Although coughing is not an uncommon disease, it is a physically demanding illness that not only affects your cat’s sleep, appetite, mood, etc., but also inadvertently causes problems for the owner. A cat’s cough can usually be cured within a week if it is caused by a common disease, but a cat’s cough caused by a special disease can be a problem. So what are the causes and treatments for coughing in cats? Causes 1. Common diseases that cause coughing include pulmonary edema, bronchopneumonia, tracheitis, bronchiectasis, tracheal paralysis, laryngitis, allergies, asthma, etc. Primary coughs are mainly caused by colds, such as wind chill, cold and humidity, and sudden climate changes, all of which can stimulate the bronchial mucosa and increase mucus secretion, prompting the bronchial standing bacteria to multiply.2. Infectious diseases that cause coughs include infectious bronchitis, feline tuberculosis, etc. Based on other clinical signs, the necessary tests are conducted to find out the cause of the disease.3. Parasitic diseases that cause coughs such as heartworm disease. Cough caused by heartworm, circulatory disorders, dyspnea, systolic murmur, anemia, often swollen liver, increased abdominal girth, often accompanied by nodular skin disease, nodules often break down, and there are often microfilariae in the blood vessels around the nodules. Symptoms of cough in cats can be divided into dry and wet coughs. The cough may be accompanied by other symptoms such as a runny or runny nose and fever.1. The nature of the cough is called a dry cough when there is no sputum or very little sputum. A dry or irritating cough is commonly associated with acute or chronic laryngitis, laryngeal cancer, the early stages of acute bronchitis, tracheal compression, bronchial foreign bodies, bronchial tumors, pleural disease, primary pulmonary hypertension, and mitral stenosis. Coughing with sputum is called wet cough and is commonly associated with chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, pneumonia, lung abscess and cavitary tuberculosis.2. The timing and pattern of coughing is often caused by inhalation of irritating gases or foreign bodies, lymph nodes or tumors compressing the trachea or bronchial bifurcation. Episodic cough can be seen in whooping cough, endobronchial tuberculosis, and bronchial asthma (variant asthma) with cough as the main symptom. Long-term chronic cough is most often seen in chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, lung abscess and tuberculosis. Nocturnal cough is commonly seen in patients with left heart failure and tuberculosis. The cause of nocturnal cough may be related to increased pulmonary stasis and increased vagal excitability at night.3. The timbre of cough refers to the characteristics of the cough sound. If the cough is hoarse, it is mostly due to inflammation of the vocal cords or tumor compression of the recurrent laryngeal nerve; a chicken-like cough, which is manifested as a continuous paroxysmal violent cough with a high-pitched inspiratory echo, is mostly seen in whooping cough, eccrine, laryngeal disorders or tracheal compression; a metallic cough, which is commonly due to mediastinal tumor, aortic aneurysm or bronchial cancer directly compressing the trachea; a low or weak cough is seen in severe emphysema, vocal cord paralysis and in extremely debilitated cats. Diagnosis If you want to thoroughly examine the cause of a cat’s cough you need to first examine its lungs with an X-ray. Bronchoalveolar lavage: This can be used to collect samples for cytological examination. 3. Pleural fluid analysis: This is important when pleural fluid is present. 4. Heartworm Heart ultrasound scan may be able to visualize parallel lines of adult worms. 5. Endotracheal endoscopy: Abnormal secretions, narrowing or collapse of the trachea can be observed, and samples for cytology can be collected with the endoscope’s cytobrush. Treatment Although coughing may be a serious disease, the coughing symptom itself is not life-threatening or severely debilitating to the cat, so it is not necessary to suppress such symptoms and the focus should be on the diagnosis and treatment of the primary cause. For example, if the cat is infected with viral rhinotracheitis. With the help of the veterinarian you can try to treat it with tetracycline injection 0.1mg/kg body weight, 2 times/day, intravenously; gentamicin 10,000 units/kg body weight and dexamethasone 0.5mg/kg body weight, mixed intramuscularly, 2 times/day. In addition, conjunctivitis can be treated with closure therapy: Pioneerin 0.05g/kg body weight, dexamethasone 0.5mg/kg body weight, 2% procaine 0.15mg/kg body weight mixed, subconjunctival closure, 1 time/day. Also use chloramphenicol eye drops, cortisone eye drops alternate eye dots, 3-5 times/day. But in any case, it is best to ask your veterinarian’s advice and permission before giving your cat medication. A cat’s cough may be a small thing, but improper treatment can then induce other diseases, which is a big deal. Therefore, it is okay to give your cat medicine, but only with the approval of a professional first. Prevention 1. first of all, avoid cold and flu, do not contact with sick cats. 2. pay attention to warmth in cold weather. 3. annual vaccination and deworming should be done. 4. about those allergic to cats flowers, trees and other items should be isolated. Note 1. Observe the cat more often and go to the hospital for examination when abnormalities are found. 2. Pay attention to a clean, ventilated and warm living environment. 3. Do immunization on time and dig deworming internally. 4. Bathing is not recommended for young kittens, unimmunized and immune cats. 5. Balanced healthy diet and more hydration.
