Is my cat coughing or having an asthma attack?
Cats with respiratory sounds often exhibit symptoms that mimic hairballs or vomiting, making it difficult to distinguish between benign issues and serious conditions like asthma. This confusion leaves owners uncertain about whether a sudden vet visit is immediately required or if the behavior is normal.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1keeping a close eye on the cat
- 2Keeping a close eye on the cat for other symptoms
- 3Using special slow-feeder bowls
- 4Providing cat grass to help with digestion
- 5Calling or visiting the vet
- 6monitor her for now
- 7look up feline asthma
- 8take her to a vet to get it checked out
- 9use laxative hairball lubricants
- 10Show the video to a vet
- 11Keep an eye on his breathing rate
- 12Watch whether he is heaving
- 13checking for other symptoms like eating fine or moving fine
- 14considering potential hairballs or allergies
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“She did just eat a quarter of wet food and she’s acting fine now. She’s purring and laying down fine/normal. I’ve never seen her do this before.”source ↗
“Is it asthma? I'll definitely take her to a vet as soon as I can, but until then, I want to know if cat parents think it's serious.”source ↗
“This is the 3rd time in a month that she has done this, and every time it has followed her purring in a calm state.”source ↗
“I mean looks kinda weird to breath like that but his purring nicely.”source ↗
“barely grooming anymore.”source ↗
“I've been hearing him make this noise for a while now and I've been thinking if it could be asthma? He doesn't have any other obvious (to me at least) symptoms. I'd appreciate help and opinions.”source ↗
“He just scared me to death cause he started howling like crazy before he vomited.”source ↗
“One of my cats has very occasional asthma issues where she does the classic head forward coughing for a minute and then is fine for another month.”source ↗
“This has been happening for a few weeks now, not two frequent but like once every two days maybe once a day at most so i wanted to ask if it’s a normal thing or not”source ↗
“My cat just vomited up. He's never thrown up before, he seems to be fine.”source ↗
“When I bring my kitty in and they ask when something unusual happened I can never exactly remember.”source ↗
“I've never heard a cat breathing like that, so I would think he is wheezing.”source ↗