My cat is making strange chewing motions

[dulokbrains]

Hey guys, so I have 2 indoor cats who are healthy and happy.
Yesterday I noticed my female cat doing this motion, linked in the video below.
Its like an over exaggerated chewing motion or acting like she has something in her mouth she's trying to remove?
It's been almost impossible to get a good look in her mouth with her wriggling and moving her tongue about when I try, the times I've tried I don't see anything immediately obvious like a wound, foreign object etc.
She's otherwise acting, drinking eating and using the litter tray perfectly normal. Eating both dry food, soft pouch food and treats just fine.

She does moult a lot, I try brush her as often as I can. Yesterday when she was at her peak doing this motion, she also gagged like she was about to vomit, my assumption is that she may be waiting to regurgitate a hairball?
She hasn't seemed to have done it anywhere near as much today, I've kept watch on her all day literally!
(I'm getting her booked in the vets first thing in the morning)

Video

 

[Caspers Human]

Your cat is the spittin' image of our cat, Casper, except that your cat's a girl and ours is a boy.
But for that, you'd have to look twice to tell the two apart!

Anyhow, Casper did the same thing. Almost exactly like your cat does in your video. He did it especially after eating or using his mouth on something like playing with a toy mouse. It went on for a while because, like you, we thought he just had something stuck in his teeth. We figured it would keep until the his next checkup at the vet.

Casper was doing it so often that we decided to take him in for a checkup sooner, rather than later. Our vet took one look and said, "Whoops! He's got a bad tooth!" She grabbed a hemostat and yanked the tooth out in about two seconds.

It was his upper-right canine tooth. (#104 on the chart if you're counting. )

We always thought Casper had a bit of a "snaggle tooth" on that side. We just thought that's the way Casper was. To be honest, we thought it was kinda' cute.

But, also, Casper is an rescue cat. He probably hurt that tooth, somehow, either in a fight or some kind of accident while he was living outdoors. We're guessing that his tooth had been stewing all that time and, finally, got rotten and fell out.

Casper's all better, now. He doesn't seem to have any problems with his mouth and, unless you look inside his mouth, you'd never even know he has a missing tooth.

 

[dulokbrains]

Your cat is the spittin' image of our cat, Casper, except that your cat's a girl and ours is a boy.
But for that, you'd have to look twice to tell the two apart!

Anyhow, Casper did the same thing. Especially after eating or using his mouth on something like playing with a toy mouse. It went on for a while because, like you, we thought he just had something stuck in his teeth. We figured it would keep until the his next checkup at the vet.

Casper was doing it so often that we decided to take him in for a checkup sooner, rather than later. Our vet took one look and said, "Whoops! He's got a bad tooth!" She grabbed a hemostat and yanked the tooth out in about two seconds.

It was his upper-right canine tooth. (#104 on the chart if you're counting. )

We always thought Casper had a bit of a "snaggle tooth" on that side. We just thought that's the way Casper was. To be honest, we thought it was kinda' cute.

But, also, Casper is an rescue cat. He probably hurt that tooth, somehow, either in a fight or some kind of accident while he was living outdoors. We're guessing that his tooth had been stewing all that time and, finally, got rotten and fell out.

Casper's all better, now. He doesn't seem to have any problems with his mouth and, unless you look inside his mouth, you'd never even know he has a missing tooth.

Oh wow I'm so glad to hear he's better! I did notice her upper back left tooth was a little darkened, like a grey ish colour, perhaps it could be that?? I'll be sure to get her seen ASAP because I hate to see my fur babies under any distress! Thank you so much for replying!

 

[Caspers Human]

A dark tooth could be anything. It might be plaque. It could be stuck-on food or even some foreign substance lodged in the teeth or gums. You're also right that it could be a bad tooth. Then, again, it just might be the natural color of that tooth.

It takes a vet to accurately diagnose and treat.

Don't worry too much. If the tooth was bad enough to cause the cat too much pain after eating or playing she would stop eating or doing other things that made that tooth hurt. Since she's behaving mostly normal then it's okay to assume that she's not in a lot of pain. Probably just some discomfort like a human would get when they have a minor dental cavity.

Certainly do keep that vet appointment.

While you're there, ask the vet to give the rest of her teeth a look-see to make sure that there aren't any other tooth problems brewing.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to ask about getting her teeth cleaned, too.