Cat and Hacking/Coughing

[meshas mom]

My mom's kitty is coughing or hacking which seems like she is trying to get a hairball up. She didn't eat last night or this morning.  A friend gave her some vasoline (she won't take laxatone) and she hacked but no hair ball. We have a call into our vet hoping he can see her this evening.  Is there anything we can do to help her.  We have seen her drink water and she has moved around a little.  

 

[loopycann]

Hi,her hacking and coughing could be anything from a stubborn hairball to feline leukemia .Not to stress you but as soon to the vet the better.Vegatable(a teaspoon) oil is a good hairball loosener with a can of wet and a 1/2cup of dry.please keep us posted.Many cat parents learn from each other's posts.good luck

 

[stephanietx]

The fact that she's not eating is disconcerting.  I'm glad you've called the vet.  What did the vet say?

 

[hopea]

Hi there
This was a symptom last year for one of my cats and I thought it was a furball but it turned out to be her heart... She was was coughing because her lungs were filled with fluid.
Now a year later another of my cats started doing the same thing and again I thought it was a furball because how could this happen to two of my cats in less than a year?!
Well, this time it's a mass that is in his chest that's pressing on his windpipe and restricting his breathing.
So definitely she needs to see the vet because you never know.
I hope everything is ok

 

[meshas mom]

Went to the vets.

Temp fine.  Lungs clear. He looked in and smelled her mouth area. He felt her all around.  She was tender in the stomach pouch area and back spine. He said the back spine was sore because of the throwing up and heaving.  He did blood work and found she was a little dehydrated and there was something else that I can't remember and my mom has the paperwork. He felt she had some upper GI inflammation. He gave her 2 shots: Depo Medrol and Baytril.  Plus he gave her 500 ml of fluids.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[lisahe]

Asthma can also look like a cat is trying to cough up a hairball. One of our cats had a couple short coughing episodes like this soon after we adopted her in December... but hasn't had one since we switched from Fresh Step to Dr. Elsey's Respiratory Relief kitty litter. This cat really kicks around a lot in the box so I suspect it was Fresh Step dust that caused the coughing.

I hope the cat feels better soon!

 

[abbyntim]

My cat was coughing/hacking, too, like he had a hairball but nothing was coming up. Last year he was diagnosed with mild HCM so we started watching the coughing more carefully. As it was occasional and we didn't see signs of respiratory distress, we noted it but didn't panic. In February, he started coughing more plus vomiting and a little panting, so off to the vet we went, where they suspected mild asthma. We switched to Dr. Elsey's Respiratory Relief litter, which the cats love, by the way.

Meanwhile, in an effort to resolve the vomiting plus a lot of other things that were going on with this cat, we changed his diet to eliminate chicken and carageenan. He hadn't coughed since early February when we first switched his food. But he coughed last week, after being fed two meals that included chicken. Since then, no chicken and no coughing.

I guess I'm trying to say that coughing can mean any number of things. But you should always get it checked out because you just never know. I still don't know if we've resolved his cough, and won't until June when we do another cardiac ultrasound and chest x-ray.

 

[meshas mom]

So, now I'm reading terrible things about this Depromidal shot. And in talking with my mom, her kitty is lethargic and not eating.my god, could it be the shot??

Ugh.

 

[pushylady]

It could be a reaction to the Depo-Medrol for sure. She could just need a day to recover though, then be better tomorrow. Your mom should really call the vet and let them know her cat is lethargic and see what they say. This is the kind of thing they should want to know about this after a client's visit.

 

[meshas mom]

She ate Monday night and Tuesday night.  She didn't eat yesterday or today.  Mom couldn't find her last night and thought for sure she passed away somewhere in the house.  I had a friend stop by (I live an hour away) to check on the kitty.  She was under a bed.  She isn't eating today and just moping around.  We called the vet. We have an appointment tomorrow at 2.  I hope it's just the shot.

 

[trs047]

Another possibility, although rare, just recently happened to my beloved Maddie (13 year old Bombay). In 10 years of practice, my vet has seen and treated 13 cases of it. We are hoping and praying that Maddie can recover from it.

In a nutshell, have your vet check your kitty for a condition called Chylothorax. It is potentially fatal, but it can often be cured if identified and treated soon enough. A small percentage of cats that develop Chylothorax over a period of days to weeks start out by manifesting a dry cough/wheeze, which gradually clears up as the cat's body tries to accommodate to the developing Chylothorax condition.  

Here are the details:

