Help! Kitten dry heaves/coughs after drinking water

[lunasasukeaeris]

My four month old male kitten Sasuke coughs or dry heaves, not sure which it is, after he drinks water. 9 out of 10 times he will do it but rare occasions he won't do it. And it's only directly after he drinks water and it goes on for about 20 seconds. It's almost like he's coughing up a hairball but nothing comes out. My vet isn't sure either. She took an X-ray and nothing came up. She listened to his lungs and they sounded fine just maybe a little quick breathing but nothing to worry on. Had him on antiobiotics to treat for a possible URI but didn't help- only gave him bad diarrhea. She said he may have lung parasites. Anyone have any experience with lung parasites or the water coughing/heaving thing? Tonight was his worst one- was worried he couldn't breathe but then just kept playing. He plays and runs and eats and acts normal otherwise. When he was younger it was a minor thing but it's gotten worse as he's grown. He also has heart murmur grade 1

Thanks everyone

 

[4pawsx5]

I have a 6yr old male cat that when he drinks will cough most of the time too. I took him to the vet and she did x-rays and nothing showed as a problem. I noticed when he's drinking that he doesn't drink like the other 4 cats I have, he scoops the water with his tongue. He gets water everywhere including his face/nose which he is breathing in causing him to cough. That's the only explanation I have for his coughing after drinking water. Every time he has to go to the vet I have her check his breathing/lungs because of this but for the 3 years I've had him there is never anything there. My vet didn't say anything about lung parasites, but next time we're there I will ask about that, thanks. Hope it's nothing serious for your Sasuke.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

One of my cats coughs after drinking too.  He apparently just never learned the correct way to drink

.  It really scared me when he first started doing it as a kitten, but I had he thoroughly checked out by the Vet, including his heart, and there is nothing wrong with him other than he's a goofball

.

What I do is add more water to his wet food so that he doesn't need to drink much

 

[lunasasukeaeris]

All males so far! Wonder if that means something. So good to hear Sasuke is not the only one. One day it will last for 30 scary seconds and the next day he won't do it at all. Very strange. Thank you to you both for sharing and easing the nerves.

 

[jlgagne]

My 4 year old male does this after drinking out of the dripping faucet and sometimes his fountain.... I've mentioned it to the vet and she didn't say anything really. He has previously been diagnosed with asthma and was on Flovent, because he had these coughing fits daily when not drinking, but when we moved it seemed to go away... It's after drinking water now.

 

[blackcatsrock]

My female 8month old kitten started doing this about a month or two ago. She has been on antibiotics twice since getting her at 4months old for an UR infection and recently got lung X-rays (which her lungs looked gray) and did a respetory panel that came back with a positive for mycoplasma, which she is now on a 3wk cycle of meds. She has been on it a little over a week and still coughing after drinking. Sigh. Vet wants to X-ray her again when meds are done to make sure lungs are black vs the gray and to rule out asthma. This poor peanut. She's had a rough life aside from all this.

 

[faranbrygo]

My cat used to do it regular as clockwork after drinking. It took me a bit, but I figured out it's what he does after he 'gets it down the wrong pipe'. 

Ever since switching to wet food, he almost never visits the water dish, so I haven't heard a single episode of that since. On the dry food, he would drink so deeply and needfully he'd inhale some water.

 

[mary lynn f]

My cat coughs like she is going to throw up a hairball after drinking water. She is 8 years old and does suffer from asthma. Not sure if that is related. She does this after drinking out of her bowl or after drinking from the faucet. She does not cough after licking up drops of liquids. Only when drinking. Have not noticed that it's worse (or better) when her asthma is acting up.

 

[MaxBravo]

Ever since I got him at 3 months old, my little dude Max has done this after he drinks a bunch of water. He's close to 8 months old now and it only happens once in a while. After reading this thread I wonder if it's because he gets more wet food these days or maybe he's learned to calm down a bit at the water fountain. It still freaks me out when it happens, but when I asked the vet they said he's healthy and maybe he has asthma. Consistently it's after he has a good long drink of water, after shorter visits to the fountain he's all good.