Why Is My Senior Cat Drooling?

A senior cat drooling, when she never used to, is almost always pointing at her mouth. The common reason is dental disease, which is very treatable, but the one you cannot afford to shrug off is an oral tumor, because in its early stages it can look exactly like a bad tooth. Nausea and something caught or stinging in the mouth cause it too. Brief drool from stress or a foul taste is harmless, but drool that persists, smells, or comes with trouble eating is a reason to see the vet rather than wait, so this is a guide to telling the causes apart.

The short version: brief drooling tied to a moment (a stressful car ride, a bitter pill, a good cuddle) is nothing to worry about. Drooling that keeps up, particularly with bad breath, dropping food, or pawing at the mouth, calls for a dental exam soon. And a cat suddenly drooling a lot, with a foul smell, facial swelling, weight loss, or blood in the saliva, needs to be seen promptly, because those can be signs of something more than a sore tooth.

Is my senior cat drooling from a dental problem?

Most of the time, yes. Dental disease is the usual reason an old cat starts to drool, and it is extremely common: on the VCA dental pain page, the Cornell Feline Health Center is cited that between 50% and 90% of cats have signs of dental disease by the time they reach 4 years of age. By her senior years, sore teeth and gums are close to the default explanation for new drool.

VCA lists the mouth signs plainly: a cat with dental disease may chew with obvious discomfort, drop food from their mouth, swallow with difficulty, or drool excessively. Two details help you spot it. First, the saliva may contain blood. Second, halitosis (bad breath) is also common, so a cat drooling and bad breath together points hard at the teeth. This is the pattern behind a lot of cases of a cat drooling and not eating well: the mouth simply hurts. There is a fuller look at dental disease in cats and at the bad breath that so often travels with it, and the good news is that it is fixable once a vet has cleaned, treated, or removed the problem teeth.

The cause you must not miss: an oral tumor

This is the reason not to simply assume drool is "just her teeth" in an older cat. An oral tumor can produce the very same signs, and the most common oral cancer in cats, squamous cell carcinoma, is dangerous partly because it is a master of disguise. Cornell is direct that oral SCC tends to cause ulceration of the gums and loosening of teeth as it invades the jaw, and these signs may be confused with those of dental disease. In other words, the thing you most want to catch early is the thing most easily mistaken for a routine bad tooth.

Knowing its warning signs helps. Cornell lists that the warning signs of SCC in the mouth include excessive salivation and drooling, weight loss, bad breath, swelling of the upper or lower jaw and a decline in appetite. VCA rounds out the picture of oral tumors generally, noting signs may include bad breath (halitosis), drooling, panting, movement or loss of teeth, lack of appetite or difficulty eating, reluctance to be touched on the head, facial swelling, and swelling of the lymph nodes. Reassuringly, it is uncommon: Cornell notes oral tumors account for only about three percent of feline cancers. But because it hides behind ordinary dental signs, any facial swelling, a mass in the mouth, or drool with weight loss deserves a prompt look, and it is worth reading about cancer in senior cats if you have found something.

Nausea and other causes

Not all drooling starts in the mouth itself. Cats also drool when they feel sick to their stomach, so a nauseous cat may lip-smack and drip saliva. In an older cat that can tie back to kidney disease, an upset stomach, or the same queasiness behind repeated vomiting; here the drooling usually comes and goes with the nausea rather than being constant.

The other everyday causes are mechanical. Something caught in the mouth, a splinter of bone, a blade of grass, a bit of string looped over the tongue, makes a cat drool and paw at her face. So does licking or biting something bitter or caustic, from a household cleaner to a nasty-tasting plant, which stings the mouth and sets the saliva running. These tend to come on suddenly and, in the case of a caustic substance, count as an emergency, so do not wait them out.

When a senior cat's drooling is harmless, and when it is not

Plenty of drool is nothing. A cat can drool a little when she is deeply content and purring under your hand, when she is stressed by a car ride, or when you have just given her a bitter pill. That kind is brief, tied to an obvious trigger, and stops on its own, and it is the answer to a lot of worried searching about cat drooling and when to worry.

What changes the picture is drool that persists or arrives with other signs. Treat it as a reason to see the vet soon if it keeps up for more than a day, smells bad, or comes with dropping food, pawing at the mouth, or a reluctance to be touched near the face. Treat it as more urgent, a same-week or same-day call, if you see blood in the saliva, facial swelling, weight loss, a sudden inability to eat, or if she may have licked something caustic. The drool itself is rarely the emergency; what it is attached to can be.

How the causes compare

Use this to describe what you are seeing to your vet, not to diagnose at home, since these overlap.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my old cat drooling all of a sudden? Sudden drooling most often means something in the mouth: a sore tooth, something caught, or a taste she disliked. If it passes quickly and had an obvious trigger, it is usually nothing. If a cat is suddenly drooling a lot with a bad smell, facial swelling, or an inability to eat, or may have licked something caustic, have her seen promptly.

My cat is drooling and not eating. What does it mean? Together, those two usually point at mouth pain. Dental disease is the common cause, but an oral tumor can produce the same picture, so a cat drooling and not eating for more than a day needs a vet to look inside her mouth rather than a wait-and-see at home.

Is drooling with bad breath always dental? Usually, but not always. A cat drooling and bad breath together most often means dental disease, which is very common in older cats. But the same two signs appear with oral tumors, so if a dental cleaning does not resolve it, or there is facial swelling or weight loss, ask your vet to look further.

Can kidney disease make a cat drool? It can, indirectly. Kidney disease and other causes of nausea make some cats lip-smack and drool, and it tends to come and go with the queasiness. Because kidney disease is common in senior cats, drooling that pairs with more drinking, weight loss, or vomiting is worth bloodwork.

When should I worry about my cat drooling? Worry, and book a vet, when the drooling persists beyond a day, smells foul, or comes with dropping food, blood in the saliva, facial swelling, weight loss, or trouble eating. Brief drool tied to stress, a pill, or a happy cuddle is not a concern.

The bottom line

Look at what the drool comes with, not just the drool. A little during a chin-rub is love, not illness; drool that lingers, smells, or costs her appetite is her mouth asking for help. Biscuit does not drool, but if she started, with a whiff of bad breath and a dropped kibble or two, I would book a dental exam that week, and I would ask the vet to be sure it is a tooth and not one of the tumors that wear a tooth's disguise. Most of the time it is a fixable mouth, and the small rest of the time, catching it early is everything. That, in the end, is the whole point of paying attention to a senior cat drooling.

Sources

• VCA Animal Hospitals, Dental Disease in Cats
• VCA Animal Hospitals, Dental Pain in Cats
• VCA Animal Hospitals, Oral Tumors in Cats - An Overview
• Cornell Feline Health Center, Squamous Cell Cancer: Dangerous