Hairballs or a respiratory issue?

Hey guys,

I grew up with cats, but have been fortunate not to have ever experienced any hairball problems with them. However, I recently adopted two kitties and one seems to have had several of these coughing/dry heaving fits that I would assume hairball hacking looks like. I have come home to find a coughed up hairball only once, but otherwise these fits have always been non-productive--no hairballs come up. I've attached a link to my uploaded video here if anyone can confirm that this is what hairball hacking looks like. I just want to make sure this isn't some respiratory problem because just a couple of times, these fits have occurred after intense play and running around.

Thanks so much for your input!

One of my cats used to do that., at fist I thought it was hair balls but nothing ever came up even with hairball medication. It turned out to be a respiratory issue (for my cat it was asthma.) but there are other conditions that could cause those symptoms. Your cat might not have asthma but it does appear to be a respiratory. I am not a vet so I can not say for sure. If you are able to you should take him to a vet and keep the video so you can show them. Usually the sooner you see a vet the better and the earlier treatment is started the better.

I hope this was helpful and that your precious kitty gets better.

We had a cat who had a few fits like this (she was more hunched and they lasted a little longer) shortly after we adopted her... but they completely stopped when we switched the cats' litter from Fresh Step, which is very dusty and perfumed, to Dr. Elsey's Respiratory Relief, which we just happened to have on hand. It's been more than two years since the switch and she's been fine, no coughing at all, ever since.

CisforCookie and LisaHE, thanks for your input! I think it's a good point to go in sooner rather than later. I just called the vet to set up an appointment! As for the litter, we did start out with all those dust-free kinds from Mudbay, but we found what masked the odor the best is Purina non-clumping, which also happens to be extremely cost efficient. They claim it's low-dust, but even I start coughing a little when I pour it. Honestly that's a great idea to switch the litter because now that I think about it, I don't think this started until a couple of months ago when we switched to Purina. I'll go hunt down Dr. Elsey's litter today!

Thank you both  

You're welcome, @normalb4cats! I hope the Dr. Elsey's helps: it's not cheap but it's cheaper than vet visits! (At least it's worked out that way for us! Our vet was amazed when I told her what happened!) It's great litter and we don't have nearly as much dust in the mudroom as we used to using Fresh Step. The boxes of Dr. E's have a coupon booklet on the side; there's always a coupon for $1 off the Respiratory Relief. Their site also sometimes has a rebate form that's good for the whole price of a box so you might want to check for that, too. I also sometimes buy from chewy.com, when they have sales. One other thing: I seem to recall reading a post saying the "regular" Dr. E's litter (Precious Cat or somesuch) was just as dust-free and it's cheaper. The Respiratory Relief has worked so well for Ireland I'm hesitant to try anything else, despite the additional cost.

Anyway, good luck!

Kitty sounded and looked like that when she had a lung infection. So i would definately get the kitty checked for respiratory issues. From what I understood most are either treatable or manageable with medication. If something should be wrong, its better to get it early Best of luck