retching sound but nothing comes up

About once a week Abi will sometimes make this retching/coughing sound as if a hairball is going to come up but nothing does. Am I misinterprepting it and should I take her to the vet?

Take her to the VET...

"When in doubt, seek out a vet" is good advice. Sometimes I will
call ahead and see if they agree before I take my cats in.

That said, I might be inclined to try some hairball remedy, first.
If your cat won't take it from your finger, you can smear it
well into the fur on the paws, and the cat will lick it up.

This could be as minor as a hairball, which the remedy will help,
or as major as an intestinal blockage, or long string that is
winding around organs.

You know your cat best -- follow your gut!

Good luck,

Carol

Originally Posted by sharky

Take her to the VET...

Click to expand...

Yes take her to the vet, always, but my Sasha does that here and there for years. It's like a dry wretched hacking. Sasha is obsessed with being THE most handsome dude in the neighborhood, and he cleans his four white paws constantly. I've never seen a kitty groom as much as he does. In his case, it was just a bit of hair but not enough for an actual hairball. I give him hairball medicine 1x week and also dry cereal for hairballs every now and then and it calms him right down. I hate it though, because it sounds so awful! I go right over to him and hold him gently and talk to him and he nudges me and starts purring, then he wants to play. So in his case it's harmless, but do always have your vet check it out! Good luck and please post your findings to us ~~~

Does she hack over and over or is it one quick retching noise and that's it? Also how old is she? Mama has a heart murmur and every once in a while she'll retch/cough really loudly. I think it's her heart skipping or fluid building up in her lungs (fluid build up is typically what takes a cat with heart problems). If it's only once you should take her in and have the vet listen carefully to her heart, sometimes vets don't notice a slight murmur when they're doing a check-up.

It is probably just coughing, totally unrelated to vomiting or hairballs. If it is occasional (like a few times a week or less) then no worries. If she starts doing it every day then she needs to go to the vet. But just like people, cats cough sometimes due to minor throat or respiratory irritations and it's no big deal.

well the retching noise was hairballs. she finally vomited big time one morning and they they were. So I started her on a hairball remedy and she has been fine ever since. I think as she was switching from her winter to summer coat she and I couldn't keep up with all that shedding. Thanks for the help.