Does this sound serious?

Tybalt woke me up this morning by walking up my side, like he often does, but instead of purring, he was licking and smacking his mouth. I woke up, half blind, and immediately looked in his mouth to see if he had eatten something he wasn't supposed to because it sounded like he had something still in his mouth. When I pulled back my hand it was covered in snot, and he had a huge snot splatter on his face and mouth. We cleaned up and I listened to his breathing and he sounded fine (I could honestly scarcely hear his breathing at all, but it certainly didn't sound congested or gross). A few hours past, and he hasn't licked or smacked, his breathing still sounded fine, and his nose isn't runny. He's eating and drinking fine; in fact after we cleaned up, he drank a whole lot of water and that was the end of his smacking.

I went through my room to see if he might have eatten something that made him gag and found nothing, but I did notice my storage closet was cracked. When spring comes rolling in, the whole house shifts and it sometimes pops open if you bump it, however, when I checked inside to see if there was something in there he could have eaten, I noticed it was very, very, VERY dusty in there. Yikes.

That's when I was finally awake enough to click back to the snot. However, would a snot explosion that big be related to a larger amount of dust? Well, it would for me, but I'm not sure about cats.

The only difference in his personality or mannerisms is that he's acting like he did something he wasn't supposed to... He's a very expressive cat, so when he gets in trouble, he has very guilty body language. Something tells me he got into the closet, fell or slipped, kicked up a load of dust, and went into a sneezing fit. I could be wrong, but that's my first conclusion. I really need to clean that closet!

I looked all over online and on the forum for something that sounded similar, but nothing popped up. He's still not licking or smacking, but he's still looking guilty. This all happened around 9am central time- so five hours ago. Right now, he's sitting in his window pretending he's not here, so I'm guessing he still thinks he did something naughty, which is a normal amount of time for him. He's really the most guilty looking of all cats and kind of mopes around when he's in trouble.

And... He just came to lay with me and is purring contentedly like he does 98% of the time. Breathing still sounds fine and he's cleaning himself.

Oh, and the snot all over his face was mostly clear, that's why I fatally, unknowingly put my hand all in it. Gross gross gross.

Okay, so I was sitting here on my phone with him on my lap cleaning himself, and all of a sudden he started slinging his head and smacking his mouth. A huge glop of fur and what looks like dust bunnies got flinged on me. It's pretty gross but I looked at it under the light and though it looks like there is some snot or mucus in it, it's all clear. None of it is milky, fogggy, or yellow or green. All clear. He's looking at me kind of freaked out. I'm worried for him.

Well, maybe some kind of dust allergy? I'd consult a vet, if you're worried.

I think I would probably bring him to the vet at this point.

Blarg. I called but everyone is out to lunch. It was just the secretary. She said he'll call me back, or she will after she spoke to him. So I just have to wait.

Tybalt went back to his window to hide, so I'm going to search over the house again to see if it was something he could have eaten, or if it was in fact the closet. I didn't notice dust on his fur, but he could have cleaned it off already and that could be the cause of the smacking. I still haven't actually heard him sneeze or cough, so that's good.

Okay, so I'm finally back from getting some paperwork done, cleaning a bit, and talking to the vet. He said that it sounded like he -could- possibly have a mild dust allergy and that he should stay out of places like that until I get my spring cleaning done- that the snot could very easily have been from him trying to clean his airway if he had gotten into a very dusty place. He told me to call in the morning if there was still licking or smacking, if he started sneezing or coughing, and to keep an eye out for any discharge (which there still is none), and to record any changes in color or consistency of any mucus if there is any. So far Tybalt has not smacked or licked or shaken his head like he did earlier when he was cleaning. He's not acting guilty or worried, and he's actually quite excited because I just got done sweeping. The broom makes him crazy frisky. My vet knows I am not very financially well off and won't push for an appointment unless it's serious, so I don't think he believed it was. I'll make updates if the situation changes but for now I'm just keep watching his behavior and keeping a look out for more smacking.

A bit of an update in case anyone was wondering:

Nothing happened yesterday. Tybalt was his normal self and nothing seemed to be troubling him at all. However, late in the evening there was one point when he was cleaning himself and he went into a nasty, coughing, gagging fit on a wad of loose hair. He's a seasonal shedder it seems. I was so delighted to see he hardly shed at all, but now he's loosing his winter coat and it's awful. I upped my brushing game and hair is still everywhere, and he is gagging on all of the hair he's cleaning off of himself. I am starting to think his smacking and the morning of snot could have been related to all that hair. Right now all I can do is marathon brushings and maybe a bath, but I'll have to put a hair catch in the drain. It's that bad, folks.

My old cat, Juno, was the same way. I wound up shaving him.

Yikes! Tybalt would hate me if I shaved him, but the thought has crossed my mind once already. I hope it doesn't come to that. [emoji]128575[/emoji]