Our Siamese, Max, developed a cough a few months ago. He's 8 years old and tears around the house at breakneck speed with his brother, Sam. That does not seem to provoke the coughing. It's just that, every once in a while he suddenly starts coughing and the noise is just like an old klaxon for a minute or two. Both cats have a different type of cough when they stretch their necks out and swing their heads from side to side. I think that is a hairball cough but we never see any hairballs.
The vet says Max's breathing sounds completely normal and he suggests an X-ray to check for any obstruction. Max does need his teeth cleaning as he has a lot of scale and a foul breath so that could be done at the same time.
Meanwhile, I wondered if anyone has any ideas on what could be causing the cough.

I have a Max and he has asthma. His cough sounds the same as your cats but I can also hear a wheeze. When he was first checked at the vet his wheeze was picked up straight away. My vet did an xray which showed pockets of mucous in his lungs.

Thanks for your response tyrole but I don't think it can be asthma in this case. Our Max shows no signs of wheezing or breathing difficulty. He just spontaneously goes into these coughing spasms and it is quite distressing for us to see. We feel really helpless. Sometimes Sam jumps on him in the middle of his coughing as though he's trying to get him to stop by playing. Then, suddenly Max is over the coughing and they start chasing each other round the house.
I have now booked him for an X-ray on Thursday morning so let's hope that will reveal the cause.

Well I just collected Max and the news is not too good. The X-Ray shows that he has fibrosis of the bronchial tubes and there is also a small white area that the vet says should be biopsied at a specialist clinic. I asked if that could just be calcification and he said yes but it could also be a tumour - no rush but get it checked out in the near future. Meanwhile, the bronchial fibrosis can only be treated by anti-inflammatory drugs
As usual, Sam doesn't want to know Max. I just hope that doesn't last as long as when Max got lost for four days during the summer. Sam was hostile to him for 3 months.

I had a discussion yesterday with the vet who specialises in diagnostic procedures and she tells me the suspect light area on the X-ray is only just inside the rib cage. Consequently, she proposes doing a needle biopsy without anaesthesia. The needle will be guided by ultrasound. She says injecting a local anaesthetic would be just as painful as doing the biopsy straight off. Sounds pretty awful to me. Poor Max!
He's still coughing and he does make a sort of burbling noise when he's resting or sleeping but not when he's sitting up.
Unfortunately, Sam is still behaving as though Max is a stranger. He's spitting fire and brimstone and even making attack runs at Max. We've always had cats over the last fifty years but have never seen this sort of extreme switch from affection to hostilty. Max is a highly intelligent Siamese whereas Sam is a very nervous Russian Blue. They both have the same Siamese father.

Looks like it's time to change to a new vet. I took Max to the specialist today (half-hour drive away) and she showed me the masses on the x-ray images that our vet had sent her. My immediate reaction was that these were not the same images that the vet had given me and that I had taken with me. She looked at those and said she agreed. Furthermore, the true x-rays show no evidence of suspect masses. The spot that I had questioned as possible calcification was exactly that.
She asked if I would like her to anyway check Max over and do an x-ray of his head and throat to which I agreed. Those x-rays also showed no specific probs so she concluded that he probably has a chronic viral condition.
I went back to see our own vet this evening and he was very embarrassed about the x-ray mix-up. He agreed that there is probably an underlying viral condition but didn't seem interested in testing and said he would only prescribe a buccal antibiotic to see if that relieves his coughing. Even I know that a cough comes from the throat or the lungs so I can't see how that will help.
I really like this vet but this sounds like incompetence so I think I have no choice but to go elsewhere.

Sorry to hear you have been given the runaround Good news that the problem is viral
If I wasn't happy and confident with my vet I would change to another.

Just seen this thread

Our Scutter has a cough which sounds similar he had x-rays & a camera down his throat as the vet thought one of 5 things

Blockage somewhere - nothing
Nasal polyps - no
Some thing at the bottom of the throat which was'nt opening & closeing properly but cant mem the name - no
Nasty - no
Alergy - Nothing new in the house except different cat litter

He had two weeks of AB's & some other stuff - will get the name for you

Anyway he was a bit better after two weeks but started again a week or so later so is back on the pills I cant mem the name of so hopefully that will sort him out

I have changed the cat litter to a dust free one but that did'nt make any difference either so hopeing the pills will sort him out.

__________________

All my children have paws!

Just seen this thread.

I'm soo glad to hear you've consulted with a specialist here before going ahead with any invasive treatment-frankly I would never allow a general vet to go ahead with an FNA procedure like this and even then only when all other less invasive avenues have been explored.

I always make the point that X-rays have their limitations are only as good as the person who 'reads' them and with few exceptions (in this instance especially) need to be interpreted by a specialist. Things like shadows for example can very easily be misinterpreted. Furthermore often a few films need to be taken in order to obtain the correct diagnosis.

Sounds to me something is irritating the bronchial passages and I wonder if something in the environment could be a trigger? Any smokers for instance?
Lungworm?

Well a viral infection is usually better than cancer but can also be life-threatening. However, in this case, Max is a bundle of energy as well as being a highly inteligent and communicative cat so it is horrible to see him hacking his insides out.
I have been very happy with both partners in this veterinary practice but the senior partner is convinced there is nothing wrong with Max and I think that is the root of the problem. He's never actually seen Max in a coughing session so he thinks I'm making a fuss about nothing. These clear x-rays prove it for him.