Sadie's Coughing

I reg my mom has Pam01 so you guys will know.

Sadie, our recently adopted cat, makes a constant noise. It seems to be associated with her breathing. She also gets coughing fits when she inhales deeply. She usually does this when she is getting attention, and she gets overexcited. She also, from time to time, regurgitates her food. We took her to the vet when we got her. The vet said her lungs are clear and really had no explanation for what causes the noise she mak her namees. We are really not sure how old she is. The vet estimated 9 years. She seems happy, but the noise is just annoying. Any ideas would be appreciated. I plan to take her to another vet when she is a little more acclimated. I don't think she is in any immediate danger as she has apparently had these problems for some time. My daughter has been posting on this board since getting Sadie. I am posting under her name. We do not plan to give Sadie to a rescue group, as apparently suggested by some posters. We are just looking for some ideas as to what might be wrong. I will take her to a vet again, but want to get her a little more acclimated before upsetting her by putting her in a carrier and going to the vet. Thanks for your input.

Pam

Thank you for sharing this info with us Pam.

As you can imagine, without a good workup from a vet, it is almost impossible to guess what Sadie's health issues might be.

If Sadie were my kitty, I would request, from a vet...
a full blood panel, UA, stool culture and complete physical.
This info would be a good start to rule out parasites or other obvious illness and give your vet a good baseline.

After such a difficult life, I am so glad that Sadie found her way to your loving home.

You are welcome to join us here anytime.
Please keep us updated about Sadie's progress.

It could be heartworms. They can do a test for that and give her medication to help the cough and vomiting.

Originally Posted by Tiffany01

Sadie, our recently adopted cat, makes a constant noise. It seems to be associated with her breathing. She also gets coughing fits when she inhales deeply. She usually does this when she is getting attention, and she gets overexcited. She also, from time to time, regurgitates her food. We took her to the vet when we got her. The vet said her lungs are clear and really had no explanation for what causes the noise she mak her namees. We are really not sure how old she is. The vet estimated 9 years. She seems happy, but the noise is just annoying. Any ideas would be appreciated. I plan to take her to another vet when she is a little more acclimated. I don't think she is in any immediate danger as she has apparently had these problems for some time. My daughter has been posting on this board since getting Sadie. I am posting under her name. We do not plan to give Sadie to a rescue group, as apparently suggested by some posters. We are just looking for some ideas as to what might be wrong. I will take her to a vet again, but want to get her a little more acclimated before upsetting her by putting her in a carrier and going to the vet. Thanks for your input.

Pam

Click to expand...

Pam,
Thank you for coming aboard... Unfortunately this can be a number of things, and only a vet would be able to assess the situation.
The fact that she has survived this long is no indication, IMHO that she is in no immediate danger... It might be on the contrary, actually...

I am assuming you took her to the vet when you first got her?
Was the vomiting discussed then? Was it even an issue at the time? Tiffany describes it as green vomit - can you describe it to us?
Also, is there food pieces in the vomit, or it is smooth? Is it right after she eats, or after a while?

About the coughing: Cough is not normal for cats, in no circumstances.... It can be in the best case scenario hairballs, but that doesn't seem to be the case... Then it can be asthma, heartworms, etc... but it is never normal to cough, and regular "cough fits" definitely warrants a vet visit.

Pam, a cat will never get acclimated enough before seeing a vet. They hate it, no matter what. They hate it today, they will hate it tomorrow.
IMHO Sadie needs to see a vet now - postponing taking her now can escalate the health issues into something much more serious and costly to take care of - both for her and for you and your family.
Cats are notorious for hiding disease and pain - if Sadie seems 1/2 sick now, is because she is sick.
Please, do not delay this... if all possible... please take this little girl to the vet...
Thank you Pam -

My mom wont be home till late tonight.

I'm just reading this thread, and I have to agree with everyone who is recommending a trip to the vet without any further delay.

Cats don't cough without a reason, and they certainly don't vomit up green stuff. They hide pain and illness as a built-in survival mechanism, so what you see is only what the cat can't possibly hide; it's a guarantee Sadie feels worse than you think she does.

Please take her in.

Originally Posted by carolinalima

Pam,
Thank you for coming aboard... Unfortunately this can be a number of things, and only a vet would be able to assess the situation.
The fact that she has survived this long is no indication, IMHO that she is in no immediate danger... It might be on the contrary, actually...

I am assuming you took her to the vet when you first got her?
Was the vomiting discussed then? Was it even an issue at the time? Tiffany describes it as green vomit - can you describe it to us?
Also, is there food pieces in the vomit, or it is smooth? Is it right after she eats, or after a while?

