Swallowing hard?

My mom adopted a beautiful 3 year old from the local shelter about two months ago. This cat has been seemingly perfect; the only thing we know for sure is wrong is that she needs a tooth pulled, and her ears were very dirty with bacteria, so I gave her a medication as prescribed by our vet. We have an appointment for the tooth.

When we got her home, one of the first things I noticed is that she swallows hard frequently. Not while eating, and nothing is in her mouth. Often she licks her lips right before she does this.

The vet thinks the swallowing could be from the bad tooth, but I'm concerned it may be an indicator of something else.

Has anyone heard of this symptom, and have general knowledge as to things it could indicate?

Thanks!

Licking the lips is usually a sign of nausea  but not always. My Aby went through a phase where he would lick his lips and swallow hard and occasionally gag and gasp. The vet did a thorough exam with included an endoscopy and ultasound but didn't find anythng

See how the dental turns out and if the licking continues. If it does, ask the vet to run tests to rule out any underlying medical issue. Sometimes bloodwork shows something.

Thank you! I had been thinking it is possibly nausea as well. I hope the tooth removal will help.