The coughing cat

Nick enjoys some fresh air

Nick's carer wasn't sure if he had a hairball or was coughing until we saw him at the hospital. He crouched down with elbows out, hacked and hacked and then swallowed - he was definitely coughing.
To help you work out whether your cat is coughing have a look at this video. Some people mistake 'hairballs' or vomiting for coughing.
When we listened to Nick's chest he had a wheeze, which his owner had also noticed at night. His wheezing has been much worse this spring and summer.
We decided to Xray Nick and found that he had thickening of his bronchial walls, typical of chronic bronchitis or asthma.
Like humans, cats can have frightening episodes of not being able to breathe. They panic and can die if not treated with a bronchodilator like Ventolin immediately.
Nick is now on steroids and is training his owner to use an AeroKat inhaler.

Hairballs?

Hairballs are overrated as a problem in cats.  A true hairball is hair wrapped in saliva and requires no treatment.  Hairballs almost never cause illness in pet cats. 

On the other hand we should see your cat if she vomits frequently - whatever the vomitus is! If she is turning her nose up at her dinner or hiding then we should see her as soon as possible. Normal cats eat several times a day so even a single day of poor appetite is significant.

If she vomits a lot but doesn’t feel poorly she may still have a problem. Some cats are very sensitive to specific proteins like chicken, beef or lamb. A change to a diet free of the common proteins that cause hypersensitivity or to one that is specially treated to reduce reactions often helps these cats.

Often the only sign of inflammatory bowel disease or cancers of the bowel is frequent vomiting. Eventually affected cats lose weight or stop eating, but this is when the disease is well advanced. If a cat does not respond within a few weeks to a change of diet as mentioned above then we investigate more closely.