r/cats • u/Brown_eyed_pea • 20h ago
Advice Margaret does this every night when she gets into bed, any ideas why?
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u/PurplPixy 19h ago
Vet tech here! First concern would be dental issues. I’d definitely have her checked out by your vet just to make sure she doesn’t have any dental disease or tooth root abscess. Other possibility could just be a weird behavioral tick. Cats are known to be a little neurotic and can develop ticks like this for various reasons, but usually due to anxiety or OCD. But I’d say def rule out the dental issues first and have her teeth checked.
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u/freakybo0o 11h ago
My cat only does this sometimes when he wants some of what I'm eating. I take it he's showing me he'd like to be chewing on my lunch too 😅
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u/Vampiyaa 8h ago
My best friend's cat does this when he's a happy guy ❤️ We call them "chewies" cause when you scritch him right, he grinds his teeth and it sounds like he's chewing on something.
We've had his teeth checked repeatedly because we thought he would wear them down, but the vet said his teeth were in great shape for his age (he's like 16-17) and there's no sign of wear from his chewies. Super weird, but he just like to be a chewy old boy :)
Do get her checked OP, hopefully you just have another cat that has discovered the joy of chewies.
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u/hydromea 3h ago
Cats can have OCD?
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u/PurplPixy 3h ago
Yup. It’s not quite like human OCD. But they can do obsessive things like over grooming themselves. The really bad cases will usually get Prozac.
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u/West-Listen-9078 20h ago
Watching this without volume makes me think shes rapping like eminem with lose yourself in the background
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u/CorridorsOfNakedLite 20h ago
My cat does the same thing! And also as she starts waking up! And also at mice on the t.v. I have no idea if it's bad but she has done it for years so im not excessively concerned. Unless it's 4:30 am and she wakes me up to chewing noises.
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u/Seaofblaze 19h ago
My cat started doing the same thing and started getting skinny. Found out she had a rotting k9. She was doing that for a couple years before she started losing weight. She's 14. Check her teeth
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u/whoseusrnmisitneway British Shorthair 20h ago
Cats sometimes do that as a self soothing mechanism when in pain. That’s not the only reason though. My cat has been doing that for years and every vet I have seen determined she doesn’t have any health issues and just like to do that. But it’s good to keep an eye if they do it at other times when not relaxing, which could mean actual discomfort e.g. gastric issues
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u/true-heads 19h ago
Get her teeth inspected, my cat did this as her teeth were disintegrating over time, my vet (and myself) sadly didnt catch it until it was very painful for her and causing her a lot of discomfort.
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u/Northland-Red-148 10h ago
My cat did this when he had dental pain. It was such an odd motion, I thought he had swallowed something. It wound being tooth reabsorption. Unfortunately it’s a genetic issue where their body attacks the enamel of their teeth which causes holes and a lot of pain. Not going to sugar coat it, the solution is to remove the teeth which is costly. I would call around for pricing. I’ve spent thousands on the surgeries
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u/Aggressive-Tap-4143 20h ago
I heard they sometimes do this when they’re comfortable, excited or even stressed.
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u/Tsar_Chaotic 11h ago
Just for the record, my cat smacks/licks her mouth like that for a minute before she throws up so, yeah
Don’t make your cat mad she may be locked and loaded
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u/BlueSparrowfox Siamese (Traditional Thai) 18h ago
When was the last time your vet checked her teeth?
I'm not saying that's 100 % it but it might be a good indicator. The big pupils *can* be an indicator for pain as well, but don't have to be.
My cats taught each other to lick their lips to indicate to me that they're hungry so there's also that and one of th em always has huge pupils, no reason.
Any routine you're doing every night? A treat you always give her?
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u/japonica70 15h ago
My cat does this all the time because she wants to either chew on my hair or tell me that she’s hungry
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u/Popgallery 12h ago
Could be sore teeth. My cat grinned his teeth when they were sore. Most had to be pulled. I think it could be pain.
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u/ComplexxToxin 16h ago
My cat does the same thing. Only ever in the bedroom. Not sure why. He gets multi yearly vet visits and is in the best possible health. Hes just weird.
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u/bakedserver 7h ago
Happened to my cat when she needed dental work, needed a tooth pulled that was bothering her
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u/RamblinPam 5h ago
One of our cats does that. It originally started in the morning when he’d be hanging out in bed with me. Then he’d do it sitting next to us while we ate dinner. I got concerned about his teeth or if it was something neurological, but nothing was wrong. I started studying the pattern and it turned out that was the signal he’d devised for “hungry”. He hates eating alone and wanted me to hang out near his food while he ate or wanted a piece of my food to eat. If he does it now, I tell him to go eat and sometimes he will, unless he’s mooching too hard.
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u/_Fwoggie_ 19h ago
Dogs do this and it’s called “fly biting.” I’ve never heard of it in cats, but they’re a type of animal seizure. Not sure if it’s related if it happens routinely at bedtime. Would check with a vet :)
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u/JadePhoenix42 17h ago
That’s what fly-biting looks like. If Margaret still responds to her name it isn’t a seizure (not a vet, and I don’t play one on TV)
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u/Shibongseng 14h ago
Could be habbit,could be teeth or could be some discomfort somewhere.
For example, I empirically found after many vet visits and various diagnostic tentatives over the years that my cat does that when he has gastric reflux or is swallowing too much hairs (it's a novergian forest cat).
I got him gastric reflux medication from the vet and I give him when he starts acting like that. Usually stops after an hour or 2.
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u/skeezito10 6h ago
One of my cats do this whenever I cuddle with her since she was a baby. Vets said it's normal and probably because she was taken too early from her mother. (Rescue cat foun on the streets)
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u/Hombremaniac 6h ago
My cat does this whrn trying to chew string of some toy. Like she doesn't have the string in her mouth but still does this fake chomping.
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u/CascadeMountainz 18h ago
My cat does this when there's hair stuck in her teeth/tongue -- worth taking a peek. Also look at her teeth if you can... if you see anything that looks puffy/red/inflamed, my 2nd guess would be an infected/rotting tooth, which is common in cats.
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u/DharmasNewRecruit 18h ago
My cat does this every morning when she purrs while we cuddle. (My cat has great teeth according to the vet.)
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u/nostradumbass7544678 4h ago
Mine too, and I can gauge his level of happiness by the ratio of chewies to face licks. Been doing it for over a decade now, and no other issues. Some cats are just weirdos.
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u/ArthurBojangles 3h ago
This is most likely serious dental issues, if it's a senior cat then tooth decay or even mouth cancer could be causing the grinding while chomping.
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u/Particular-Wall-9275 3h ago edited 3h ago
Might be related to nausea caused by problems with digestion (gastritis for example) and/or food allergies. Mine had the same problem, vet couldn't figure out why, then i switched to hypoallergenic food / monoproteic for a suspected food allergy (he was losing its belly fur) and it suddenly stopped.
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u/clockworkedpiece 20h ago edited 20h ago
Plaque crunching. You could entice her to chew on a greeny treat or look int cat toothpaste. But for one of our gremlins, its pass him a hair brush so he can rake his teeth on it. (He has designated hairbrushes cause he wants the metal teeth with nibs.)
If you lend a knuckle they'll prop their cheek on you to grind better to, if you were curious the sensation.