Dribbling Rag Doll

[fluffyraggies]

I have 2 Rag Doll cats, brother and sister. Neutered and spayed. They will be three in August.

Gus, the male, has always been a 'neader' - 'pressing' with his paws while purring and gazing into space - while his sister hasn't.

He's just started to dribble allot when he's being cuddled or doing his pressing. His ruff was really wet yesterday when i picked him up.

I always understood that dribbling was a sign of bad weaning. One of my old cats (a moggy, who made it to 19 yo) dribbled awfully. We had to have a towel on our laps when we sat on us. My raggies were bred and reared by an experienced breeder though, and we weren't allowed to bring them home till they were 13 weeks old, so i doubt it's early weaning.

Any thoughts, cat people, before i whisk him to the vets?

[cozietoesie]

I'd suspect it's more likely to be bad teeth. (I know he's only 3 but dental problems are occurring in a lot of younger cats these days.) Personally, I'd have him off to the vet next week.

[fluffyraggies]

Thank you. Teeth .... hmmm. Interestingly Gus wont eat dry food, only wet, an d his sister is the other way round. Maybe this is adversely effecting his teeth. I know dry food is supposed to be good for their teeth.

Vet's tomorrow then.

[bootsycollins]

Here's the science part cats do that kneading thing to stimulate milk through their mummy's teat, saliva is the first stage of digestion. The kneading thing stays with the cat as a self soothing, find a happy place comfort thing and the dribble when kneading is in anticipation of having some food to digest. Our lovely moggy drools when he's happy being cuddled and when he does the kneading thing. If a cat drools constantly then it's a gum/tooth problem if he's just drooling when enjoying a cuddle or kneading then it just means that he loves you lots and lots

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Cats drool for a variety of reasons.
Bad teeth very common, it can also be a syndrome called stomatitis-gingivitis complex caused by the calicivirus and not a primary teeth problem.
Self soothing as bootsy has explained.
Stress can also cause drooling this mechanism is related to histamine release in the guts.

[tipsytrifle]

In my experience some cats drool and others don't ... simple as ...
In the past some said that kittens removed too soon from Mother were likely to do it but I'm no longer sure of that.
It's a hang-over from suckling and some are just neater about it than others!

If it's any help by way of a suggestion, I have a couple of kneading jumpers which the cats love and if they drool it doesn't matter as the jumper can be slung in the wash every so often. My latest batch of inmates aren't droolers but I so know from the past how soggy stuff can get!

[fluffyraggies]

Thanks for replies :)

Vet sees nothing wrong with his teeth, and said a similar thing about it being more constant if it's a tooth prob., IHO.

I neglected to mention that Pandora, female raggie, has a habit of 'radiator worshiping' where she sits on her hind legs and 'kneads' a warm radiator. .

I was watching her yesterday and witnessed a big pearl of saliva form at the corner of her moth - so she does dribble as well!

Well my mind is at rest now. I can cope with a bit of dribble - i was just a bit distressed to think about the weaning thing (my old cat i mentioned definately was weaned too early - he was a rescue cat and i knew his history) and i am very relieved it's not a tooth prob.

Now can we sort out the reason for Gus's weekly 'charging like an elephant up and down the hall, slamming into the front door growling at an imaginary friend like an idiot' sessions? while his sister looks at him like this --->, bless him.

[cozietoesie]

That's good, fluffy - at least you know the teeth are fine and he's just a soppy creature!

It may ease you to know (or then again it may not ) that seniorboy will still take an occasional mad 5 minutes although in his case it's galloping up and downstairs and leaping on the bed. (He's over 18.)