Cat is wheezing when meowing and was coughing yesterday

SarahD1987 said:

 
Hi everyone,

Yesterday I noticed one of my cats, Sophie seeming to try cough up a hairball without any success and I figured its because she's not used to them. I don't think I've ever seen her cough up a hairball before, and she doesn't seem to shed a lot of hair, well, not compared to one of my other cats, Chloe (Who you could probably knit a jumper with all the hair I brush out of her!!). This morning though I went to give her some dreamies cat treats (My cats really love them!), which always makes her excited when she see's the bag, and when she tried meow she made a wheezing noise. I haven't noticed her trying to cough anything up though this morning, but I'm still a little worried about the wheezing problem. I tried phone the out of hours vet to ask for advice, since this was about 6:30am and I didn't want to wait until 8am to speak to them in case it was important. They said to just keep an eye on her and make sure she's eating and going to the toilet and if it continues to take her in.

I still feel really worried even though the vet doesn't think it's an emergency. I'm just wondering if anyone else has had any similar experiences with one of their cats to help reassure me? I'm really scared maybe something is stuck in her throat, but she's able to breath and I checked her gums and tongue and they look a normal healthy pink colour, so I don't think she's having problems getting enough oxygen.

Also does anyone know if this could actually be a hairball? I'd have expected she'd be trying to cough it up still this morning if thats what it was. I had a look around my home to see if she did manage to cough it up somewhere and maybe just has a sore throat after it, but I cant find anything, so unless she's hidden it well, I assume if it is a hairball its still in there.

Thanks for any advice!

Sarah

Edit: Just in case its important to know, Sophie is a little under 2 years old (Her birthday is early September)

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SarahD1987 said:

 
Hi Stephen, thanks for the reply!

Sophie seems to be doing fine! I feel a bit better now at least, since I don't think she's swallowed anything she shouldn't have, and I think she may have a cold or an allergy. Yesterday she started to sneeze quite a bit. I'm going to see how she is for a couple of days, and if it doesn't clear up on its own, or if it gets any worse then I'll get her to the kitty doctor to give her a checkup, and if there is something wrong then she can at least get some medicine.

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StephenQ said:

 
When cats get allergies you usually see symptoms like itchy skin or a food intolerance but what you don't see is sneezing.  Sneezing in cats is a classic sign or an upper respiratory illness, and combined with the coughing makes that more likely.  On the other hand, unless you have had personal and close contact with a cat that had an URI, these illnesses spread cat to cat.  Has your cat had any contact or potential contact with other cats? Does your cat go outside?  Some URI's are chronic and come and go, so if your cat had a URI in the past, it could return.  If the symptoms don't resolve soon i agree that a vet visit is in order.

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