Hello :-)
Little Maisie has had a funny cough since she moved in, 3 years ago. First off I thought it was going to be a hairball. It was intermittent, a little cough, then nothing.
It was mentioned at her check up, she had been seen by 2 vets, neither of them thought it was a problem.
She is often difficult with food, not sure if she is just picky or if she isn't feeling so good.
Her digestive system could be better, her poo is really foul smelling.

She has recently had Convenia, vet said he thought it was a respiratory infection and sore throat. She had previously had a problem with her throat/vomiting everything up. I struggled to pill her so injection was the best option, especially if her throat was the problem.

She began eating again, the cough went. Now about 3 -4 weeks later the cough is back, she is eating, but not with as much enthusiasm.

I am wondering if there is anything I should be asking the vet, how to find out what the problem is, what it might be.

Hi there and welcome! How old is Maisie? Indoor only?

It appears you have two issues here-the cough and the digestive problem.

Chronic coughing isn't normal and can be for a number of reasons ranging from allergy to something in the environment to things like asthma and heart problems. It's important the vets see these episodes and I would take along a video on next visit. The fact she responded to the antibiotics suggests to me the cough could well be due to respiratory infection but the course wasn't long enough to eradicat it completely. Would mention this to vets as well.

What are you currently feeding her? A diet change could well improve her digestive problems.

Hi Ianthe, thank you for your reply.
Vet thinks she is about 6, she was living in the garden when we moved into the house. She has been indoor for a couple of years, and now has an outside enclosure, she has always had the cough though. It's not enough of a cough to actually record, just a little dry sounding huff, once, maybe twice, then nothing.

She had basic bloods done about 3 months ago, and they looked at her throat and saw nothing, they didn't actually put anything down there, and no Xrays at that time. She had been bringing up everything she tried to eat but that was sorted.

I did wonder about heart problems, my other cat has heart failure and when he coughs it sounds more moist. He also has respiratory problems. They don't spend time together, she hates him and won't go near him.

She seems to have a problem with some dry foods, ones that contain potato as far as I can tell, so only has a little bit of JW as a treat or if she won't eat her wet food. Any others seem to make her vomit, the morning after she has it.

She is mainly on wet food, have been trying to get her on to a high meat one for 3 years, and managed to get her to eat Bozita for almost a week before she refused it. Have tried almost everything available, and currently have a huge selection of Bozita, Grau and Smilla, and some Deans, Applaws/Encore wet but she holds out for her Felix and Whiskas and refuses to eat until she gets something she likes which means I am never sure if she is ill or being a madam.

Once she had settled from the meds, her poo stopped smelling so bad, then with the Bozita was better, but now is back to before.

I was aiming for grain free, or very low grain content diet, but she isn't going for it. She won't eat anything raw, I have tried.

It took us ages to get a diagnoses for our two cats. Maguire and Indi, both rescued from someone who could "no longer care for them" are pedigrees, Oriental and Snow Bengal.
They have allergies to EVERYTHING, cleaning products, perfumes, foods, hayfever. They were indoor cats because of their breed, but we have started to let them out into the garden and its made the world of difference.
Maguire the Oriental has the most violent coughing fits, sometimes they get so bad they scare me. They are both positive for Cat flu, for which there is nothing we can do. The vet has said its down to Asthma as a result of having cat flu and they have scarred lungs as a result of been neglected in the past and not been treated.

They seem to be worse in winter, vet says this is because of the heating been on and throwing up dust into the air. Which i have noticed a pattern with. When they get really bad and get other symptoms like runny eyes and just looking and acting unwell, they go in for an antibiotic shot and pain killers.

Its just one of those things we have to do for them. Its so sad to see them in a sorry state every few months.

Hope you find out whats causing your kitty to cough x

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In view of history of living outside I'd be suspicious of heartworm-transmitted by mosquitos or lungworm. This is the reason I asked about her status though indoor cats can get heartworm just as easily. I would eliminate these possiblities first before any more extensive testing. Was bloodwork completely normal? I've heard of cases where what appeared to be asthma turned out to be lungworm. You can test for both of these- heartworm via a blood test which detects antigens in blood and lungworm via stool test. Vomiting can be anothe symptom. You need a special course of worming for lungworm.

The other thing of course to consider is that she has a respiratory problem left over from a bout of flu in her earlier life though the above would be my number one suspect. Definitely suggest them to vet!

The coughing seems to stop when she has a/bs. She has also had painkillers and Zantac when she was vomiting, and Metacam when she had the Convenia, this put her off eating but a couple of days after the 2 week duration she was eating well. She has gradually slowed down on the eating.

If she vomits it is usually dry food that starts it off, one of the reasons I try not to give it. She vomited a little bit of dry food last week, a few days later the cough was back, she is eating very little again. She will eat a Webbox or Whiskas treat stick, and maybe one pouch of something a day, in small amounts, at the moment she is just licking off the jelly. There has been a new cat in the garden since the end of last week which has upset her too. Will try feeding in a different room.

She is due for a dental, so will ask for any tests while she has that, to avoid putting her out too often. Aside from the heart and lungworms, what else should I ask for?

If it is a recurring respiratory problem, how easy is it to detect?

Her bloods were fine.