Occasional coughing and weird nose thing??

Hi everyone,

I've had my cat, Jane, for about 3 months now, and when I adopted her the shelter vet guessed that she's about a year and a half old (so she's pretty young). I took her to the vet about a week after adopting her and everything was fine.

However, I moved to a new apartment in January and while she's adjusted really well, I'm getting worried about Jane's health. I noticed she'd been sneezing a little after I got her, and she was sneezing multiple times per day. I also noticed that she had coughed a few times (but it was never wheezy/an extended coughing "fit"--I've looked up videos on YouTube to compare). To top things off, her nose started getting really dry and then there were two little scab dots right above her nostrils that I assumed were there because of the dry air.

So naturally I took her into the vet in January thinking that she probably has a cold and that hopefully the vet could help. The vet said that it could be a URI but that the coughing could be something else--she offered to do a lung scan but that was going to be over $100 alone, so we opted to try a round of doxycycline in the hopes that that would clear things up.

The vet also said that she had never seen anything like what was going on with Jane's nose before in her 30 years as a vet (that scared the crap out of me to hear!). She took some photos of it and told me to keep an eye on it and see if the doxy ended up helping it at all. She described Jane's nose in the invoice I got as exhibiting a "loss of architecture of the nasal planum" and with ulcerations on the nose (there weren't any open sores or anything on her nose).

Jane's sneezing and nose cleared up pretty quickly after starting the doxy, but I've been keeping track of how often she sneezes or coughs since then. She's coughed a handful of times since we've been in this apartment, and while it never sounds wheezy I'm still worried that it might be kitty asthma or something else. Jane's nose also started doing the two scab dots above the nostrils and then getting dry and then smoothing out thing again--it seems to be doing that almost in a cycle? I have a humidifier running at my apartment so I don't think it's just dry air anymore.

I took more pictures of Jane's nose roughly two weeks ago and sent them to my vet and asked what we should do--she said that we could try another round of doxycycline to see if that helps. So Jane is currently a week and a half into her second round of doxycycline, but the nose thing keeps happening. I had contacted the woman who had Jane as a foster cat before I adopted her and she said that nothing like that had ever happened while she had Jane (and I think she had her for roughly 2 months or so).

Basically, all this is to say, should I bring her into the vet again soon? Jane has been acting 100% normal (very playful, affectionate, has been eating and using the litterbox normally, etc.) except for the occasional coughing and the weird nose thing. I don't know what else to do but bring her into the vet but the vet doesn't really know what's going on with her nose either? I'm just really worried that it might be something serious and that she's in a lot of pain and just isn't telling me.

I'm also wondering if maybe she could be coughing because of the litter I'm using? Right now I've just been using Tidy Cats clumping/scoopable litter but I'm wondering if maybe it's too fragranced or dusty and that's part of the problem?

I don't know if any of you will be able to help or give advice but I'm just really worried about it and don't know what else to do besides take her back to the vet??

I'm so sorry your post hasn't been answered before now.  It probably means no one was familiar with the kind of problem Jane has but if you post the photos you have of her nose, someone might recognize it if they see it.  

My old boy Milo suffered from a mild case of asthma that developed after we moved to a new apartment.  I never did identify what caused it, but suspected it was either the cheap carpet or the incredible dust.  (My building was 50 years old and the duct work had never been cleaned.)  Each episode would only clear up after a course of antibiotics.  Jane might be going through something like that as well, where she has an allergy to something in the apartment that triggers an asthma flare,  and then develops a secondary bacterial infection.  

If you are worried about the cat litter, try going back to the kind she was using in her foster home, where she didn't have the problem.

You could also try getting a second opinion.  That is probably what I would do at this point.  However, you really should consider having the lung scan done.  Even though it is pricey, you could easily end up spending that much taking Jane back to the vet repeatedly.  

Good luck!  Please let us know what happens!  

Margd, 

Thanks so much for replying to my post! Your advice is definitely helpful. Since I posted, Jane's nose has cleared up and she hasn't been coughing (when I've been home, anyways). I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that this means that all is well with her and that maybe whatever it is that makes her cough and makes her nose crack/dry out the way it does has passed? I will definitely post some photos of her nose doing the weird scab thing--I probably won't be able to find any of her nose being dried out or any of what the vet described as ulcerations on her nose. 

Thank you so much for getting back to me, I really do appreciate it! If she starts coughing again or her nose starts the cycle again I might take her to a second vet and/or get a lung scan done in the hopes of solving the problem and saving money over the long run--that was a good point!

Here are two of the pictures of Jane's nose, if that helps to understand what I'm talking about at all.

I see what you mean about the scabs.  No, I've never seen that before but hope someone comes along who has.  

Jane is adorable, btw!  

Hello,

May I ask how long it's a round of doxy? and the dose please,like X mg/kg once a day or maybe twice? mine weights 7.5kg, 14 years old.

if we stopped it once, will it work the next time?

It seems mine began to have nasal discharge yesterday. He has chronic respiration problem( to me) and eye problems now.

We may need doxy again. But we can't count on our vets, and there's no tests for us in our country.

sorry to ask you that, I know I should reply here to help you instead of asking for help.

I don't know what's going on with yours, but I do wish her good luck,and recovery soon.

And I'll write to you if I read something about it during my research.