Two weeks off the steriod and

my cat had his first coughing attack.  They say he has "asthma" and he did have an x-ray where they said they saw the signs of mild asthma...but I seriously feel like they are wrong. This is how it always seems to happen. Weeks go by and a "congestion" starts. The congestion builds until my cat coughs it up OR throws it up. Sometimes he does that.  In addition... I notice that I think he swallows it and it sits in his stomach and sometimes...  it causes like a bad reaction in his stomach and I see him spazaming.

To me, it it more like he has some sort of COPD.

But anyway, the moment the steroid stopped I noticed that my cat was scratching a lot more.  Something I noticed before the steroid. Could it be some sort of allergy? I asked my vet and asked for an antihistamine.

Anyone have an antihistamine work ?

Bumping this up. 

I know antihistamines work for itching and sneezing, which are related to allergies.  Should work for coughing if they are allergy related, but not sure if that's the case here. 

What does the vomit/cough-up look like? Is it mucus or thinner, like spit, and what color is it?
The scratching does sound like an allergy of some sort. I've successfully used the anti-histimine Cetirizine (Zyrtec) for my cat with seasonal allergies, but her symptoms are different than your kitty's (running nose, itchy, watery eyes, sneezing). It sounds like an anti-histamine would be worth a shot, even if to simply rule out suspicion of allergies. They are relatively harmless, much less so than steroids. I have asthma and it does not cause me to be congested, unless I have a cold. I do not know if cats react to asthma differently than people, but my main symptom is severe wheezing, shortness of breath, and some chest pain. And allergies trigger my attacks sometimes. Maybe similar is happening to your cat?

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
Bumping this up. 

I know antihistamines work for itching and sneezing, which are related to allergies.  Should work for coughing if they are allergy related, but not sure if that's the case here. 

Click to expand...

Yes the vet tech today sort of dashed my hopes. She told me all the animals are suffering allergies - that time of year.  Do I have other options? I know you say that there is an inhaler but I just know my cat will never put up with something over his face.   Though I am trying to use a toilet paper roller to get him used to it... man, he is not taking it well.

Could you go see another vet? A second opinion might help. 

I've read up a lot on hairballs vs. asthma and some cats actually swallow back their hairballs. But the fact that the x-ray came back with a diagnosis of mild asthma is more likely to rule out the hairball situation. I'm tempted to recommend you to try some hairball remedy medication and see how that goes but the first thing I would do in your situation is to look for a second opinion.

The throw up is mucus.  I would prefer not to go to another vet because my cat is fractious at the vet. I would prefer a vet give me a second opinion based on the records and labs but they probably will not do that.   At one time I thought the attacks were hairballs but they became too frequent and there was no hair.  Also, when he went on the steroid, no hairballs (or like 1x per year and it sounded much more like throwing up than the hack of the cough).

Maybe I will just have to forced my cat to take inhaled steroids.