Conference misery::feline_v1

    
             Well,, Pookie also drools when she is quite content. When
    I first saw it.. I thought she might have a bad tooth,, I did take her
    to the vet and he said,... No, her teeth are fine,, it is just
    a sign of contentment.. and she still "drools today.. especially
    when she  is sitting on my lap,, purring away.. she drools..
      I have a feeling I could get sued over this note.. I hope AJP
    does not find out about me telling one of HRH secrets..
    But, if you are concerned about it.. have your vet check her out..
    good luck 
    Kate

My little Chauncey drools when he's content.  He kneads away and drools all
over the place.  Always has, always will.  It's part of his charm....

If you are concerned, though, mention it to your vet, that's what she/he is
there for!!!

Mary

    AJP, Esq and his 7 legal partners, all drool. According to my vet, (who
    taught aminal behavior at Tufts), not only is the cat who drools while 
    kneeding content, but she/he is paying you the highest complement he can.
    
    Deb

    Funny you should ask this question.
    
    Tiffany drools _sometimes_ (I think I have only seen it a couple of
    times) .... Otis looks like he has beads of perspiration on his chin
    and I could never figure out where the 'moisture' was coming from.
    But, Otis still being a kitten, he doesn't have as much quiet time.
    
    But....SAM!  God, he drools constantly.  I have sometimes had to get a
    kleenex and wipe his face.  He just lays there, purrs, drools, kneads,
    and his eyes are shut tight (every once in a while opening them to get
    a glimpse of me)....
    
    In fact, he has two kinds of 'purrs'.  The regular one is like an
    engine softly running but the other day it was like he purred the first 
    way - then there was a more 'gutteral' sounding purr that seemed to come 
    from his toes.  He was off in la-la land.
    
    Marilyn, Otis, Tiffany & Sam
    

    
    I love it!!!!  I'm sitting here in San Francisco and HAD to call
    my sister in Lancaster.  Her Persian Ambrosia is like a faucet.  We
    are talking steady stream.  He climbs onto your chest, puts his
    paws on your neck and kneads and purrs and drools.  She has kleenex
    boxes strategically placed throughout the house.  That's fine, but
    if you can't make it to the box, you are out of luck! We thought
    Bam was just a weird cat.  He also likes to lick the side of the
    woodstove in the family room.  It gets a little nerve wracking during
    the winter months....
    
    

    Stitch is a drooler.  I'll wake up in the morning and find the neckline
    or sleeve of my night shirt soaking wet.  He likes to get in the
    crook of my arm around 4 am and kneed - suck on my shirt and drool,
    drool, drool.
    
    Giudi        

    neither of my two cats drool much but my in-laws cat drools like crazy
    if you pet him really well.  He half shuts his eyes, lies back, purrs
    and drools.  Don't feel bad.  It's gross but common I think.  I tend to
    think that the more demonstative a cat is, the more s/he'll drool.
    
    Rachael
    

    
    	Well then maybe Dukie doesn't drool cuz he's sick....maybe
    	he just drools for the sake of drooling!
    
    	JJ and the Dukie the Drool Machine...

    
    
    I just called my vet and asked if it was normal for a cat to drool.
    I told her that my cat is like a leaky faucet.  She'll leave drops
    all over the place.  She said that this was not normal and that
    she wanted to see Callie tonite.  But it seems to me that it is
    normal from reading all of these replies and your cats seem to
    be just happy kitties and not sick ones.  Callie is also very thin.
    Well, compared to my other cat Tigger.  Tigger turned 1 in March
    and it very muscular.  Callie just turned 1 a couple of days ago
    and is long and thin.  Maybe it's the type of cat she is?  Tigger
    is a tiger cat and i've seen a lot of tiger cats built just like
    him.  Callie is a calico cat and took a while to grow.
    She was taken away from her mother at 5 weeks, mayber even 4 weeks.
    I've seen her eat but not a whole lot.  Maybe I should buy some
    Iams and fatten her up a bit..
    
    Chris, Callie and Tigger

    Even though drooling is normal for some cats, it can also be a first
    sign of some health problems.  Viral rhinotracheitis can cause mouth
    ulcers, and sometimes the only outward symptom of those is drooling.
    
    I would play it safe and have her checked out by the vet this time.
    The vet can then tell you if you need to worry about it.  Better
    safe than sorry.
    
    Jo

    
    
    Wish me luck, I hope nothing is wrong with poor Callie.  I'm
    not having much luck with cats!  My poor persian Frito died
    just shortly after I got him and that was hard to take..
    Well...off I go to the vets!
    
    Chris

    I had a cat, Emerald, that I got from a friend of a co-worker who was
    moving and couldn't bring Emerald with her.  After I had her home for a
    few days I noticed she was drooling and took her to the vet.  The poor
    thing had so much plaque and tartar on her teeth that it had caused the
    gums to recede and they were all inflamed.  Like humans, she had the
    feline form of gingivitis, along with a great big ulcer in the back of
    her throat.  He showed me the inside of her mouth - I cried.  The
    vet had to sedate her and scrape the stuff off her teeth.  I then
    had to give her penicillan for 10 days.  The cause was the fact
    that she had never had dry food in her entire life (3 years),
    only canned food.  Dry food helps to scrape the teeth.
    
    To be on the safe side, I'd bring her to the vet.  Good luck!
    
    Terry
    

    Bob and Bumpy are both droolers.
    
    I think the critical point here is that if the cat is displaying 
    extreem pleasure and drooling its probably normal.  I've also seen
    Bumpy drool under stress in the vet's office.
    
