Have you ever realized that your cat is drooling? Drooling is not considered as an ordinary thing for cats. As a cat owner, you may start wondering what causes your cat to drool and what drooling in cats means. The fact is there are several possible reasons behind excessive drooling in cats. Spend time reading these reasons why your cat is drooling.
Drooling can be normal for some cats in particular conditions such as when they are purring or kneading. Drooling can be also a sign of relaxation and contentment that can be traced back to kitten hood.
While nursing, kittens may often knead their paws on their mother. They do this to stimulate milk release. While they’re adults, they feeling of contentment often lead to kneading, and it may stimulate drooling too.
If your cat’s drooling occurs constantly and frequently, then there might be some health problems. Let’s see some health issues that can cause drooling in cats. By knowing these, you as the cat owner will be able to prevent it from getting worsened.
- Oral or Dental Disease
Some oral and dental issues can be experienced by cats. These diseases can go undetected unless they cause extreme illness or pain. As the pain gets severe, your cat may start to salivate excessively.
Some well-known oral or dental diseases are mouth ulcers, tooth injuries, gum disease and infections. They may be the causes of excessive drooling in cats.
- Stress or Fearful
Some cats may experience fearful or stress, such as during a trip to the vets. Besides drooling, there are some other signs of stress, such as wide eyes, flattened ears, hissing, growling or even aggression.
You can do these following tips on how to make your cat mood happy make so that your cat won’t get stressed anymore.
- Nausea
When a cat is nauseous or has been vomiting, she will often drool a lot. Internal parasites, kidney disease and gastrointestinal conditions are the common causes of nausea in cats.
If your cat seems to experience nausea, and is vomiting or has poor appetite, then you should visit your vet immediately.
- Foreign Body
This happens when your cat has something stuck in her mouth. When this happens, your cat is likely to experience drooling. A string is a common oral foreign body, but there are some others such as toys parts and even grass.
If a string happens to get stuck in your cat’s mouth, never ever pull it out. Something in the stomach or intestines may be wrapped by the string and pulling it can cause major damage. Instead, contact your vet to help you remove the string.
- Being Exposed to Toxin
Cats like to lick and chew on some things. There’s a possibility that your cat has licked, chewed on or ingested a poisonous substance. As a result, your cat produces excess salivation.
The poisonous substance may come from chemicals and toxic food. Some pesticides or flea or tick preventatives which are not meant for cats may also possibly cause drooling as well.
If you suspect your cat get exposed to toxin, bring her to the nearest vet.
If you also find something else in your cat’s mouth, avoid removing it by yourself. Instead, contact your vet to remove it. It’s because removing it by yourself may cause further injury to you cat. Besides, you may also get bitten when you do it!
- Trauma
Injury around the mouth area can often lead to excessive salivation. For instance, a cat which has chewed on electrical cords may suffer oral burns. The oral burns lead to drooling.
Some other injuries around the mouth may also cause a cat to drooling. Be aware that some injuries may not be visible, but drooling can be a sign. And once you notice this, go immediately to your vet.
Spend time reading about signs your cat has trauma so that you can understand your cat better.
There are some other reasons why your cat experiences excessive drooling. Here are the most common other reasons, rabies – also read the other symptoms of rabies in cats, liver shunt, chronic kidney failure – check all the other symptoms of kidney failure in cats.
Heat stroke in cats, viruses, such as feline immunodeficiency virus, feline leukemia virus or feline herpes virus also could be the reason.
If you cannot find an obvious reason of drooling, then you can contact your vet immediately. Cats are experts at hiding illness and will show the signs only if it is really painful. When you suspect any suspicious signs, then don’t wait. Call the vet immediately.