Young cat grinding her teeth...

I wasn't sure if I should put this into the Behavior board or the Health board, but I figured she might be sick and the health board would be better.

A while back I found an adorable little calico, looks to be either a little under or a little over a year old, and named her Candy. It took a while, but she eventually got along with my two toms, Salt and Pepper, and learned to stay away from Boo, my cranky, 4-year-old she-cat. She was really affectionate and well-groomed, with shiny simi-long fur, so I assumed she had an owner, and only pet her and fed her every time she visited, without letting her indoors--as I do with every cat that enters my yard.

Well, recently I found that one of the cats had thrown-up in the yard, I checked all of them and they all seemed fine, but Candy seemed a bit uncomfortable/annoyed whenever I touched her tummy. I was told she had been seen eating grass, so I wrote it off as just a regular tummy-ache. That was something like a week ago.
Recently , however, I noticed her making a grinding noise with her teeth. (It sounds a bit like marbles against each other-- the sort of sound that gives me goosebumps.) She didn't seem to be eating anything, so I opened her mouth and peeked in to see if she had something stuck in there but everything looked fine. She's still affectionate and energetic and eating well, but every once in a while she opens her mouth, licking her lips, and then grinding her teeth as she closes her mouth. There's a video on youtube of a cat doing pretty much the same thing.
I read up on it and found it could be all sorts of things, but I still don't know what it is most likely to be when it comes to such a young cat since the problem seems to come only in cats much older than her. She couldn't possibly be teething, could she? She looks pretty old to be teething. Plus, I thought teething was more a puppy thing...?
Ideas, anyone?

I'm a little afraid to take her to a vet, since she technically isn't mine and obviously has a caring owner. She visits sometimes smelling like shampoo and she often looks as if her owner had let her out of the house freshly-brushed. I don't know if she might already be receiving treatment or something and, I gotta say, I'm starting to look a little like that---->(@_@) while going "What to do? What should I do? WHAT CAN I DO??"
She may not be really my cat to speak for, but I love her dearly, and even my two boys like her. I've even noticed grumpy old Boo taking a shine to her--Which is saying something since she acts like a kitty-Voldemort to anything with fur and four paws!

Hunt down her owner. If this is a spayed cat, your hunt won't take you very far - her owner will be nearby. It may be that she's well loved by them, too, but that they can't afford any vet care.

Cats will smack lips and grind their teeth when they're very nauseous. Since she's been eating grass, it would be safe to assume she's been nauseous. There could be several causes for this, so she does need to see a vet if she isn't seeing one yet.

We feed the strays around our apartment complex and always wonder if they actually belonged to someone or not so we devised a system that works quite well for us. We buy some of the cheap cat collars from the dollar store (break away ones) and those tag capsules. In the tag capsule we leave a little note that says that we've been feeding the cat and if it has an owner to please contact us and have our email/phone number in it. Someone that owns a cat is obviously going to be curious if it comes home with a collar on it. Out of the 5 usual cats that were coming around, 3 of them had owners that contacted us. Two of those had no idea that their cats were going as far as they were and thought they had stayed in their yards/neighbourhoods. 1 didn't seem to care, but thanked us for leaving a note and letting them know where he was going, they also thought he was staying in their yard. I've found it to be the easiest way to see if the cat has an owner because if the cat is coming back to them everyday they won't be posting anywhere looking for it, and if their cat isn't missing they won't check kijiji or other sites looking at the found cats.

nerdrock, that is a brilliant idea!

Nedrock, I too feed strays/ferals and that's a great idea about the collar. But, um, how do you put the collar on your stray cats? Most of the cats I feed are too scared of me, although one might stay close to me long enough to put a collar around him/her.

I live in a village in the middle of a city, most of the cats that come around were house pets at one point that were either dumped or escaped - not many truly feral cats. Most will let me pet them, then I'll grab them and put a collar on them. The ones that won't come close I can usually throw a blanket over and then kind of jump on it and grab it all up so they're trapped. I try to avoid doing that though because then they tend to not come around for a few days. For the ones that doesn't work with I try to trap them in a carrier - prop the door open with a really tiny stick, when they go in they usually hit it enough with their head or tail that it will cause the door to shut and I can lock it quickly, bring them into the bathroom where I can kind of catch them to put a collar on. It can get tricky. We also get the collars sometimes that are really stretchy, they come off really easily and I can usually do it up and stretch it over their head pretty easily.

When I used to feed them at my parents house I'd feed them in the shed, hide near the door after getting someone else to feed them and then shut the door when they'd come in. That way they were in an enclosed space and it was a little easier to catch them. Unfortunately, we don't have anywhere to do that now.

Awesome idea! Candy doesn't seem to mind collars, so I'll put one on her an tie a note to it. Maybe it'll alert her owner.
She isn't nutured, though, so I have no idea how far she travels to get to my house.
I already asked my neighbors, the ones to the immidiate left and the right of my house, about her, and they say they see her in their yard sometimes, but nothing else.

My Rosie grinds her teeth now and again, and has done from being little. I mentioned it to the vet on one of their checkups, but he said her teeth were fine.

I wondered if it was bits of kibble or treats that were stuck because as i've said it only happens now and again.

I tried two collars on her and both times she left wearing one, she came back without it. I don't know if they're reaching her owner or not, but I think I might make some posters and hang 'em up.
She's still grinding her teeth after she eats, though, so I'm thinking on just taking her to the vet anyhow.

Did you just put a collar on her or did you put a collar with a note and your phone number on it?

Grinding of teeth can be an indication of pain. Not necessarily just mouth pain either. The fact that she isn't your cat and you would still take her to the vet is commendable. I would take her if it was me. It is obvious her owner isn't very caring about her.

I know this is a very old thread, but maybe others will be looking for information on teeth grinding in young cats. Four days ago I was presented with a 5 month old female stray to foster. She was exceptionally hungry and had already been given a lot of food before she arrived. The next morning she vomited the lot. Next day: small portions at two-hourly intervals seemed to be working until it was all thrown back at me in the evening. Chicken diet seemed to help for 18 hours but then it was back to square one. The fact that she ground her teeth while eating soft boiled chicken was one of the "symptoms" I mentioned to the vet this morning. She looked at her teeth and said that cats in pain often do this even though there is nothing wrong with their teeth or gums.

She discovered other peculiarities with this particular cat - she seems to be deaf - completely ignoring loud clapping near her head though she did react when a door slammed in another room. She seems to have no natural reflex when held head down to stretch out her front legs to protect herself.

Verdict: perhaps meningitis or an untreated ear infection or even a strain of cat flue. The first problem will be to solve the vomiting problem. She was given some injections to stop vomiting and I have some tablets for the next 8 days. She will be tested for worms and then we will have to see how things develop.

She is a friendly creature and likes to sit on laps and will only leave when she has to vomit! Since the injections and visit to the vet she has become more retiring and not quite so loud. I just hope she manages to keep her food (chicken and gasto-intestinal) down.