You’ve seen your cat licking her lips numerous occasions. Cats are recognized for his or her fastidious grooming habits so it’s completely logical to imagine frequent lip licking is only a regular a part of feline hygiene, proper? Is there ever a cause to be involved about this conduct? Lip licking is regular usually however there are some situations the place the conduct may point out one thing extra severe is occurring. What’s regular lip licking and when must you be involved?
Listed below are some the explanation why cats lick their lips, together with when it’s possible you’ll have to pay nearer consideration and seek the advice of your veterinarian concerning the conduct.
1. Grooming
The most typical cause cats lick their lips is for post-meal grooming. The conduct relies on a cat’s intuition to take away scent traces after devouring prey. Leftover scents may very well be detected by different prey and alert them that the feline predator is within the space. Since cats are additionally prey themselves due to their small measurement, it’s necessary to take away scent traces after consuming in order that they don’t put themselves at risk by alerting bigger potential predators.
Photograph: Laura Chouette for Unsplash
2. Oral Ache
Lip licking can point out oral illness or mouth ache. You might also discover drooling. This drooling is completely different from the drooling displayed when a cat is comfortable (normally whereas kneading). Together with frequent lip licking and drooling, the cat could paw at her mouth, present a decline in urge for food, and it’s possible you’ll discover a foul mouth odor.
Photograph: Tetiana Hromiak for Pexels
3. Worry
Cats who lick their lips when there’s no meals current could also be experiencing nervousness or concern. To extra precisely decide that is the trigger, observe the fast circumstances and take note of different physique language alerts as effectively.