Random lip smacking

[nissie]

Hey!

My two babies are often sick. One was the runt of his litter, and the other one I found in a miserable state (and had to buy it from the guy who owned her. I had never seen a bengal that dirty. She had dry paint on her fur and scabs under her feet). So I'm on the lookout for weird behavior and seemingly innocent quirks.

My 2 year old, big, shy male is often randomly licking his lips. And he drools. Not all the time, but say I'm feeding him treats? He'll drool on my hand. And he constantly licking his lips when he's nervous. The vet tech thought it was funny, but now I'm kind of worried. Could this behavior be an indication for an underlying issue?

He did a recent blood panel, and general examination. His liver values are a bit off, but I was handed medication and special food for that. He seems fine. No fever. Eats, plays. Solid stool, no random peeing. No vomiting. I have trouble getting him to drink water as often as he should, but he was always like that. He doesn't hide, and he plays with the other cat as often as ever.

Any thoughts on that?

 

[Ms. Freya]

if you've seen a vet, it could be normal, but lip smacking and excessive drooling do often indicate a dental problem.That being said, I have one male cat who just drools when he's happy, or sleeps deeply. Did the vet check their teeth?

Does the drool smell? A foul smelling drool indicates a problem, but if not, it may just be that he has a  wet mouth...

 

[tobilei]

I have a male who was doing that. He still drools when he eats his treats (a lot) but the lip smacking stopped when we withdrew a medication that was making him nauseas. He never vomited but it was difficult to get him to eat very much and the lip smacking turned out to be a sign of the nausea. Has this only been happening since the medication was started? Could still be nausea though.

I also agree with Ms Freya that it can also be a sign of dental problems.

 

[nissie]

Given the quantity of food he gulps down in one sitting, I have a feeling it's not nausea? And wouldn't his teeth hurt if he had issues there? Keep him from eating, or anything of the sort?

His drool isn't foul-smelling, thank god, I'd flip.

It's really hard to brush his teeth so we give him dental treats, maybe it's not enough anymore?

Thank you both for your answers, his next appointment for his teeth is on the 25th so I'll  make sure to ask them to double check, just in case!