My cat is dribbling - any ideas?

[BrownHairedQuirk]

She has been to the vet. When I noticed that she was dribbling yesterday we went to the emergency vet. They couldn’t find much except slightly inflamed tonsils and a slight temperature (40°c) and gave her a dose of metacam. She is 100% fine in herself, eating, playing and she’s generally not a cat that hides illness well. I always go to worst case scenario and am worried that the jab didn’t help, has anyone got any experiences of this?

Extra info for reference: she is an indoor cat with a catio. No living plants in or outside except for a few weeds, but I couldn’t find any evidence that she’d eaten anything. Nothing has changed in terms of products we use and I am very cautious in that I only use non toxic cleaning supplies and keep them away if we’re using anything else like hairspray, perfume etc. No food changes, no routine changes, no obvious stressors. Im baffled!

I’ll add a pic of the little devil for cat tax

Tooth issue?

Had you flea treated her? This happened to mine once, somehow she managed to lick a bit, from her paw we believe, think it was a touch too low as she'd moved because she hates it being done. She was fine once the metcam kicked in.

The vet couldn’t see anything wrong with her teeth when she looked

No flea treatment. Metacam has been over 12 hours now so I’m not sure how long it takes to work? I assume it would have by now

Metacam is a Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory so will bring down her temperature and reduce inflammation and lasts 24 hours for standard or 72 hours for extended duration injection.
I would not expect it to reduce excessive salivation.
I would be thinking:
Teeth
Damage to tongue or mucus membranes
Nausea
As my top causes of excessive salivation.
If it is not resolving she needs further investigations (bloods and possibly imaging).

One of mine dribbles sporadically (not a lot, just enough that kids comment). He's done it for many years. We don't worry. We know he has a tooth issue that he manages well & would be traumatic to him to do anything about (and it wouldn't actually fix the issue).

Vet has seen OP's cat & isn't hugely concerned if I understand correctly.

Stupid question I'm sure but it's not just when you stroke him? Our cat started dribbling with happiness as she got older, basically whenever we stroke her. I had another cat who did that when I was younger too.

My cat dribbles when she’s happy and content, usually during her first morning cuddle.

Thank you. I will take her back tomorrow morning if it’s not better. I thought if it was caused by the tonsils then the metacam might help but I guess it’s not that then

@lljkk the vet wasn’t at all concerned, it’s just me being worried. She did say that we’d have to go back if it doesn’t resolve though so we will of course.

She’s never done it before though and it’s a lot. Huge wet patches where she’s laying! But I’m glad to know it’s not always the worst case scenario

@Coughee and @Itsvalentino I know that some cats do this when happy but I don’t think that’s the case here sadly, I only noticed when she was sleeping and left the wet patches then later on she was laying on my arm and it was dripping everywhere!

Also the nurse thought nausea but she’s still eating happily. When she’s been unwell in the past she stops eating entirely, so not sure if it would be that

Cheddar occasionally did it if she was nauseous. But many cats do it when they are happy.

She is gorgeous.

@Iamacatslave thank you ❤️ She is a sweetheart. I too am a cat slave

Can be a sign of renal problems

This! Our cat dribbles when very happy!

@Tootsey11 thank you, are there any other symptoms I should look out for? As it stands, she’s still entirely normal. But still dribbling!

I will take her back tomorrow.

I wish it was dribbling from happiness but I know it’s not that as she’s not done it before and it’s constant, not situational

Just thought I would update to say she has just been back to the vet. The drooling has improved and the temp has gone so he thought it was probably due to that. He also tested her urine and didn’t see any issues so has said he’s not concerned unless she develops more symptoms or the drooling hasn’t completely stopped by Friday. Thank you to everyone that replied

Aww, she’s a beauty. Ours dribbles in her sleep sometimes.

Other signs of renal failure are general weakness, drinking loads and not eating.

I'm glad she's better and the drooling has stopped! Sorry my question was such an obvious one, I thought you probably knew they could dribble in happiness.

Thanks again @Tootsey11

No worries @Coughee , I’d rather people helped me cover all bases than miss something!

As @Tootsey11 said. Renal. My cat did this. I took him in because I knew it was a sign of poisoning. They didn’t check properly and blamed it on bad teeth (he was a rescue). He got worse, started loosing weight so I took him to another vet for a second opinion and he was in renal failure 😭 days of pain prior to this. He cried a lot. We had to have him put down there and then. It could have been prevented if the first vets looked past his teeth.

Oh my word, she is beautiful!!

Glad she's OK, op. Ime I've had some cats start dribbling as they get older (when happy and content) but no identifiable dental issues.

My parents had a Siamese. He would dribble when he was happy.

You cat is gorgeous, what breed is she?