Help with mystery cat ailment

[Rose137]

Hi all! Sorry this is long! Just want to say how thankful I am for this community, thank you for taking the time to read this.

Wondering if anyone has any advice about something that’s been going on with my cat. We’ve been to the ER vet and regular vet, both did visual exams but no X-rays, however there’s been no improvement (it’s even gotten a bit worse). Am going to call the vet first thing in the morning and try to get her in ASAP, but wanted to ask here in case I’m missing anything I should ask about! Thanks in advance

Symptoms:
About a week ago, she suddenly started hacking/gagging though not throwing up. Kind of one big yacking motion and then nothing for a while, then another single yack again. Very lethargic, trying to eat but not eating much at all, mostly sleeping. Took her to ER, said it was nausea and she wasn’t dehydrated/no fever, gave her anti nausea meds. 2 days later, a wheezing breath started (tho she has a history of snoring). Took her to regular vet this past Monday, said they felt a bit of fluid in lungs and is thinking maybe asthma as an allergic reaction. She seemed to get a bit more energy after that day but still yacking about every hour and wheezing breath. Today was a bad day of back to mostly sleeping and yacking a lot, though she’s eating consistently and drinking water. Just did a yack an hour ago and actually threw up a bit a clear foamy liquid.

Possible causes/changes in environment:
-tried giving her cbd for two days, last Thursday and Friday, could be allergic reaction? (We stopped after 2 doses a week ago)
-recently other cat got into the underside of a vintage chair and this cat poked her head in there, could be a mildew reaction/asthma?
-switched kibble about 4 weeks ago
-possible ingestion of thread on the ground as she got into my sewing room, but she doesn’t have a history of eating things off the ground
-new kitten was introduced about 2 months ago, so she has

Otherwise nothing has changed that I can think of. Going to ask the vet to maybe pursue asthma diagnosis, also wondering if it could be a lung parasite? Is there anything else I should bring up or test for? It’s not resolving so I feel like I need to be proactive and think of any and all tests, exams, etc. very worried about my baby girl.

(not sure how to post videos but I do have some footage of the yacking and the wheezing if that is helpful!)

 

[Traceyoz]

Could it possibly be something she has eaten? Our cat had a grass blade and seed removed from soft palate , the first signs was that she was gagging ,i thought she had a hair ball at first , she also had raspy breathing (best to describe it) unfortunately she had throat inflammation too and currently on steroids

 

[Rose137]

Could it possibly be something she has eaten? Our cat had a grass blade and seed removed from soft palate , the first signs was that she was gagging ,i thought she had a hair ball at first , she also had raspy breathing (best to describe it) unfortunately she had throat inflammation too and currently on steroids

Thank you so much for your reply! It definitely could be something she ate, the vet looked inside her mouth but no X-rays or anything. Do you mind me asking how they discovered it was grass/seed lodged in there?

 

[Traceyoz]

Thank you so much for your reply! It definitely could be something she ate, the vet looked inside her mouth but no X-rays or anything. Do you mind me asking how they discovered it was grass/seed lodged in there?

The vet suspected it was something in her soft palate because of the sound she was making when breathing,they sedated her and found a grass blade and seed in her soft palate. Her vocal chords were inflammed and they took a biopsy to see if it was related to the grass, it was , she's been on steroids for a while ,we still get the noisy breathing when she is lying down ,so obviously inflammation is still there ! Does your kitten go outside yet ? Apart from grass , it could possibly be some other foreign body she may have swallowed. I hope you can find out the cause x

 

[Traceyoz]

The vet suspected it was something in her soft palate because of the sound she was making when breathing,they sedated her and found a grass blade and seed in her soft palate. Her vocal chords were inflammed and they took a biopsy to see if it was related to the grass, it was , she's been on steroids for a while ,we still get the noisy breathing when she is lying down ,so obviously inflammation is still there ! Does your kitten go outside yet ? Apart from grass , it could possibly be some other foreign body she may have swallowed. I hope you can find out the cause x

 

[Traceyoz]

Also I thought it was asthma or something at first but the vet checked her lungs and seemed ok , the breathing problem was obviously in the upper airways

 

[Kwik]

Hi Traceyoz
It does sound like asthma to me,people can often confuse hacking from hairballs with upper respiratory conditions but with hairballs there would not be any wheezing.... Asthmatic kitties do usually snore btw and I really do not believe she's coughing as you described from anything eaten

Do you have plants,if so are they all safe,non toxic plants that are considered pet friendly?If you like plants be sure to check the safe plant list ,ASPCA has a nice list you can view online

My girl Graycie is coughing up a storm,kept getting worst & more frequent yet no other accompanying symptoms so I keep attributing it to a hairball problem( never come up) and she continues to get an all clear from Vet.... Antihistamines seemed to help so quite possible she has allergies.....further testing required but the next test will be around $400,It can wait a little because she's not really in a Emergency

My point is really that things like allergies can be quite difficult to diagnose and pinpoint, you mentioned she had x-rays,right? Mine too and nothing is OBVIOUS so the next step would be to send the x-ray out to a radiology specialist $$$$$..... I do sympathize as I know how frustrating this can be,we just want to help them and keep them well

See your Vet, coughing accompanied by wheezing and snoring leads me to think "asthma"....I hope she's quickly diagnosed so you can treat her accordingly- in my prayers

 

[di and bob]

i would go back to her old food for a while. that may help. you could also ask your vet about a half tablet of Zertec given in a tiny piece of pill pocket. it helped my cats. introducing a new kitten could cause asthma/allergies to flare up too, due to stress. that will resolve in time.

