Our cat drools when petted - why?

Day Lewin

Has anyone else come across this?

Our cat is healthy, mature and very affectionate: he loves, loves to be stroked and petted - and he does have beautiful soft, satin-sleek fur, a pleasure to stroke.
We love him to bits, but the one thing we don't like is that basically, when we stroke him, he purrs like anything and dribbles: actual drops fall, it's just not attractive.

It is not a very large amount of drool and he doesn't do it every time. But we really don't like this and wonder if it is spit, or something like a runny nose, full of germs.

PS he is up-to-date on all his shots, so it isn't cat flu or anything like that - he is in perfect health, active and full of energy, the very picture of a beautiful cat.
Except for the dribbling.

StillThinking

How's his teeth? We have an old outside cat who also drools sometimes, it's gotten worse the older she gets and some of her teeth are missing. There's also an old Pomeranian that wanders round our neighborhood who has no teeth left, his tongue sticks out the side of his mouth and he drools quite a bit too.

Day Lewin

His teeth are fine, recently checked by the vet and all is well there; cat is about 8 yrs old.

SillyMangoX

It’s very, very common and a real sign that they are totally relaxed and happy! I know it’s not the most pleasant of things, but it’s definitely not anything to worry about. All my 3 do it when they are totally content and happy. Especially if they’ve gotten a sneaky visit into the bedrooms

Bunnyslippers

Yup sounds like a few mogs I’ve had, there’s nothing you can do about it, it just means they are so happy and chilled out they forget to swallow! If you think that’s bad, I used to have a pet red deer who would dribble all over you when she was happy, looked like a herd of snails had attacked you!��. The joys of animal ownership!��

Graces7

My older ones drool when blissed out. Just is the way of it... Keep tissues handy.

baby and crumble

Yep, another here with 2 happy droolers! They're always checked for teeth etc issues, they're just delighted with life when they get cuddles and attention. It's a bit gross but hey, take it as a compliment!

yuridwyer

Day Lewin wrote: »

Has anyone else come across this?

Our cat is healthy, mature and very affectionate: he loves, loves to be stroked and petted - and he does have beautiful soft, satin-sleek fur, a pleasure to stroke.
We love him to bits, but the one thing we don't like is that basically, when we stroke him, he purrs like anything and dribbles: actual drops fall, it's just not attractive.

It is not a very large amount of drool and he doesn't do it every time. But we really don't like this and wonder if it is spit, or something like a runny nose, full of germs.

PS he is up-to-date on all his shots, so it isn't cat flu or anything like that - he is in perfect health, active and full of energy, the very picture of a beautiful cat.
Except for the dribbling.

All four of our cats (Spingy, Mopo, Bamboo and Spooky) drool-and-drop while being petted, they love it - a real sign of contentment.

beveragelady

Mine does it when you rub his ears. Copious drooling, which he then shakes off onto whoever is closest. Out of interest, are the other cats who do this long-haired? I've noticed that it's a characteristic of silky long-haired cats but I have never seen it mentioned anywhere.

Graces7

beveragelady wrote: »

Mine does it when you rub his ears. Copious drooling, which he then shakes off onto whoever is closest. Out of interest, are the other cats who do this long-haired? I've noticed that it's a characteristic of silky long-haired cats but I have never seen it mentioned anywhere.

Nope; indiscriminating..

Stratvs

beveragelady wrote: »

Mine does it when you rub his ears. Copious drooling, which he then shakes off onto whoever is closest. Out of interest, are the other cats who do this long-haired? I've noticed that it's a characteristic of silky long-haired cats but I have never seen it mentioned anywhere.

We've a LH tortie with the most silky coat and she can be like that. She's super-needy too so sometimes it's like ....sorry she's just told me it's supper time so gotta go.. :rolleyes:

aonb

Our ex-feral drools too - oddly, only on/with my daughter, but then she does love my daughter I *LOVE* that our little ex-feral loves us so much she drools when petted:):):)

beveragelady

Stratvs wrote: »

We've a LH tortie with the most silky coat and she can be like that. She's super-needy too so sometimes it's like ....sorry she's just told me it's supper time so gotta go.. :rolleyes:

Interesting. One of these days I'll get around to doing an in-depth study of this to find out if there's any correlation between silkiness and sloppiness. It'll have to wait until I've finished another study I keep meaning to get to, into whether male dogs are more inclined to run around with sticks in their mouths than females.

Graces7

It is actually a great compliment and sign of total trust. Leaving their scent on you..