Do cats get sore throats?

[Jux]

One of our cats sounds like she has a sore throat! She's eating and drinking OK, behaviour seems normal. She's usually pretty vocal and is trying to miaow but it's just not happening for her, poor little thing.

I don't think they do. Ours is shouty but never loses his voice.

One of our family cats when I was younger started doing "silent meows" where it looked like he was trying but not getting any volume, combined with hacking coughs like he was trying to clear a hairball. My parents took him to the vet when it didn't stop after a while, who said he had "nodules" of some kind on his vocal cords, which he was given steroids for. He was an older cat at that point, more just a case of managing things for him. Hopefully yours doesn't have the same problem and it's just a transitory issue!

My cat gets a croaky throat & does silent miaows at times. The vet said he's fine.
He does carry cat flu which reappears when he's stressed, he sneezes & does the silent miaowing then too but seems pretty well in himself, eating ok & not lethargic.

Our vet told us cats can get tonsillitis from humans but it's rare.

I think they can on the rare occasion - but it's more a case, I suspect, of that being a symptom of something and trying to understand what is the underlying problem. Cats can cover up for so many issues but a loss of voice is one they can't do much about.

It might be fairly transient so I'd keep an eye on her in general and see if it goes on for more than a day or two.

She's not exactly silent, I didn't make that clear, sorry. She has a croaky half-silent miaow.

DH had a cold last week. DD has a sore throat but that's from lots of singing in cold churches and is not a cold.

The cat is 4ish. I'll keep an eye on her.

Our normally very vocal ex-Dubai street cat lost his voice a few weeks ago - I took him to the vet after a few days as he was so miserable. Poor little thing had a nasty throat infection - pain killers helped him feel better. Thankfully he's hust got his miaow back when he got hit by a car otherwise I wouldn't have heard him crying for help in the night

Have you ruled out a hairball? My dad's cat always loses his voice when he has one brewing. Malt paste helps him get rid of it.

Basildonbond! Oh poor little thing, how is he doing? I hope he wasn't too badly hurt.

Thistledew, I have no idea how to rule out a hairball . She doesn't have a great deal of fur, it's quite wimpy fur, in fact, not a great thick shaggy coat.

My cat had a throat infection a few years ago and had to have a course of liquid pain killers. His croaky voice and going off food alerted us to it.

My Siamese boy kept coughing so i took him to the vet and they could not find anything wrong with him. When he went under for his castration op they had another look and said he had some sort of virus which had given him largingitus but it would go eventually on its own.

It did seem to take ages but he is fine now ( 7 months old) and back to his usual loud self.

jux he had multiple pelvic fractures plus head injury - it's a miracle he's still alive, frankly. Physically he's making a very good recovery (after eye-wateringly expensive surgery), mentally, he's struggling :( (see stressed cat thread)

I shall go and lurk, basildon. It sounds horrific. Poor boy and to you, because I know how heartbreaking it is.

Well, she's not off her food at all, and today her mew has been almost normal some of the time, so I reckon she's improving. On the other hand, one of our other cats is getting a slightly croaky mew. He's not off his food either.

We're all keeping an eye on all of them (3 altogether, so far one unaffected) and see how they go.