 

[Traceyoz]

Hello this post wasnt mine,I was just replying with what I thought it could possibly be,my cat began raspy breathing and i thought it could be something like asthma, it turned out she had grass and seed in soft palate which affected her breathing and also foreign bodies can trigger allergic reaction too, I was just helping with what else it could be , hopefully she will find out as its awful not having a diagnosis

 

[silent meowlook]

It sounds like a chest X-ray would be in order to rule out asthma.

Eating string can be deadly. You haven’t noted anything that would lead you to think string ingestion have you? No vomiting change of appetite? No constipation? or diarrhea?
Have you recently changed cat litter?

 

[Kwik]

Hi Traceyoz
It does sound like asthma to me,people can often confuse hacking from hairballs with upper respiratory conditions but with hairballs there would not be any wheezing.... Asthmatic kitties do usually snore btw and I really do not believe she's coughing as you described from anything eaten

Do you have plants,if so are they all safe,non toxic plants that are considered pet friendly?If you like plants be sure to check the safe plant list ,ASPCA has a nice list you can view online

My girl Graycie is coughing up a storm,kept getting worst & more frequent yet no other accompanying symptoms so I keep attributing it to a hairball problem( never come up) and she continues to get an all clear from Vet.... Antihistamines seemed to help so quite possible she has allergies.....further testing required but the next test will be around $400,It can wait a little because she's not really in a Emergency

My point is really that things like allergies can be quite difficult to diagnose and pinpoint, you mentioned she had x-rays,right? Mine too and nothing is OBVIOUS so the next step would be to send the x-ray out to a radiology specialist $$$$$..... I do sympathize as I know how frustrating this can be,we just want to help them and keep them well

See your Vet, coughing accompanied by wheezing and snoring leads me to think "asthma"....I hope she's quickly diagnosed so you can treat her accordingly- in my prayers

Oh my goodness -meant for R Rose137 sorry bout that,both pink Avatars!

 

[Rose137]

The vet suspected it was something in her soft palate because of the sound she was making when breathing,they sedated her and found a grass blade and seed in her soft palate. Her vocal chords were inflammed and they took a biopsy to see if it was related to the grass, it was , she's been on steroids for a while ,we still get the noisy breathing when she is lying down ,so obviously inflammation is still there ! Does your kitten go outside yet ? Apart from grass , it could possibly be some other foreign body she may have swallowed. I hope you can find out the cause x

Thank you so much for this information! I’m sorry your kitty is still dealing with inflammation, I hope that she feels better soon!

 

[Rose137]

It sounds like a chest X-ray would be in order to rule out asthma.

Eating string can be deadly. You haven’t noted anything that would lead you to think string ingestion have you? No vomiting change of appetite? No constipation? or diarrhea?
Have you recently changed cat litter?

She hasn’t been one to eat things off the ground, but she did get in briefly unattended to my sewing room which does have some threads floating around, I’ve been worried it might be that! She did have a change of appetite the first few days, though it came back after the anti nausea meds were given. She’s using the litter box less frequently so she might be constipated, and she wasn’t vomiting up until last night. No recent cat litter changes, though.
I will request a chest X-ray and also bring up the possibility of thread being ingested. Thank you so much!

 

[Rose137]

Oh my goodness -meant for R Rose137 sorry bout that,both pink Avatars!

No worries, we do have similar avatars! Thank you so much for your info and input, and I hope your kitty is feeling better soon!

definitely want to look into testing for asthma and maybe allergies as well! She does snore and wheeze even a bit when she’s awake, and her meow sounds hoarse?

 

[Kwik]

No worries, we do have similar avatars! Thank you so much for your info and input, and I hope your kitty is feeling better soon!

definitely want to look into testing for asthma and maybe allergies as well! She does snore and wheeze even a bit when she’s awake, and her meow sounds hoarse?

Yes ,there's quite a few good products on the market to soothe the throat,esophagus and to help open airways but you need to consult your Vet before " trying " anything....
Please do tell us how it goes with her visit

 

[Traceyoz]

No worries, we do have similar avatars! Thank you so much for your info and input, and I hope your kitty is feeling better soon!

definitely want to look into testing for asthma and maybe allergies as well! She does snore and wheeze even a bit when she’s awake, and her meow sounds hoarse?

Yes hopefully can get it sorted our cats meow sounds hoarse too , she still hisses ,she never really meowed but it is silent still since the grass incident and she does do the snoring along with the slightly different sound when lying abit upright, im just seeing the steroids through and hope this does eventually go!

 

[Traceyoz]

Yes hopefully can get it sorted our cats meow sounds hoarse too , she still hisses ,she never really meowed but it is silent still since the grass incident and she does do the snoring along with the slightly different sound when lying abit upright, im just seeing the steroids through and hope this does eventually go!

I meant to say her purr sounds hoarse not the meow!

 

[Traceyoz]

Thank you so much for this information! I’m sorry your kitty is still dealing with inflammation, I hope that she feels better soon!

Yes I just hope she can come off the steroids , just abit paranoid that when i lower them (advised by vet) that it doesn't get worse again ,I was hoping after grass /seed removal inflammation would have gone down , she is eating and seems normal but abit lethargic with the steroids at times .

 

[silent meowlook]

You can talk to your vet about using the cat inhaler with steroids instead of oral steroids. It is more targeted to the area needed.

 

[Traceyoz]

You can talk to your vet about using the cat inhaler with steroids instead of oral steroids. It is more targeted to the area needed.

Ok thank you ,worth knowing that !