# Kitty breath: gak! Kitty fur: nice... What gives?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-breath-gak-kitty-fur-nice-what-gives/402417>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 2, 2007, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-breath-gak-kitty-fur-nice-what-gives/402417 "2007-05-02T03:55:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-breath-gak-kitty-fur-nice-what-gives/402417/21 "2007-05-03T20:42:38Z")

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[QUOTE=emilyforce]  
I should clarify that I am not trying to find out why their breath stinks, but rather why their fur smells nice when their breath stinks.  
[/QUOTE]

Well, you see, you have got it completely backwards. They are not using their tongues to clean their fur. They are using their fur to clean off their smelly tongue.

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**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-breath-gak-kitty-fur-nice-what-gives/402417/22 "2007-05-03T20:54:13Z")

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One of my cats had breath that (as my mother is fond of saying) would knock a buzzard off a gut-wagon. Apparently he had some pretty bad plaque and gum disease. We avoided taking him for a cleaning due to the fact that he has a heart condition and we didn’t want to risk the anaesthetic, but finally it got bad enough that it would have been more dangerous _not_ to risk it, so this Tuesday he went to a dental specialist and got a thorough cleaning and four teeth extracted.

His breath now lovely. I mean, it’s not flowers or anything, but it’s…basically nothing. Which is lovely. Especially compared to the fetid miasma it was before the procedure.

What I can’t explain is why most of the time all five of my cats smell sweet, but every once in awhile they’ll develop a distinct “cat poop” odor centered around their shoulderblades. Nowhere else, just there. Any ideas?

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