.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by mayat09 »

My orange buff tabby (13 yo) has had the black crusty bottom sides of mouth for months now. Asked my sister who is a vet and she hadn’t heard of it, but didn’t seem concerned. Brought him into the vet today and vet also didn’t know, but said since it didn’t smell, itch, or seem to hurt, that I should just keep an eye on it and bring him back if anything changes. In the meantime, she suggested cleaning with a paper towel soaked in warm water and a mild soap.

Scent glands is an interesting diagnosis, and there certainly seem to be pores in that area that could be secreting excess fluid for some reason. My other guess, which has also been mentioned a couple times is a bacterial/yeast infection. Not all yeasts smell, so I may try an antibacterial ointment or coconut oil (a natural antibacterial).

Re: stomatitis, above. That’s an internal mouth disorder. Maybe it can cause the crusts, but my cat was checked and does not show any signs of stomatitis or gingivitis.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Mouseyone »

Just googled about this, and this thread popped up. My 1 yr old black longhaired female has black crusty blobs on lips. No idea why and none of my other 5 do. I will try the coconut oil and see how it goes. Thanks for the tips.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Fishcaledwanda »

My Fanackarpan who is an oriental blue tabby gets this on a regular basis. She will not let me touch it, but it falls off after a few days. It returns, usually within 4 - 6 weeks for a few days and doesn't bother her at all.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Allieee »

My kitty girl had this very disturbing problem before I had to have her put to sleep. She was my soulmate of 15 years. I had had her since she was 3 weeks old. She had been sickly her whole life very prone to kitty colds and all kinds of allergies. She had always been on and off steroids. She was miserable without them as she would itch and wheeze constantly even on a limited ingredient diet. All of the hair around her bottom and her thighs fell out one day and was very inflammed. She had awful diarrhea and then it started. The black stuff. She had the strangest crusty black tar in that area. I suspected a possible anal gland problem and asked for antibiotics. Because antibiotics didnt seem to help I decided to keep her on the steroids long term. I gave her a piece every other day. It helped so much. The inflammation went down and her hair started coming back. She was making solid stools. But then I noticed the black stuff wasnt just around her back end but now in her ears, coming from her eyes, all over her chin, and even around her nails. I bathed her gently every other day and scrubbed the black stuff away with an ultra soft toothbrush. A day later its back in full force all over her chin. She stopped eating and drinking. Her final treatment caused her to decline further. No one seemed to understand her condition. Unfortunately I had to let her go. The mystery off it still keeps me up at night. Hoping one day to have an answer.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by CatWhisperer »

I am sure there can be several different things that may cause what we are noticing and also that we are not all looking at the same things. I have been feeding the neighborhood stray cats for the past 4 months. I noticed one of them was drooling what upon closer inspection looked like mucus or snot. Kinda gross. Nothing dry or crusty noticed. Over time this same cat began leaking a blackish drool around the edges of its gums, moreson on one side. It had the same snot like texture to it and sometimes it has blood in it. A few times it seemed more blood than black mucus. Very gross. I tried to chase that cat off but I suspect he has been coming around to the food bowls when I do not notice. I am sad to report that whatever it has seems to be contagious because just this week one of my favorite cats here seems to have developed a similar condition, black blood tinged slime/mucus leaking around the gums. Cat seems ok otherwise. I am really bummed out because there is nothing I can do for him. I do not have a car and the animal control around here only cares about giving dogs shots for rabies. Way out in the countryside here so options are limited. I am worried that this condition will infect the other cats, especially 2 which seem like his brother and sister. They are all very sweet and I even let them in sometimes at night when it gets cold. They have even all sat on my lap but I can not allow the cats inside if they have some mystery illness and drooling black bloody slime everywhere. I had 3 housecats for 18 years and never saw anything like this. Poor little fluffy. He keeps wanting to come in again. I don't feel comfortable trying to wipe coconut oil around a stray cats mouth, especially one leaking this nasty stuff. What can I do? It's sad.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Ummehurairah »

I came to this forum through Google. I want to share that my two year old white male cat is having the same problem. Two days ago I noticed this black stuff around his lower lips and thought he had eaten something nasty in the garden. I wiped it clean and it smelled. Twice again I have cleaned it with a wet wipe dipped in betadene, the standard prescription of my vet, but it comes back in a few hours. We are in a lockdown situation due to Corona and so I am unable to take him to the vet. Through this forum I came to know that this might be some infection and so I am going to put him on antibiotics under the vet's directions. Will also try the application of coconut oil. Thank you very much for the discussion. Will let you know the result.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Tiamaria288 »

I had this issue with my cat and got it taken care of at the vet. For anyone that needs to know (I know it’s an old post but I came to this one looking for answers as well), this black crust around the mouth is a BACTERIAL INFECTION. My cat had it bad and it grew fast, but I took him into the vet. They knocked him out to surgically remove the crust, and sent it off to get biopsies just in case. They sent him home with antibiotics and he was fine. He started getting it again a few months later. I caught it with just one little spot. Before it could get out of control again I called the vet and emailed them a photo. There was no need to take him back. They had me pick up medicine again and before I was even completely finished giving him the medicine, the spot had disappeared. So it is very treatable but don’t wait on it like I did, hoping it would go away. Surgery was not cheap but there was enough that surgery was needed.
AlexIn
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by AlexIn »

