Why Does My Cat Drool When I Pet Him?
August 3, 2018
Some cats adopt strange behaviours that are hard to explain. Depending on their history and how they came into your life has a lot to do with many of these behaviours.
Ruling out any kind of medical complications or encounters with toxins and poisons, if your cat only drools when you pet him, there could be an underlying cause related to feeding, sensations of pleasure, and natural instincts.
This is according to some scientists who have looked at this question from a multi-disciplinary point of view. A concept known as HISS or health, instinct, stress, and symptom solvers is often used by behavioural scientists trying to find the root cause of unexplained issues in pets.
First, they assess the physical health of the pet, in this case, a cat, to rule out any medical issues. Then they take into account natural instincts and how this behaviour translates into the natural order of things. Emotional well-being is also considered, together with an assessment of these symptoms to find a possible cause. Let’s break this down:
Assess the health of your cat
If drooling is a new behaviour for your cat, take him to the vet for a thorough check-up. Drooling as a medical symptom could be due to a number of ailments like:
- Gum disease, mouth ulcers or tumours, tooth damage
- Toxin or poison ingestion
- Liver disease
- Respiratory infection
- Stress
- Digestive upsets
Consider the instinctive behaviour
Why do cats drool in the first place? Increased salivation will occur around mealtimes, the same as any animal. Some scientists believe these memories of feeding as a kitten could trigger the same drooling sensation in times of closeness with their humans. If your cat was taken away from its natural mother too young, it could be stuck in some kind of infantile behaviour that never matured as the cat got older. Bear in mind, this is just a theory and hasn’t been scientifically proven.
Cats will drool under stress
Is there some reason your cat could be stressed? Again, medical issues can stress an animal out, but so too can environment and past memories. If your cat has been abused or is a rescue with an unknown past, there are things you may never understand about him. But if he only drools when you’re showing him love, it’s almost certain he just misses his momma.
What do these symptoms tell us about your cat?
Some cats are known to drool and knead when they’re feeling content. Some just drool when they’re being petted and groomed. Other cats are known to drool and suck on wool blankets. No to cats are the same and many have some quirky habits. So if you’ve ruled out any underlying medical or emotional cause, and your cat has always had this behaviour issue, then all you can do is grab a towel and let the drool fest begin!