Page 98 - Problem-Based Feline Medicine

7. The coughing cat

Robert Allen Mason and Jacquie Rand

KEY SIGNS
● Cough ranging from soft to harsh or honking.
● Gagging, which may appear as vomiting or regurgitation.

MECHANISM?
● Coughing is a reflex that produces rapid expulsion of air in response to mechanical or chemi-
cal irritation of the pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi and small airways, to free the airway of
foreign material.

WHERE?
● Coughing occurs in response to irritation of the upper respiratory tract (nasal cavity, pharynx,
larynx, trachea), lower respiratory tract (bronchial tree, small airways), lung parenchyma or the
pleural space.
WHAT?
● Coughing is usually a sign of small airway disease in cats. Unlike dogs, coughing is rarely
associated with congestive heart failure (CHF).

QUICK REFERENCE SUMMARY
Diseases causing a coughing cat
DEGENERATIVE

● Cardiomyopathy (Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), hypertrophic (HCM), intermediate (ICM)
or restrictive (RCM)) (p 107)
Although dyspnea is common with congestive heart failure and pulmonary edema, coughing is an
uncommon presenting sign in the cat.

● Trachebronchial collapse (p 102)
Harsh “honking” cough caused by degeneration of the cartilage support of the large airway walls.
Rare in cats.
MECHANICAL
● Grass awns/foreign bodies (p 98)
Sudden onset of a harsh, productive cough and acute dyspnea from foreign objects that have been
inhaled, regurgitated or aspirated into the nasopharynx, trachea or bronchi.

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