gagging and lost voice, what's wrong?

I noticed my little boy Toby doing some prolonged gagging Thursday nite. He couldn't get anything to come up. Friday he seemed ok but I noticed he was did a tiny bit of gagging again.

Then Saturday morning he threw up his wet food right after I fed him and he did the gagging thing again. He had just woken up, and now I know this is when his gagging seems worse.

We also noticed his meow sounded different, hoarse. But otherwise he seemed to have normal energy, eating, drinking, playing. In fact I have not seen him throw up since Saturday, just occasional gagging.

I got a vet appointment for him Saturday morning. The vet said he had a temp but otherwise she couldn't see or feel any obstruction and his throat looked ok. She did bloodwork and I will find out today if he has an infection.

By now he can hardly talk at all, his big meow is just a little squeak. When he wakes up in the morning it seems worse. Also he is still gagging and swallowing.

I've been trying to watch him use the litterbox and last nite I shut him in the room with me. He has peed but it appears he hasn't pooed since I started watching him, almost 24 hours so far.

I am hoping it is just a sore throat and not something he has eaten. Here is my question - how much can a cat eat if they have an obstruction? Toby seems to be eating normally.

what did the vet say??

This sounds like the same thing I went through with Tommy after I adopted him. He came down with a cat cold and went through the usual symptoms of sneezing, nose running, and then coughing. After the sneezing and coughing stopped, he started doing something I thought looked like gagging. He seemed to have something stuck in his throat that he was trying to get out. I took him to the vet and she didn't find anything wrong. Eventually it got less and less and he stopped doing it. I'm only theorizing, based on human symptoms, but I think maybe he had "post-nasal drip" from sinus drainage after the cold and he was just trying to clear the phlegm from his throat.

Thanks for posting! I was so scared.

By Monday he had lost his voice altogether. When the vet called, she said his tests showed elevated white count. She gave me an antibiotic when I said he lost his voice. She said she would not have prescribed it on the white count alone but since he lost his voice she did..

I gave it to him and now he is fine. I do think he had some sort of throat infection or a cold. But he did not have a runny nose or any other symptoms.