Cat coughing-asthma?

I think that my four year old Maine Coon "KiKi" may have asthma. She started coughing in May, I assumed it was a hairball. She has other health issues, she was nearly starved to death before I adopted her and had stomatitis (had 14 teeth removed), a heart murmur, and an ear infection. It seemed like her food was making her cough- she was eating Blue Buffalo. I switched her to  a grain free food. She stopped coughing except for once in a while. The past week she has been coughing daily, I woke up last night because she was coughing her head off. I have allergies too, no idea what to, but I've been sneezing every morning when I wake up. The coughing occurs at night. I use walnut, crystal, worlds best AND clay litter (5 litter boxes). The clay litter is extremely dusty, it is the only thing my one cat will use though. Aside from the coughing she is super hyper, lovable, same as always. 

When she coughs she sticks out her tongue and some drool comes out, it sounds like she might barf but then she keeps swallowing. I looked on youtube for cat asthma attacks and she does the same exact thing the cat in the video does. 

I made a vet appointment for tomorrow. Does anyone else have a cat with asthma? How are you managing it? What tests can I expect her to run? I am currently unemployed so I'm hoping she doesn't need to do every test known to man. I'm super worried about her, I didn't get any sleep after her cough attack (2:40 am) I lost my 14 yr old last year from kidney failure (adopted KiKi 3 months later) and I really hope it's nothing serious -_-. 

Yes, please get her checked out at the vets. My Burt was doing the same thing and he ended up having an enlarged heart. Now he's on lasix and hasn't coughed since. I don't think the x-ray was very expensive, but the tests for kidney disease and diabetes were, you might want to start with the x-ray. Good luck and keep us posted!

Di and Bob said:

 
Yes, please get her checked out at the vets. My Burt was doing the same thing and he ended up having an enlarged heart. Now he's on lasix and hasn't coughed since. I don't think the x-ray was very expensive, but the tests for kidney disease and diabetes were, you might want to start with the x-ray. Good luck and keep us posted!

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  There is also a simple blood test to check their heart.  Every time mine cough I immediately think "heart disease".  Can't help it because it's one of the signs .

You are right in that it could simply be allergies OR asthma, but it might not be, especially since you already know she has a heart murmur.  Best not wait for an exam.  If it IS asthma, she can go on daily meds, or they even have kitty inhalers .   Not sure HOW they test for it.

If you can, take a video of the coughing and show it to the vet. Your vet can use the video to help make a diagnosis. I took a video fo my previous cat coughing and showed it to the vet. The vet found it extremely helpful. The vet also did the usual bloodwork and a tracheal wash and did diagnose asthma. My cat was put on Flovent 22 mcg with the AeroKat inhaler. Thse dose was one puff twice a day.

Coughig could indicate a number of things, not jsut asthma.

I had the blood test done, results on Monday.

Her stomatitis is back 10x, it's now in her front teeth (the only ones she has left) they were bleeding and when the vet touched them one fell out !

Her heart murmur is the same.

The vet thinks she has asthma. 

We can't treat her because they want to put her on prednisone which would interact with her other two conditions/only make her better short time. Plus after my last experience with it I don't want to use it. 

So she is on antibiotics. I'm gettin an air purifier and all grain free chicken or turkey wet food. 

I'm really bummed out

@lizzimi, you mentioned the kitty litters... FWIW, after one of our cats had a few pretty short/minor coughing fits I switched the cats' litter to Dr. Elsey's Respiratory Relief and she hasn't coughed since. (That was in January.) I think she was just sensitive to the Fresh Step litter we were using: it was very dusty and perfumed.

Dr. Elsey's Respiratory Relief is clay and it's pretty expensive but I think they have another kind that's also nearly dust-free and less expensive. We just happened to have a bag of the RR around (long story!) so got started with that. And then I didn't want to switch because it seems to be working.

Good luck. I hope KiKi feels better.

I was thinking about it and I started using Fresh Step around the time she first started coughing. It is super dusty, even though I get the unscented kind it is still smelly and dusty, I can't breathe when I dump more in/scoop. 

I have coupons for Dr Elsey's! I'll see if they carry it at my petsmart thanks!

My cat was diagnosed with it in May. We are using the steriod but I haven't exactly had great results. You may bet a bronciodilaor that clears the airway.  Here is a couple of suggestions.

- There is a product on Amazon called pet amaze that is for clearing airways. I didn't have good results with it but it has great reviews on there. And a lot of them. Maybe give it a shot.

- I have heard people say coconut oil is helpful. Coconut oil is known to reduce inflammation. It didn't work for my guy but, google it.

- Try not giving tap water. It is a long shot but someone reported to me that chlorine in the water made her kids worse on Asthma. Now they only get bottled.

I am also bummed. I am seriously starting to wonder what is going on. It seems tons of cats have it now. It has to be something they are all doing.

lizzimi said:

 
I was thinking about it and I started using Fresh Step around the time she first started coughing. It is super dusty, even though I get the unscented kind it is still smelly and dusty, I can't breathe when I dump more in/scoop. 

I have coupons for Dr Elsey's! I'll see if they carry it at my petsmart thanks!

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I hope Dr. Elsey's helps. If nothing else, it's worth a try. And a lot more pleasant to handle! Our Petco sells Dr. Elsey's but I'm not sure about PetSmart. Good luck!