The footage, shared on TikTok on Wednesday by the cat’s owner, under the username Tabbykat80, shows the orange kitten’s teeth growing sideways, asking how is that possible.
The viral post comes with a caption that says: “Tiktok help what is happening to my [kitten’s] teeth,” followed by: “6 [months] old and just started to grow his teeth now.” And in a previous post, they explained that Rusty didn’t grow his baby teeth until he was five months old.
According to Wag Walking, many reasons could lead to teeth misalignment in cats. Kittens are typically born toothless and with a relatively long upper jaw, to allow for easier nursing, but as they grow, the jaws should grow in proper proportion.
Misalignment of teeth usually occurs when either the jaw or individual teeth fail to grow at their normal rate. Other common causes of this include congenital or hereditary defects, failure to lose deciduous or “baby” teeth, having too many adult teeth in the mouth, poor or inappropriate nutrition, and trauma to the face or jaw.
Symptoms of misalignment include difficulty chewing, small pieces of food getting left behind, unexplained wounds to gums from teeth striking inappropriately, abscesses as a result of injury to the mouth, exposed canines, lopsided appearance to mouth, and drooling.
According to VCA Animal Hospitals, when a tooth is out of place, but it is not interfering with other teeth, or causing any other issues, repairing a “functional bite” for cosmetic purposes is not necessary and would be considered unethical.
But when it does create issues for your cat, like a “non-functional bite,” as a cat owner you have three treatment options, extraction to provide space, crown reduction and restoration, and tooth movement.
The post quickly attracted animal lovers from all over the platform and has so far received over 139,400 views and 5,485 likes.
One user, Chel Sea, commented: “I think it needs kitten braces!” And Coll joked: “He just needs Invisalign.” zaza.ssz said: “Just Orange Cat Business.”
Another user, 99lax5, wrote: “Hey! Vet here, what’s happening is that they are sticking out funny.” And Kirsty said: “That will be $245 please.” Ania Chuda added: “I don’t know what going on but a cute cut vampire.”
Leah commented: “aww, him just going through that awkward stage in puberty.” And kevinpuddicombe32 joked: “sabertooth tiger.”
Xo420 said: “when my kitten was losing his teeth they were literally bending back too! He’s gonna be okay his new teeth will come in.”
Newsweek reached out to Tabbykat80 for comment. We couldn’t verify the details of the case.
