Cat coughs after drinking water

Our Kitten,Jerry, who is almost a year old,has developed strange habits when eating and drinking. We have little experience with cats so are interested in any light you can shed on the situation.

With water, after he drinks, he hacks like hes clearing his throat or a hairball or something. He does it every time he drinks water. secondly with food, he throws up all of the time. Its pretty random, but we just find little piles of thrown up food around the house.

He is otherwise fine and active and ornry as ever.

Any help?

Larry

Hi Larry, welcome to TCS!
Have you changed his food recently? Sometimes a change can upset a cat's tummy.
Have you seen Jerry chew on plants? My QT sometimes chews grass and she ends up throwing up.
Does Jerry drink from a bowl or a fountain? He may have problems lapping up water.

I recently read another thread that suggested that a cat may have trouble if the food/water bowl was too low. That raising the food and water bowl helps some cats.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43275

Just a couple of thoughts...
#1) Have a vet listen to his heart, see if he has a murmur...my little dog, Mickey Mouse, frequently would cough after drinking water and I was assured by the vet that it was nothing..he's 8 yrs now and has recently developed a grade 2 heart murmur and degeneration of the mitral valve of his heart...he's doing well now, but I KNEW something was not quite right...you know???
#2) Ask the vet about megaesophagus...a malformation of his esophagus...I know someone whose cat has this...
#3) I've had a few rescue kitties who bolt their food and have found that what works well is small meals several times a day and/or when feeding dry food, give them a good quality food that they don't necessarily LOVE, then they pick at it more, and not gobble it down...
Thanks!
Ellen, the Keeper of the Herd

Our cat Buddy would cough after drinking when we got him, also threw up his food, usually not small amounts because he ate so much so fast, but sometimes. After two courses of worming medicine he has stopped throwing up completely and no longer coughs when drinking either.

He was a "fast" eater so I tried raising his food dish some but that mainly led to him learning to dump all of his food on the floor, and I tried feeding small portions but that led to one very hungry kitty..all the time. I eventually gave in and gave him the food he should have at once and let him sort it out.

He ate like a pig that first time and his little belly looked quite full. Let me just say, I think he learned his lesson and now does not wolf down everything in sight unless its wet food. He still gets wet food in the morning and night and free feeds on dry whenever he wants now that he knows it will be there for him when he wants it.

If I could get him to respect the fact he only should get half a can of wet so our other cat could get some, that would be super.

Thanks for your reply, we havent changed the food. Hes eating the same stuff for months now. He does though drink from a fountain, and thats when he coughs. What do you think?
He does eat plants too...most of them are gone, but what we have he gets into. I have tried cat grass, but that he doesnt like. Only the stuff hes not supposed to eat...

I would take him to the vet to be checked, he could have something caught in his throat. I would want that ruled out first