Gagging/hairball hacking the same time every day?

[Sophia_]

My girl has been waking me up every day between the hours of 6-7 AM by hacking for about 30 seconds. Typically this is the only time I hear this sound all day. It’s a dry sound without wheezing, very hairball-like. She’s still eating and using the litter box. At this point, she hasn’t eaten for several hours, so it’s not scarf and barf.

She doesn’t get positive attention when it happens — usually she gets nudged off the bed, in case something does come up! If it IS a hair ball, why only at this specific time?

 

[di and bob]

It could be seasonal allergies or even asthma. If it increases the next time you are in have an xray done on her chest, it would show asthma or even some heart conditions that coughing can indicate. My Burt coughed pretty much every day and when xrayed it showed an enlarged herat which was managed successfully for 6 years on lasix. He had a good, long life. It is odd that I have a cat now that has really scarred lungs from distemper when he was young, and although he breathes faster than normal he doesn't cough at all!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Because it is pretty much the same time of day it may just be too long since her last meal. The digestive juices have collected in her stomach with no food causing her to feel somewhat nauseous - resulting in the noises you hear as she tries to hold down/swallow the acids coming up in her throat. Try feeding her later at night, earlier in the morning, or leaving some food out for her to snack on so that she doesn't have an empty stomach - and, see if it stops it.

 

[Sophia_]

...may just be too long since her last meal.

You know, that might be it. She currently eats a meal at 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM, with a small amount of dry around 11 PM to hold her over. The 5:30 to 8:30 stretch might be too long. I’ll try moving her dinner time back to see if that helps.

 

[FeebysOwner]

You might even try splitting her 2 meals into 3 (but still leave out the dry overnight). Just another idea to experiment with.

 

[klunick]

You know, that might be it. She currently eats a meal at 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM, with a small amount of dry around 11 PM to hold her over. The 5:30 to 8:30 stretch might be too long. I’ll try moving her dinner time back to see if that helps.

Can you leave dry food out all the time for her to snack on when hungry? Even a small bowl.

 

[Sophia_]

Can you leave dry food out all the time for her to snack on when hungry? Even a small bowl.

I’m currently working on getting her to lose weight because she’s 6-8 lbs above her ideal weight. She tends to spread her wet food meals out over time, but any dry food she’s given she will eat until it’s all gone.

 

[Sophia_]

Tried the later food times, even giving her some dry food at midnight, and it seems to haven’t helped much. Still coughing/gagging right now at 7:30 AM.

This will certainly be a question for the vet.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Can you leave the dry out all night? Or, if you place some wet food out right before you go to bed, it should be OK to let sit for 6 or so hours. Feeby is a grazer, so there are times her canned food is out for 8 hours and there have been no problems with doing so.