Re: Cat Coughing

lolakimono · ‎03-29-2012

Is kitty strictly an indoor kitty, or does she go outside?

jellyBEAN · ‎04-03-2010

@lolakimono wrote:
@jellyBEAN
Is kitty strictly an indoor kitty, or does she go outside?

Jelly is strictly an indoor kitty. No desire to go outside. She coughed some this morning but hasn't coughed since. I am going to try changing her dry food.

I want to avoid the hi-protein dry foods, something more basic. What does everyone use for their dry food?

Flowers are nature's way of laughing

sfnative · ‎03-10-2010

@jellyBEAN

Hi jelly BEAN,

I agree with the poster who advise that you take your cat to a specialist.

Also, we've had cats our entire married lives and 2 of them developed coughs, which as we all know is unusual,l and requires clinical investigation.

Shasta our female Burmese developed what was diagnosed immediately as asthma by our great vet. Cause: I had purchased a small electronic aroma therapy device for the living room from the Q. This was some years ago, when they first came out. Within 24 hours, poor Shasta began to cough. I knew immediately that that darn device I had purchased was to blame, so took her immediately to the vet, without even calling them. Outcome: I had to purchased a nebulizer, purchase meds at the pharmacy, purchase a specific clear storage tub at WalMart, purchase tubing, etc., all per the vet. This was so that I could place Shasta in the storage tub with top on, start the nebulizer and start the 19 minute cycle of asthma treatment. I need to clarify that though she started out with a "cough," within less than 24 hours, she was wheezing and was in distress.

Stanleigh was our Balanese male cat. He developed what appeared to be a simple, short sort of barking cough. I took him to our vet and he did a comprehensive exam, focusing on his neck and chest area. He also asked permission to take an x-ray of Stanleigh's head-neck-chest and, of couse, I said sure. The vet had found what he called a small tumor in Stanleigh's neck, which was pressing on the vagus nerve. The remainder of the story is sad, as we lost him soon after that.

Just wanted to illustrate that, as with humans, you just never know what the diagnosis is going to be, based on a symptom like a cough.

I wish your fur baby the best and hope all works out well.

hellokitty · ‎03-09-2010

The breathing treatments in the "tub" is exactly what we had to do for Chloe. Fortunately, I have had breathing issues myself and had the nebulizer that we hooked up. I cried to see her in there but when I saw how much the treatments helped I got used to seeing her. Our vet ruled out a lot of things and even sent a blood sample to Michigan State University for possible thyroid but everything came back asthma. The vet said a lot of older cats get it.

We gave her a good quality of life with the treatments but about a year and a half the disease took its toll on her and she died.

SharonZ · ‎05-10-2016

Since your cat is senior, I would suggest having a chest x-ray. The cough can be related to a lot of things, but it doesn't sound like it's caused by an allergen. Has your vet ever checked your cat's blood pressure? Did the vet do a blood panel to check her thyroid?