Coughing cat -help!

[Katdog]

Hi all
Korra, my cat, has had sneezing fits ever since I brought her home from the shelter. It was only a few sneezes a day. After two and half weeks of having her, she started having coughing fits and being incredibly congested. The vet saw her and agreed she had upper respiratory infection. We took lung xrays At the vet and confirm she did not have pneumonia. They gave her An antibiotic shot and then some liquid antibiotics meds. I Medicated her. It’s be 10 days later, antibiotic meds are gone and she Is still the same.

here condition now: Less congested (but it is still there) and occasional sneezing fits (about once or twice a day) but the coughing fits Have gotten more pronounce and def have not gone away or lessen. See below for a link to video of her with one of her coughing fits video. 2/3 of the coughing fits r this aggressive, where her whole body sorta shakes and she crouches down. I have not seen any hair balls and it’s been at least 3 weeks of this terrible sounding cough. The coughing happens most commonly in the morning hour (shortly after waking), after she eats, and after a games of cat/mouse chase. She eats, sleeps and poops - all normal and per the typical routine. Is something wrong with her? Is it cat asthma? Any insight would be helpful, I am a first time cat owner.

please help! Video link here:
Watch “Cat coughing fit-help!” on Vimeo:

 

[Katdog]

Also, I have vet appt (with a new vet bc we just relocated to a new city) for her in 4 days, so hopefully any ideas discussed here- I can bounce around with the vet. Thanks ahead, appreciate your thoughts.

 

[LTS3]

One of my cats does something similar on occasion. He does have asthma but the wet sounding snorting / coughing seems unrelated. The vet has chalked it up to what he calls post-nasal drip and isn't worried about it. The asthma is controlled with the occasional course of steroids. There are other treatment options such as inhaled Flovent.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I've never had a cat with asthma, so am no help there, but would highly suggest that you take this video with you to your Vet appointment, along with the medication names she has already been given. It's possible the initial URI was something else and a different antibiotic was needed. The Convenia (injection) probably didn't do much for it as it mainly works on bacterial skin infections. Other bacterial infections sometimes require specific antibiotics in order to work effective, and to know which ones, a culture is needed.

Hope they are able to nip this in the bud soon, poor baby. She looks miserable in the video

 

[She's a witch]

I would ask them to run PCR respiratory panel to check for specific bacteria. Asthma would be somewhat visible on her lungs xrays, if you have a copy, I’d take it for the appointment.

 

[stephanietx]

That looks like reverse sneezing. One of my girls does this when she has excess drainage. It's possible that she's suffering from airborne allergies and just like humans, has drainage. If she's still congested and coughing, I'd request the PCR URD test. Also, you might get an x-ray of her lungs to rule out anything like asthma or pneumonia. In the meantime, you can try a daily antihistamine to see if that helps. We give our girl 1/4 of a plain Claritin (loratidine) once a day. We just crush and mix into wet food.

 

[Katdog]

hi all, just thought I follow up on this. the PCP suggested a 3rd ear infection trial, that might have made her antibiotic resistant if it wasn't the right thing - so I declined his advice. Fortunately we were able to get her into a dermatologist within the next 10 days ( every day was dreadful, and some places had a 2 month wait for their dermatologist!!!). he confirmed that there were no yeast in her ears for an infection and no ring worm on her skin for the hair loss. she was diagnosed with food allergies. I first put her on natural balance limited diet turkey food, but that made her symptoms worst! then I put her on instinct rabbit kibble and she's been doing great. her cough and sneezing went away, hair loss went away, and ear infections are no longer. it was a long 4 weeks but fortunately she is 100% again. so I've concluded she is allergic to turkey and chicken, without a doubt. those were the primary ingredients in her purina one, royal canid, and natural balance diet. I'm trying out a freeze dried duck kibble in her diet now from vital essentials, been 2 weeks, and it seems to be working but not fully sure yet- noticed some extra itching and a singular cough today; but I could just be extra sensitive and PTSD from previous experience. we're gonna run a slow switch up of diff. proteins to diversify her diet (other than just rabbit) these upcoming months, wish her luck! thanks for all your help! very glad its not asthma.