Excessive Drooling

Hi Everyone,

I've been away from tcs for a while now (come in and read post regularily but I've not been posting).

Anyway, Nikita my 4 year old bengal female started drooling this morning (or at some point last night). She has a sensitive stomach and most likely some food allergies which show up as overgrooming rashes. Because of that he's on a hypoallergenic food as a food trial for a few months and she's been doing pretty well.

But yeah this morning when I woke up there were wet patches on my bed where she'd been lying and since then I've seen strands of drool coming from her mouth. Her fur gets wet from it and any place she's in really. She swallows a fair bit and licks it off etc. trying to keep herself clean but it's still happening.

It's sunday so the vet I take her to is closed but there is an emergency vet I could take her to but that's really expensive.

I've not seen her eat yet but I've seen her drink and she's behaving normally, interested in playing and active.

I will be taking her to the vets tomorrow but I was wondering if you had any advice or if you think it's serious enough I should take her in to the emergency vet even though it's 10x more expensive than the normal vet?

My poor girl

It may be a dental problem. Or something stuck in her teeth. I would offer her some food and see how she manages. If she eats, pees and poops, is not vomiting, and does not show excessive pain or lethargy, in my opinion (not a vet) it could wait until tomorrow.

Please keep us updated on Nikitia.

I was also thinking dental problem or maybe some kind of sores in her mouth. Have you opened her mouth to check for any weird looking stuff?

She eats and drinks, the only food she's allowed atm is dry food and she's had some of it this morning without any obvious problems. She didn't eat a huge amount but she's free fed and goes back for nibbles regularily i.e. lots of small meals is how she eats normally.

She's being her normal pain as well and being really interested in my food so I think her appetite is fine. She's also behaving normally, running around, playing and trying to dart through the door to go outside when I took the trash out.

I've not seen her use the litterbox yet today but she normally does that in the late afternoon/evening/night. I cleaned the litterbox this morning and it had normal amounts in it for how long it'd been since I cleaned it last time (I don't do it absolutely every day these days, more every 2-3 days. She's a single cat with two large litterboxes and she uses them both.

I did open her mouth and tried to have a look. She wasn't being particularly cooperative though. What I saw seemed normal, white cat teeth and no unusually bad breath or anything (just standard I've been eating cat food cat breath)

Nikita is gorgeous! Is she still doing the drooling?

Yeah she's still drooling, maybe a bit less than before but she's awake rather than snoozing so I guess she's swallowing more of it.

Any plants in the house that she could have chewed on? That would probably be my biggest concern. Many houseplants can be an oral irritant, and many are toxic. If there's no plants, and she's not coughing, pawing at her mouth, shaking her head or having any breathing issues (open mouthed breathing, wheezing or rapid breathing) she can probably wait until tomorrow. Maybe syringe a small amount of water into her mouth to see if that clears out anything that might taste bad to her, and lessens the drooling.

Lola and Maggie both drip and drool when they're laying on my lap and purring. This is something that they've done all their life, so I know it isn't something for me to worry about. However, if it was a new symptom, like Nikita's is.....I'd be watching her like a hawk.

Good luck to you and NIkita!

Ah, excellent point about the house plants, or, now that you mention that, anything else she might have gotten into. some cats have even been known to lick soap.

I don't have any plants. She's too destructive a cat for me to be able to try having any.

I do have a fish tank and she could probably sneak her paw into the gap where the filter wires come out in the hood of the fish tank but there's not an algae scum on the top or anything and the fish are fine.

There's a chance she could have licked soap or licked soapy water from the bottom of the bathtub/shower.

She seems to be breathing fine and she's not pawing at her face much or anything. She's cleaning her face more than she does usually but I think that's mostly irritation from the wet drool being around.

I know about the happy cat purring and drooling a bit and she has done that in the past. This is completely different, Ive caught her now with two half inch long strands of drool hanging down from her mouth. I've been using a paper towel to try her off regularily when she's sitting close to me. She doesn't like it put puts up with it.

She's been drooling since I woke up this morning so we're at around atleast 7 hours so far. I would be much more worried if she were lethargic but she's alert and curious like she's normally. Still it's really puzzling and rather worrying. Definitely seeing the vet tomorrow.

Please do let us know what you find out. She sounds like a wonderful companion!

Wanted to add in that her eyes are leaking a bit too, I thought maybe before but now I'm sure. It's a clear watery liquid, like tears. Not gunky and she's not squinting or anything. Her nose is very wet too, not seen it drip but with the drool it would be hard to tell the difference really.

I would definitely take her to the vet. Drooling can be sign of problems. I hope all turns out well for you.

Originally Posted by Siggav

Wanted to add in that her eyes are leaking a bit too, I thought maybe before but now I'm sure. It's a clear watery liquid, like tears. Not gunky and she's not squinting or anything. Her nose is very wet too, not seen it drip but with the drool it would be hard to tell the difference really.

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I'm not a vet, but this does sound like a bad tooth to me. A bad tooth, or an abscess, periodontal disease, even something stuck in the teeth for too long can mess up a kitties upper respiratory system.

Does she have any acne on her chin?

I'm glad you are getting her seen in the morning, but if she suddenly turns worse tonight, please get her to the ER or vet on call right away.

She does have a few black heads on her chin, it's not really bad or anything but they're there.

However a new development this morning. She's stopped drooling! or as far as I can tell anyway, she came to snuggle and there were no wet patches on the bed (although I'd prepared a towel for her to lie on but the towel didn't get wet either).

I've taken today as a "work from home" day (which I'm allowed to do occasionally) so I can stay in and monitor her. I phoned the vet and they said that if she'd stopped drooling it was probably that she ate a spider or something that irritated her mouth. However to keep an eye on her and bring her in if she started drooling again.

I am so glad your kitty is doing better!

My cat once started drooling like that; turned out he had a highly contagious virus (I think it was rotovirus?). He had a really bad ulcer in his mouth. I had to keep him quaranteed for a week! He is an indoor/outdoor cat though which is probably how he got it. He was so sick, but was a good patient and took his meds and got better.

Another thing that could cause drooling is nausea.

So glad she's doing better. In my opinion you should bring her in anyway. You said her eyes were beginning to leak too. I wouldn't be able to rest easy until a vet saw her after that episode.

Acne on the chin can also sometimes be indicative of dental problems, is why I asked.

She's started dribbling a bit again, not nearly as bad as yesterday but it's still not normal. Anyway I'm booked in to take her to the vets in around 2 hours. I'll let you know how it goes.

Well we're just back from the vet now. He had a good look at her and basically her eyes, teeth, gums and tongue are in perfect shape.

He thinks probably something got stuck in her teeth or in her throat that she's gotten rid of now. Only way to look better at her throat would be to sedate her (she let him open her mouth and look down her throat as much as you can without extra equipment). Since she's stopped the drooling now they're not going to do that. The rest of her is fine, he checked her all over for lumps or swollen organs or something like that.

If it starts up again I'm to bring her in again but until then just write it off as a weird drooling episode

Thanks for the update! Glad to know she's all right, and now you have peace of mind. Well done!