Hairball, asthma, or something else?

[tinytangerine]

Hi all,

A couple months ago my husband and I brought a stray inside. We've been dealing with long-term (~7-8wks so far) chronic diarrhea with him and possibly food allergies (see this thread). He is currently on 2.5 mg/day of pred to help with the allergies/itch.

About a 1.5 weeks ago he started occasionally (maybe once every three days) looking like he had to bring up a hairball, but he never actually brought anything up at all. These last from 30 - 60 seconds and I am now wondering if we should be worried it is something else, like athsma. Here is a video of him during one of these episodes.

Our vet says feline athsma is rare and is not worried unless we see this happening more frequently, but honestly, it's a bit scary to watch since he never brings anything up. Thoughts? Should I push back?

Thanks all<3.

 

[gilmargl]

I've been caring for cats (my own plus countless fosters) for the past 20 years, and have experienced this problem with 2 females. In the one case, it would happen frequently in the space of a week, and then nothing for months and sometimes years. I never found out what was causing it.

In the second case, because she was a fostered cat, I spent a lot of time (and money) at various vets. She also had chronic diarrhea which we thought was due to a food allergy. I believed she had a cough. I was also told that asthma is rare. Well, this cat never did find a new owner - she refused to show herself when people came to see her. No sooner had I given up the idea of finding her a new home, the diarrhea stopped, she ate the same catfood as my cats and, the 'coughing' ceased.

One vet thought it was the result of some irritation in her throat. But, she is now 13 years old, no health problems though she is slightly overweight. I know it hurts to watch when a cat is obviously having problems, but, at least in this case, there was no cause for worry,

However, we still hold our breaths on the rare occasions when her 'cough' returns.

I hope, with your young cat, that it does not turn out to be a serious issue.

 

[Jcatbird]

It doesn’t look super bad in the video but I’m not a vet and that’s just a small clip. I’m sure it is scary. We never want to see our kitty having any issues. (Beautiful kitty!) I have lots of rescue kitties and coughing is something cats do. I do have one asthma kitty but his coughing is much different than what I can see on the video. It’s wheezing and labored. That said, many things can make a cat cough. Have you tried a hairball remedy to help him if that’s the issue? Those work pretty well.

We just had what the vet decided was a pollen reaction here. I am seeing that with others on the site too! The pollen is horrendous this year. Besides an antihistamine the vet prescribed, I got a good air purifier, It’s been a huge help. An air purifier is an easy thing to try! I think this one helped me too. Lol
I hope kitty stops coughing. Please let us know how he is doing!

 

[tinytangerine]

Thank you both - that is comforting. For now we will monitor and see if he keeps doing it.

Jcatbird , thanks, it's nice to have eyes on it from someone with an athsmatic kitty. He is having some other general GI issues so I am hesitant to change anything up at this point, but I do wonder if it may be hairballs. Like I said though he has never brought anything up, which is part of what makes me wonder if I am missing the mark. Air purifier is smart and we will give it a try!

gilmargl , your story is particularly interesting since it sounds like your kitty had (potentially) some similar things going on. I did wonder if perhaps this is as a result of general GI irritation as well.

 

[She's a witch]

My vet claims that coughing that never produces any material is not hairball related. And feline asthma is not that rare, at least 1% cats have it - it's rarer in dogs so if your vet is not a cat specialist, they may be biased. It's however one of the most over diagnosed conditions so if you decide to check that route, make sure they use all diagnostic tools before they claim it's asthma.
I have an asthmatic kitty and she used to cough rather similarly to yours, she never whizzed or anything, but she was pretty young when her symptoms started so her lungs were still in good condition.
BUT: since your cat is on prednisolone already, imo it's unlikely it's asthma, as that's the oral drug that controls it. Unless the dose is too small, but still, it would be weird. Personally, if that happens every three days and continues for next week or so, I'd want to find the cause. There are many reasons for feline cough and I would push the vet to find it. It might be something bacterial - mycoplasma and bortadella cause cough as well. You could ask for feline respiratory PCR panel that could check for these bacteria just to rule it out.

BTW for hairball I recommend egg lecithin, it stopped the hairball completely in my cat.

 

[stephanietx]

I have two asthmatic kitties and your video is exactly how they present. They both get a prednisolone shot that lasts for about 6 months when the attacks get too frequent. We also give them a daily antihistamine and try to keep the humidity in our home low. Additionally, we run calming agents to keep the stress level down in our home.

 

[tinytangerine]

Wanted to update this in case anyone else comes across it in the future who is seeing similar signs. So, our little guy does in fact have athsma, confirmed via x-rays a few weeks ago. He is currently on oral pred, 2.5mg every other day, and we are training him to use the AeroKat so he can use inhaled meds, and he's doing very well .

 

[stephanietx]

I'm glad you got a diagnosis. Severity can vary and there could be triggers, too. Keep a log to watch for a pattern. Mine are triggered by weather changes.

 

[Juniper_Junebug]

Wanted to update this in case anyone else comes across it in the future who is seeing similar signs. So, our little guy does in fact have athsma, confirmed via x-rays a few weeks ago. He is currently on oral pred, 2.5mg every other day, and we are training him to use the AeroKat so he can use inhaled meds, and he's doing very well .

Did your kitty have swollen lymph nodes, by any chance? The video of your kitty looks like what my kitty Juno experiences, but she also recently developed a large lump on her neck and I wonder if both could be caused by asthma. (Have been seeing a vet but they seemed mystified about the cause of the enlarged lymph node).

 

[tinytangerine]

Juniper_Junebug hmm, no he did not have any swollen lymph nodes. Sorry I couldn't give better news - I hope your kitty is diagnosed soon <3.