Cat Coughs

[Maozer]

Three nights ago I woke to hear my cat, 'Moazer', gagging and wretching, though he did not throw up. I thought he might have furball. He hasn't gagged since, but several times a day he produces a small reflex- I want to say a cough but it doesn't sound like a cough. Maybe it's a gag reflex. Air is audibly forced through his nose in a puff, no wheezing; I can say that.
Otherwise, he is in perfect health and jumping running around all over the place. Do you think it's a hairball?

 

[Furballsmom]

Air is audibly forced through his nose in a puff, no wheezing;

Do you think it's a hairball?

Hi!
No, I don't think so based on this, but I'm not a vet.
Do you have a way to get a video of it, and then show that to your vet?

 

[Maozer]

It doesn't happen regularly enough to get a video of it, but today the frequency seems to be increasing. Could he have a respiratory virus?
I'll keep monitoring it, but as long as he's active, I guess I don't need to take him to the vet.

 

[Furballsmom]

He might stay active anyway, but if he starts to get runny eyes or a snotty nose, you'll want to take him in.

 

[Maozer]

Thanks for the advice; I'll watch for that.

 

[di and bob]

It could be a hairball, get some hairball treats at Walmart in their pet section that has the flea medicine etc. Offer some tuna in oil to give some lubrication. or add a tiny amount of oil to the food. There are also tubes of hairball medicine that work well but I have to smear it really good into my cat's front leg so he doesn't shake it off and it forces him to lick it off. Any cough like you are describing should be brought up to the vet and videoed. (they will never cough in front of a vet!) I have had a few cats do this and it turned out to be an enlarged heart, which was managed nicely for years with lasix.

 

[Richard2121]

This sounds very familiar. One of my cats, Richard had this same exact issue and the frequency started getting more and more consistent. It turned out that he had chlamydophila felis which is a respiratory infection that slowly spreads to other places and is only treatable with one anitbiotic (Doxycyline). Most vets won't give this prescription without a confirmed diagnosis and even then all cats and other pets in the household need to be treated. Just in case this happens to be the same issue you are having, make sure the vet prescribes treatment for 4-6 weeks. A lot of vet clinics feel confident at 3 weeks but this has been proven ineffective in recent studies.

My recommendation would be to get a Respiratory PCR panel done if the vet can do this. The vet just needs to take a swab sample from the eye and nose. This test gets sent to an outside lab and all vets use this type of service. It can detect several bacterial and viral infections that could be present. Sometimes a blind untrained eye cannot see any discharge, especially if it is clear. Richard did not seem to have any discharge and all we noticed was his coughing/wheezing or whatever you want to call it. Turns out the vet noticed some slight clear discharge and taught me how and when to look for it. I would have never seen it. Now I am always on alert!!