About the coughing: Cough is not normal for cats, in no circumstances.... It can be in the best case scenario hairballs, but that doesn't seem to be the case... Then it can be asthma, heartworms, etc... but it is never normal to cough, and regular "cough fits" definitely warrants a vet visit.

Pam, a cat will never get acclimated enough before seeing a vet. They hate it, no matter what. They hate it today, they will hate it tomorrow.
IMHO Sadie needs to see a vet now - postponing taking her now can escalate the health issues into something much more serious and costly to take care of - both for her and for you and your family.
Cats are notorious for hiding disease and pain - if Sadie seems 1/2 sick now, is because she is sick.
Please, do not delay this... if all possible... please take this little girl to the vet...
Thank you Pam -

Click to expand...

my thoughts, exactly.

When we take her in to get her claws out then we will deal with it.
It will be soon tho.

She is not pukeing up green and seems to have stoped pukeing.

Declawing is a terrible thing to do.
It is like getting parts of your fingers cut off.

my dad wants it done. We have are other 2 cats declawed.

It is still very bad and she might start biting.
She already is 9 years old.

Oh, sweetie, please don't declaw your cat!!!! It's a terrible thing to do and may cause all kinds of problems. Did you know some countries outlaw this kind of elective surgery because it is so cruel to the cat?

Read here for more information.

Don't do this to your poor kitty!

Oh my gosh. Please please do not declaw a 9 year old sick cat. Please, take this cat to a shelter or rescue where she will get the vet care she needs, and will not have her toes cut off.

Please, it would be criminal to do this to her. Just because you've done it before does not mean it's okay to do it. Have you ever read about what they actually do? It is amputation.

read these links. Declaw is banned in at least 26 countries around the world. Many people who live in other countries never even heard of it before joining internet websites.

http://www.declawing.com/htmls/outlawed.htm

This link lists the countries but there are other pages where you can read about what is done to the cat. It is extremely painful, and I don't think a 9 year old cat would ever ever adjust to such a thing.

Please take her to a shelter or rescue, now.

1.) De-clawing is a HORRIBLE thing to do to any animal, and is illegal in most civilized places. Should be illegal in the U.S. as well, but evidently we are not civilized enough . Check out the links in my signature for more info.

2.) This cat is old. She probably will not survive the surgery, and any vet who agrees to do it should lose his license. If she survives the surgery, she might never fully recover from the procedure, and may never adapt to the loss of her toes. I did know a cat that died from being de-clawed later in life.

3.) This cat is sick. No good vet will do elective surgery on a sick cat. She probably will not survive if the vet agrees to do it.

4.) Does she even scratch anything she shouldn't? Most older cats don't. It would be senselessly cruel and a waste of money to de-claw a cat that never scratches anything.

I do hope you will not have her de-clawed. It's such a selfish and cruel thing to do.

ughhhhhhh I give up.

I will hope the vet has enough sense to refuse to do this terrible thing to the poor cat. Unfortunately some vets are just out for the $$$ and not the animals' well-being. We can hope, anyway.

Tiffany, I urge you and your mother to do some research on declawing before you go ahead with the surgery.

Some information can be found here:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=155451

You have to understand why people are upset - your family won't pay to have more extensive testing done on your cat when she is obviously quite sick, but you WILL pay to have her declawed, which is a cruel, unneccesary surgery and something that will most likely cause major health problems in a cat her age.

Tiffany and Pam -

Your cat is sick right now, and needs medical care... and here we are hearing that this appointment will be delayed for when she will be put through a cruel and risky procedure... I am sorry, but this is about the last thing I expected to hear now...
Your cat is sick, and declawing is going to make her sicker. I mean, she needs vet treatment now as it is. Declawing not only IS AMPUTATION, and it has the potential for a LOT of medical problems, especially in an older cat, let alone a sick one.
You are not taking her to the vet for her health problems now, you are going to take her to get her toes amputated? Ok.... What happens if that gets infect?
One of Tiffany's posts indicated there was a money struggle, and that was the reason why she was not taken to the vet yet.
So, if those paws get infected from the declaw, which happens a lot, then what? What are you going to do? She is going to suffer for a month before you can take her to the vet? What if she needs further surgery, and you can't afford? Is she going to be put to sleep because of it?
A lot of cats start having littler box problems after declawing, and start urinating around the house after the surgery. What if that happens?
What if she starts biting?
Please think this through.
Your cat is sick right now, and needs medical care...
Please, if you can not take her to the vet, please, just take her back to the shelter where you got her from.
It is heartbreaking to read day in and day out that this little girl is suffering and nothing has been done about it...