Cat gagging when purring?

[suestelladeville]

Hello! The past couple days I’ve noticed my cat Stella (8 y/o) has been kind of gagging or like… gulping? But only when she is purring. She swallows and kind of moves her head forward at the same time. Since it only happens when she’s purring, that makes me think she has something bothering her in her throat (maybe kind of like when a human has a frog in their throat). I thought maybe she has a hairball she’s trying to get out, so I’m trying to help her with that but nothing yet. She won’t eat treats or wet food/churu so I haven’t bought any of the special hairball remedies I’ve seen for sale, but I got some petroleum jelly and put it on her paw to try to get her to lick it off because I read that can help with digestion. She didn’t like that either!! She hid under the bed and I’m not sure if she actually ingested much of it after all. I will try again tonight but I can see I have pretty limited chances to bug her with that lol.

I’m taking her to the vet tomorrow if she’s still gagging, but just wanted to see if anyone has experienced something similar with their cat or had any advice?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I recalled seeing a couple of other posts about the same, or similar, thing. The thought was hairballs, like you are thinking, but I don't think that was ever confirmed, except in one case. Short of that, some cats produce excess saliva when content/purring, so that could be another possibility.

I used to give my first cat Vaseline for hairballs. He loved it and it did seem to work in keeping hairballs at bay. Not too many people think giving a cat petroleum jelly is a good idea, but nevertheless, there are some flavored pastes that contain it. So, you might pick up some from a local pet store and try that.

How old is your cat? Is she prone to hairballs? If she is older, it could be dental related too. So, glad you are taking her to the vet to get checked out.

 

[stephanietx]

My asthma kitty does this! We usually give her a breathing treatment and steroids as needed.