Hairball or cause for concern?

[DillandAnnie]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here, so please let me know if I did anything incorrectly.

Tonight Dillard, my 7-year-old cat, started coughing. I've attached a video below. This lasted for about 2 minutes, and he did not produce a hairball, although he did lick his lips several times. He also had a few small burp-like noises during the episode.

Afterwards, he laid down but was sticking his neck out, almost as if he was smelling the air. He has been doing this more often the last couple of days. I attached a short video of that, too.

He has had a similar cough in the past, although not frequently. The last time was probably a year or so ago.

I'm wondering if this looks like a regular hairball cough, or if it could be something more serious, like asthma or a heart issue?

I'm also scheduled to leave town tomorrow through Sunday, and am wondering if I should try to get him into a vet tomorrow morning or if it is something I could monitor over the next day and address it when I come home.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

dill.mov

• DillandAnnie
• Mar 11, 2020

dill2.mov

• DillandAnnie
• Mar 11, 2020

 

[jen]

I don't think smelling the air has to do with anything. But that sounds like asthma. I would have him to the vet to xray the abdomen and see what the lungs look like.

 

[DillandAnnie]

I don't think smelling the air has to do with anything. But that sounds like asthma. I would have him to the vet to xray the abdomen and see what the lungs look like.

Thanks for your feedback! I will ask our vet to xray to make sure its nothing more serious than a hairball.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I would have said a hairball for the first video; it looks/sounds a lot like what Feeby does every now and again, and she rarely ever coughs anything up. But it's good that you will get him to the vet just in case it is something else! The second video just looks a cat that is sniffing some smell that came through the area. Let us know how it goes at the vets!