A month ago, I took Peek(9 months old) to the vet to have her "cough" checked out. She gets down low and extends her neck and hacks like she's going to throw up and never does.
I was absolutely convinced that she had asthma.
The vet checked her out and said no. So, I asked if it could be allergies. He told me he didn't think it was likely.
His solution is trial and error. We treated her for a minor respiratory infection. Her housemate, Sophie (2 1/2 years old), also had started getting "eye junk" around the same time that Peeka started hacking. He gave me enough medicine for both cats to treat the infection and some eye salve. I treated them both the full 14 days he told me to. I never missed a dose nor medicine on their eyes. I have to say that I think the meds helped both cats. Peeka went from coughing 4+ times a day to not at all. Sophie's eye junk improved significantly... About a week later, Peeka started hacking again about once or twice a day. She's continued to do this. Sophie no longer has hardly any eye junk. I might have to get a little eye booger once a week out her eyes. I have noticed that Peeka didn't cough during the weeks I didn't use carpet powder that gets vacuumed around the holidays because I was too busy for it, but this was at the same time they were getting medication. Once I put the powder down, she started coughing again. I stopped using it since, but she still coughs at least once a day... She also starts hacking when I pour new litter... She feels the need to supervise her litter box cleanings... I get the non-clumping Tidy Cats 24/7 Performance- 99.6% dust free... But it still makes me her cough whenever I pour it fresh. I'm getting the idea that powders and dust make her cough.. But other than trying to avoid exposure to them completely, is there anything else that I can do for here at home and is there anything I can suggest to the vet to do for her? I don't even know for sure that the dust and powder is the underlying cause, I'm taking a guess here.... He is a really good vet... I have faith in him, but trial and error vet trips get expensive.
I was absolutely convinced that she had asthma.
The vet checked her out and said no. So, I asked if it could be allergies. He told me he didn't think it was likely.
His solution is trial and error. We treated her for a minor respiratory infection. Her housemate, Sophie (2 1/2 years old), also had started getting "eye junk" around the same time that Peeka started hacking. He gave me enough medicine for both cats to treat the infection and some eye salve. I treated them both the full 14 days he told me to. I never missed a dose nor medicine on their eyes. I have to say that I think the meds helped both cats. Peeka went from coughing 4+ times a day to not at all. Sophie's eye junk improved significantly... About a week later, Peeka started hacking again about once or twice a day. She's continued to do this. Sophie no longer has hardly any eye junk. I might have to get a little eye booger once a week out her eyes. I have noticed that Peeka didn't cough during the weeks I didn't use carpet powder that gets vacuumed around the holidays because I was too busy for it, but this was at the same time they were getting medication. Once I put the powder down, she started coughing again. I stopped using it since, but she still coughs at least once a day... She also starts hacking when I pour new litter... She feels the need to supervise her litter box cleanings... I get the non-clumping Tidy Cats 24/7 Performance- 99.6% dust free... But it still makes me her cough whenever I pour it fresh. I'm getting the idea that powders and dust make her cough.. But other than trying to avoid exposure to them completely, is there anything else that I can do for here at home and is there anything I can suggest to the vet to do for her? I don't even know for sure that the dust and powder is the underlying cause, I'm taking a guess here.... He is a really good vet... I have faith in him, but trial and error vet trips get expensive.