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Old June 17th 10, 09:55 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Bill Graham
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Default drooling kitties


"Nadia N." wrote in message
...
Any ideas on what can cause both of my cats to start drooling? It's not a
lot of drool, but just a single drop that's slowly dripping out of the
side of their mouths.

I noticed it first in my 9 year old, Kotyo, yesterday afternoon. About 2
hours after he ate, I went to pet him and his lower jaw was covered in
little drops of drool, and there were wet patches on the cat tree where he
lay. He has early stage CRF so I rushed him to the vet. They looked at
him, his temperature was normal, his eyes were reacting ok to light, his
heart and everything else seemed ok. The vet thought that, since he's a
CRF cat, it was stomach acid and he was drooling because he was nauseous.
They gave me sucralfate and I started giving it to him that same evening.
He is still drooling, but not as much as yesterday. Just a slow drip after
eating, and it stops after a few hours.

But half an hour ago I went to pet Sweety (2 years old), and her paw was
wet, and so was her chest, and she had a little bit of drool hanging from
her mouth :-( They ate almost 5 hours ago so it can't be food-related.
After I wiped her chin she doesn't seem to be drooling anymore, but she
does seem to be swallowing a bit more often than usual - or it could be
just me watching her more closely than usual.

We don't have any plants in the house, so they can't have eaten any. We
haven't given them flea medication (they're indoors only so they don't
need it). We have not started cleaning the house with any new cleaning
products, although my mom did start using a new laundry detergent in the
washer in the last week. But the washer is in the kitchen with the kitchen
door closed, except at mealtimes, and we don't leave the detergent lying
around - it's in a cupboard under the sink.

I just can't wrap my mind around what could be causing them both to drool.
I have to take Kotyo back to the vet tomorrow morning and I will take
Sweety as well, but if they couldn't find anything wrong with him, I don't
see how they'll do any better with her.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? The only thing I can think of is
that maybe the neighbors have sprayed something in their apartment, and
it's traveled through the central air conditioning vents and into our
apartment. But if that was the case, why did Sweety start drooling a day
later than Kotyo? And why is he drooling only after he eats? At first I
thought it was a tooth - he needs his teeth cleaned, but with the CRF
we've been leery of putting him under. But Sweety's teeth are fine. Is it
possible that Sweety's drooling is completely unrelated? We just plugged
in an air freshener in the bathroom today, and it has been emitting a
pretty strong smell - could this have made her nauseous and made her
drool? I've already turned it off, just in case.

Or are there any infectious diseases which have drooling as a symptom?
Maybe we brought in something from outside on our shoes, and it hit Kotyo
first and her only now, since she's younger and healthier? Or could it be
a cold? It was a bit cool here a couple of days ago, but I had the window
open for a while to get some air in. There was a cold wind blowing in, and
maybe they caught a cold?

If you guys can think of any tests I should ask the vet to run tomorrow,
or any other ideas for what might be causing this, I'd be very grateful.
This has me extremely worried :-(

Nadia, Kotyo and Sweety


One of my 5 cats drools. But he is about 6 years old now, so it is a
mechanical problem....His lower jaw doesn't quite match the upper part, so
there is a small gap that he drools through. We have learned to accept it.
He is such a neat cat that it is really only a minor problem. You just have
to watch out that he doesn't stand with his mouth above you when you wake up
in the morning....:^)