A few years ago one of our cats developed the problem every one described.
We gave her antibiotics called "dephalexin" and problem was solved.
Now our other cat lost his appetite, got skinnier and we just looked into his mouth and surely enough
black tar like crusty stuff was on his lower lips.
We gave him a dose of same antibiotic via syringe (scrubbed some off the tablet and mixed with water)
will do it twice a day for the next few days
Now it's a prescription drug but my wife said any antibiotics will do.
Cheers and hope Your pets stay healthy!
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by newcatmom »

Momster wrote: Fri Mar 03, 2017 2:36 am March 2017 - I have a cat who has had this exact issue and I found the discussion very helpful ... Took him to the vet this afternoon and he has an abscess in his mouth with an infected tooth. They are keeping him overnight, giving him antibiotics and tomorrow they will sedate him and remove the tooth. One thing no one mentioned was something my cat had - a strong odor coming from his mouth area. I think this is what made me decide to go ahead and take him to the vet. ... Hoping everyone's fur babies are doing well and that this additional information will help someone else in the future! (Unable to add a photo, but his mouth looked like he had been eating licorice or tar or wearing black lipstick and it was sticky and smelled bad)
THANK YOU!

I am a new cat owner, we took a sweet stray home about 4 months ago. She has exactly what you've described here, tar like substance, and strong odor. She also has a small black dot on either side of her nostrils. I made an appointment to see the vet tomorrow, but I feel much better after reading this.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Kylieah »

I realise this is an old post but thought I'd share here. Our cat had black spots around his mouth. We took him to the vet and they said it was from fleas. We got a flea treatment and the spots went away in a few days. He also asked what kind of bowls does he eat from and said not to use plastic bowls to feed him out of. He's never had the spots come back since.
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by mary_z »

3catscolin wrote: Sun Apr 30, 2017 12:00 pm All my cats had small black bits around their mouth not much bigger than grains of rock salt; sounds just like what your describing. It was a bacterial infection caught commonly from rabbits I'm told. The simplest cure which I used was to buy some 'Hibiscrub' from your local chemist (human). Apply a very dilute solution to them 3 times a day as directed on the bottle. It works a treat for my cats, within a few weeks (try to wipe off the black bits). It is simply an antimicrobial skin cleanser. Good luck if you've still got it.
Hi, this may be an old topic but from what I see not everyone has resolved the problem, so I want to help! Thank you for saying it’s a bacterial infection- because of that I reached for COCONUT OIL because I knew it had anti-bacterial properties and my cat likes the taste (I sometimes give it to him as an anti-hairball paste). What I did was give him a small portion first to lick, then I would smear it in the part of the mouth which has this “black tar”. I continued giving it twice a day and it’s day 3 and it’s completely gone!
I highly recommend coconut oil, I think it’s also the oily consistency which helps to remove the crusty bits. Good luck to all of you:)
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jennij001
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by jennij001 »

How old are your cats?
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by don luke »

I appreciate this thread! My 15 year old ginger, recently diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, showed this condition just today (at least that’s the first I noticed it). He’s a constant drooler and mouth-rubber (but no gum disease, teeth extracted a few years ago), and I don’t see other symptoms like bleeding ulcers or tumors, so I suspect it’s the black tar issue. I’ll give the coconut oil a try!
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Epsom-cat-lady »

Just a thought my renal cat has white paws & one went a dirty brown & after lots of online looking I just couldn’t find what was wrong.
The vet didn’t know straight away & he later told me it’s the iron in her saliva as she uses that paw to scoop up her water.
It’s a bit like when you see the white dogs that have discoloured hair around the mouth.
The penny dropped when he said that 🤦🏻‍♀️
The discolouration comes & goes as she drinks - gets her water in different ways so not always using the paw. 🐾🐾
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Re: Black stuff around cat's mouth

Post by Mollycat »

Epsom-cat-lady wrote: Sun Jul 04, 2021 5:32 pm Just a thought my renal cat has white paws & one went a dirty brown & after lots of online looking I just couldn’t find what was wrong.
The vet didn’t know straight away & he later told me it’s the iron in her saliva as she uses that paw to scoop up her water.
It’s a bit like when you see the white dogs that have discoloured hair around the mouth.
The penny dropped when he said that 🤦🏻‍♀️
The discolouration comes & goes as she drinks - gets her water in different ways so not always using the paw. 🐾🐾
I've been searching for answers on the brown staining of a dog's beard because ours has it and my other half has always assumed it was from stealing his coffee but this water thing makes no sense at all. Firstly unless you live in a peat bog your water can't have that amount of iron in it, if it runs clear. Second, if it was water related a dog's chin would be discoloured but it isn't, it's two very specific strands either side of the lower jaw where the gums are different as well. Saliva staining, possibly, there are bacteria that stain pinkish or brown, as in flat face cat and dog breeds' eyes, that could certainly explain the dog thing.

This would certainly make more sense with your cat's paw, if he has been licking that paw for any reason https://www.petsafe.net/learn/ask-a-vet ... ined-brown
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