Cat coughing

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dahlia

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My cat Cheddar is about 3 1/2 years old.  A stray cat had him in my neighbor's garage and I fed him for about a year or so outside before taking him in.  While he was outside, I noticed that he would have runny eyes, particularly when it was cold.  That cleared up when I brought him inside.  About a year after I had him inside he started coughing.  It was kind of a wet sounding cough but he didn't have any eye discharge and his appetite was fine.  The cough kept getting worse and his activity level dropped and he would lie in meatloaf position a lot.  I took him to the vet (an unpleasant experience for all involved, he had been neutered when young but otherwise had not been to the vet).  She had to partially sedate him and I think I remember her saying his lungs sounded fine.  She gave him an antibiotic shot and all was well.  Several months later the coughing started again and my vet took pity on me and just let me pick up an antibiotic shot and give it to him myself.  This happened again this year about a week before Thanksgiving.  I gave him a shot and he perked right back up and stopped coughing.  However, last night I heard him cough again.  I am hoping it was a fluke because he didn't do it again by the time I left for work.  I am worried though because it hasn't even been a month since he got his shot.  Does anyone have some ideas for me on what it could be and what I can do to nip it in the bud?  I was going under assumption that it was a URI but he doesn't have any other symptoms.  I tried l-lysine for awhile but it didn't seem to make much of a difference one way or the other.
 
stephenq

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dahlia said:
 
My cat Cheddar is about 3 1/2 years old.  A stray cat had him in my neighbor's garage and I fed him for about a year or so outside before taking him in.  While he was outside, I noticed that he would have runny eyes, particularly when it was cold.  That cleared up when I brought him inside.  About a year after I had him inside he started coughing.  It was kind of a wet sounding cough but he didn't have any eye discharge and his appetite was fine.  The cough kept getting worse and his activity level dropped and he would lie in meatloaf position a lot.  I took him to the vet (an unpleasant experience for all involved, he had been neutered when young but otherwise had not been to the vet).  She had to partially sedate him and I think I remember her saying his lungs sounded fine.  She gave him an antibiotic shot and all was well.  Several months later the coughing started again and my vet took pity on me and just let me pick up an antibiotic shot and give it to him myself.  This happened again this year about a week before Thanksgiving.  I gave him a shot and he perked right back up and stopped coughing.  However, last night I heard him cough again.  I am hoping it was a fluke because he didn't do it again by the time I left for work.  I am worried though because it hasn't even been a month since he got his shot.  Does anyone have some ideas for me on what it could be and what I can do to nip it in the bud?  I was going under assumption that it was a URI but he doesn't have any other symptoms.  I tried l-lysine for awhile but it didn't seem to make much of a difference one way or the other.
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It sounds like a chronic infection, perhaps the wrong antibiotic is being used.  I would ask your vet to run a sensitivity test by obtaining some lung fluid, or nasal discharge and seeing what antibiotic works best.  What's odd is that feline herpes, the most common chronic URI doesn't usually involve the lungs.  And i presume Asthma has been ruled out?
 
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dahlia

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Thanks for the reply.  I thought about asthma but the coughing bouts are very sporadic.  He will go months being fine and then will start to cough and it just keeps getting worse.  I am going to have to try to take him to the vet again I guess.  It is so traumatic for him.  He is terrified of everyone but me. Last time I tried to go to the vet, he kicked the door off the carrier.  I recently bought a soft sided carrier so maybe that will work better.
 
stephenq

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dahlia said:
 
Thanks for the reply.  I thought about asthma but the coughing bouts are very sporadic.  He will go months being fine and then will start to cough and it just keeps getting worse.  I am going to have to try to take him to the vet again I guess.  It is so traumatic for him.  He is terrified of everyone but me. Last time I tried to go to the vet, he kicked the door off the carrier.  I recently bought a soft sided carrier so maybe that will work better.
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Wow that sounds tough.  maybe you could fine a house call vet?  Try googling them or ask your vet?
 
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