    If the cat is just walking around drooling, it may be a sign of
    a problem
      Nancy

    
    	Sara and Squeeky both drool when they purr, but Squeek also
    	drools when she's frightened ot upset (ie BATH TIME!)... :)
    

I noticed Spunky was drooling a couple weeks ago...unusual for him.  Then I
noticed faint traces of blood in the drool.  With two other cats, I wasn't sure
if he might have gotten nicked in the mouth by one of his house mates.
Drooling and signs of blood continued off and on.

Last week I took him to the vet and the x-rays show that Spunky has a tumor in 
his gum and jaw bone and I should have the biopsy report today or tomorrow.  
The surgical options aren't great.

I wish my story had a happier ending.  :-(

    Chris, how terrible.  Please let us know what the outcome is. Give
    hugs & kisses to Spunky for us.
    
    Robyn, Rocky & Smokey

    
    >  I wish my story had a happer ending. :-(
    
    Hang in there, the story isn't over yet!!!  We'll all be thinking
    the most positive thoughts for you.

Update to 3720.15

Well, the vet called me at work on Tuesday and told me Spunky's tumor is
malignant.  The surgical option it to have the invaded part of his gum and
jawbone removed.  The vet told me that this type of surgery is done more
on dogs than cats.  He gave me the name of a vet at the Tufts hospital in 
N. Grafton, MA if I wanted to go through with it.

My gut reaction is to leave Spunky alone and not put him through anything
that radical at this stage of his life.  At the moment he's acting as though
nothing is any different (with the exception of an occasional bloody drool)
and I'm going to keep him at home as long as I can and while he is comfortable.

These are not easy decisions to make.

-- Chris

    Poor Spunky....I will pray for him.  I understand how you feel right
    now,,,but maybe if things get worse you could bring him to Tufts
    for a physical and get all the facts from that hospital before you
    make a decision whether to do it or not.  Before I made a final
    decision...I would want to know how many Cats have they operated
    on with this condition...what is the success rate...are there any
    side effects, if you don't operate what will happen, when will it
    happen...is he in pain now...etc...etc..ask all the questions so you 
    can get the facts.    It's so hard to deal with something like this.
    
    Best wishes to Spunky and mom!  My heart is with you!
    
    Sandy (Tamba, Poco, and Barkley) 

    I agree with .19.  before making the decision you need to have 
    enough information to determine whether the benefit of the surgery
    will outweigh the costs - both financial and in trauma to Spunky.
    
    My feeling is, that if you don't get that information you'll always
    wonder if you could have done more.
      Nancy DC

    Chris,
    
         Can you tell me the name of the person at Tufts?  I can't remember
    offhand the name of the surgeon who worked on Bigfoot, but she
    performed a minor miracle.  Took out his spleen and part of his
    pancreas (cyst on the pancreas) and he's better than ever.  11+ (going
    on 12+) and going strong!
    
    					- Andrea

Andrea --

My vet at Weston Veterinary Clinic gave me the name of Dr. Pavletic (don't know
if spelling is right!) at Tufts.  When I called them to get an appointment for
a consultation, they told me that Dr. Pavletic won't be back in the clinic
until sometime in August but that Dr. Berg would be available.  As it turned
out, Dr. Berg happens to be the other name that Weston referred me to.

Spunky's appointment is on July 16.  Hopefully, he can hang in until then and
not be too uncomfortable.  This appointment at Tufts is just so the surgeon
can look him over and give me his opinion of what would be involved and what
Spunky's quality of life would be if he did have the surgery.  I at least owe
Spunky a second opinion but my gut still is leaning away from surgery.  I would
hate to see his cute face get disfigured if they have to remove a big chunk of
his gum and jawbone not to mention if he'd have any problems eating in the
future.

I'll be going with many questions, to be sure!

Were either of these two doctors the one who took care of Bigfoot?

-- Chris  

    Hi Chris,
    
         Now that I think of it, Bigfoot had *two* surgeons (one probably
    assisted, but I don't know which one).  One was Dr. Berg, the other was
    Dr. O'Brian.
    
         If anyone can do it, I think Tufts can.  Certainly you'll have to
    weight the pros and cons; we had to do that with Bigfoot.  He was
    examined just after Christmas of 1989, after being sick for the fourth
    time that year, and was found to have a cyst that had exploded on his
    pancreas and into his abdomen.  They had told me that either Bigfoot
    would have to have an exploratory (I *hate* that word) or that he would
    be gone within the week.  For his case, we decided that it would be
    better for him to go through with the surgery, although we also decided
    that if the condition recurred in a few months we wouldn't redo it. 
    Didn't want the old boy to go through it twice in a row.
    
         He and his brother just went in for their checkups yesterday and
    Bigfoot's x-rays came out clean!  No vet visits for a whole six months,
    which is a record for him!  He and his brother need dentistry, though. 
    Loki needs a cleaning; poor Bigfoot needs a lower canine removed (loose
    and sore).  But a sore tooth is much better than a sore belly!!
    
         Good luck!!
    
    					- Andrea

    Tuft's Dr.'s specialize in different things.  Kirby had the top
    cardiologists working on his case; his half sister had both a
    cardiologist and a throat specialist, for her esophogitis.  When one
    Dr. cannot make an accurate diagnosis they call in another.  I have
    been very pleased with all of the follow-up consultations Dr. Rush has
    given me in regards to Kirby's case.  It wasn't "over" after his death. 
    There is still a lot of information to sift through and learn from. 
    Dr. Rush has been terrific in helping me to understand and is patient
    with my impatience.  I would use Tufts again in a minute, despite the
    high costs.
    
    --Roberta
    
    
    

    
    chris...
    
    best wishes to you and spunky during this tough time....
    
    diane, stanley & stella