DVM Blog Post - Coughing Cats
Just imagine, hanging with your perfect feline friend, when suddenly a weird nose that has never been heard comes out of them. Was it a hairball? How about a sneeze? An object stuck in their throat? How about a cough! When a cat coughs, it doesn’t always sound like the cough a person elicits. The most common way someone describes a cat cough without knowing that they are describing it, is if they say their cat is throwing up a lot of hairballs, however, the hairballs are never to be found.
Cats can cough for a few reasons, but most of the time, it is caused by lower airway disease, similar to asthma in people. In fact, it is also referred to as feline asthma, however, the proper terminology is lower airway disease unless the cat gets a specific diagnosis indicating which type of white blood cell is causing the inflammation. Semantics aside, the most helpful thing to do if possible before bringing the cat to CAC is to take a video – although this episode can be scary, it is important to film it because then there is no need to rely on descriptors or trying to remember a traumatizing event.
Once at CAC, the first thing we will want to do is an exam, because if a cat is untreated with lower airway disease, their breathing can become so bad that they go into respiratory distress. Although it may not be possible to hear wheezes or crackles on the exam, it doesn’t mean it isn’t any less important. The next step is to prioritize X-rays. What we are looking for is a pattern within the lungs called a bronchial pattern. What this means is that there is a thickening of the bronchi, or pathways within the lungs that carry the air. X-rays can also help determine if something like congestive heart failure is causing the cough.
Depending on how the cat is doing, we may want to do bloodwork. This can be very helpful as sometimes there are elevations in a specific white blood cell, eosinophils, with more severe cases. Eosinophils are the white blood cells associated with parasite infection as well as hypersensitivity reactions including asthma-like responses.
After establishing the x-rays and possible bloodwork as indicative of lower airway disease, the next step is treatment. Similar to people, this condition is best treated with steroids. We will first usually start with oral steroids to help control the active flare-up. Once this is under control, the ideal long-term medication is an inhaler because it allows us to concentrate the medication into the lungs. Not all cats will tolerate an inhaler, which is ok because oral steroids work well, however, there are more long-term risks with oral steroids as compared to using the inhaler. There are many helpful videos online demonstrating how to train a cat to use an inhaler. In fact, there is an inhaler specifically designed for cats called an Aerokat that makes delivering this medication much easier.
It can take several weeks to a month or so, but eventually, this treatment plan helps calm down the lower airway disease flare. It is important to note that we are not curing this condition, but rather managing it. Sometimes cats can become less dependent on an inhaler just like people, but this is never the goal. The goal is to have our feline friends feeling happy, healthy, and back to waking us up at 3 am knocking over the expensive glasses while waiting for their next meal.
Written by Dr. Harris Fitzgerel