Like your kitty, Maddie also started unusual coughing and wheezing for no apparent reason. We always mix 1/2 teaspoon of Benefiber into her wet food every other day to help her pass hairballs, and this usually works to keep hairball-barfing to a minimum. So her new "dry cough/wheeze" behavior was puzzling to us, too. We boosted her Benefiber to once daily for a few days in a row to see if that might help - it did not. Over 2 weeks, her dry cough/wheeze subsided slightly, but would not go away entirely, regardless of the Benefiber dose. So we took her to our veterinarian. He checked her heart and lungs and heard nothing unusual - her lungs sounded clear and her heartbeat sounded OK. She had no fever, hence no infection. He said Maddie's symptoms could be caused by any number of things, among them a possible upper respiratory allergic reaction to recently-appearing spring pollens in the air. An older cat like Maddie can develop allergies as they age, even if they did not have any allergies prior to that. So he put Maddie on a decreasing prednisolone regime for 2 weeks to see if that could help. While this anti-inflammatory medicine did seem to alleviate her dry cough/wheeze, we noticed that her breathing was becoming labored. A 2nd trip to the vet and recheck of her lungs still indicated no lung congestion, so we proceeded with treating Maddie for upper respiratory congestion - a once daily dose of prednisolone plus a dose of antihistamines every 3-4 hours. (NOT Benadryl! See my other post regarding that fiasco!). We tried a 5 mg dose of Claritin. The antihistamine plus anti-inflammatory regime did absolutely nothing to alleviate Maddie's labored breathing, which was becoming worse. Moreover, Maddie was slowly crashing - she would not eat and she just wanted to lay around and mope and sleep around the clock. Her breathing was becoming so labored that she could not even lay on her daddy's lap and sleep because she had to move to a position where she could stretch out and make her breathing easier to do. A 3rd trip to the vet ensued and this time we X-rayed Maddie to get a look at her lungs and heart. Her lungs were 80% obscured by something in the outer pulmonary envelope surrounding them. It probably was not infectious, since Maddie was still not running a fever. Fortunately, my vet had seen this condition before. It is called Chylothorax. It is caused by a leaking or ruptured duct that runs from the small intestine to the vena cava artery near the heart. The leakage (of nutrients processed by the small intestine) goes into the outer pleural wall of the lungs instead of into the bloodstream and gradually disables lung capacity to pass oxygen into the bloodstream. Maddie was gradually asphyxiating to death! The vet performed a thoracentisis, which means he sucked the built-up fluid from out of her pleural envelope through a skillfully inserted hypodermic needle. Maddie was immediately able to breathe naturally again. We bought her some time by identifying the Chylothorax condition and treating its result.

Now we are looking for the underlying cause of the Chylothorax condition. If it is indeterminate, which occurs with about 50% of all cats that get it, Maddie's body may just heal itself, provided we can keep the outer pleural envelope of her lungs clear. If it is caused by something else more serious, like congestive heart failure, heartworm, physical trauma, whatever, we need to identify that and treat it if possible. Sometimes the Chylothorax condition is caused by an FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis) virus, for which there is no known cure. The color and appearance along with lab testing of the removed fluid can identify whether or not a viral or bacterial infection is present. Since Maddie never developed a fever and since the removed fluid looks pretty much like product from her small intestine, we are ruling out an infectious underlying cause. The vet gave her a shot of antibiotic to prevent any subsequent bacterial infection from occurring.

I deeply hope that your kitty is not heading down the same road that my Maddie is. However, now you at least know to look for this possibility. May God watch over all of us along with our beloved kitties, His wonderful works of living art!

 

[meshas mom]

My dad's kitty was on her way out when a kind and loving neighbor volunteered to bring her to the vets and not wait until I got there.

She has pneumonia.

 

[meshas mom]

So my dad's (who is passed away) kitty (who lives with my mom) is at the vets very sick. They say she has pneumonia. Last weekend she was coughing and hacking and throwing up. We took her to the vet Monday. She got 2 shots monday depo medrol and baytril. Monday she seemed better. Tuesday seemed better. Wednesday wouldn't eat and moped around. Wednesday she didn't eat and moped more. A neighbor came over this morning, friday, looked for her and found her under a bed with labored breathing. The dear neighbor took her to the vet for my mom.

They have her on oxygen and gave her a breathing treatment. They gave her a little lasix to get some fluid off the lungs. At one point he thought she had a heart issue or a stroke. He just called and said it's a waiting game now. He feels she should be better.

I just don't know. I don't want her to die but i dont want her to suffer.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[stephanietx]

What a difficult decision. How old is the kitty and how long has it been since your father passed away?

 

[catwoman707]

With the cat in the vets care now, he should be on an IV for fluids as well as strong antibiotics.

If he is not old and is healthy otherwise, he should recover, cat's don't commonly die from pneummonia unless they are sick for a long time with no meds and supportive care, have FIV/FELV, or other issues that weaken his immune system.

 

[catlady1968]

I had a male kitty, Mitties, who was 2 when I had him neutered and exactly 2 weeks after he had symptoms of pneumonia, labored breathing and a low temperature. When I took him to the vet they immediately put him on oxygen, they took blood and did a series of tests to find that he had congestive heart failure. We have several other cats in the home and it would have cost us several thousand dollars to treat him with still a 20% chance if survival. Unfortunately, my husband and I had to decide to euthanize him so he didn't suffer any longer as the cost of his care at the vet for an hour and a half was already at $500.

I empathize with you because I know how hard it is to have to make a decision like that, but all I can say is to trust your gut. You know what to do, so trust your first instinct. As difficult admit is to make that decision, only you know what your cat needs if you are bonded with him/her.

My heart goes out to you and your baby, I hope and pray everything works out for the best.

CatLady1968

 

[meshas mom]

She's 10. On Monday we got ok news. The vet we saw said it was inflammation of the upper gi. She got fluid and 2 shots. Now her lungs bad with pneumonia.

I got to see her today. She drank water but won't eat.

 

[tomm]

A teaspoon of vegetable oil with a can of wet what? And a half can of dry what?