Cat coughing

[Howmanysleepsnow]

Hi, I’m going to ring the vet tomorrow, but any advice meanwhile is welcome. My 5 month old kitten was neutered a week ago (so had opportunity to catch something). He’s had his first vaccination, second due in 2 weeks.
This evening he has a cough (or hairball? I’ve had cats before but they never had them). It’s intermittent. No laboured breathing, playing as normal, cap refill normal, good appetite. Breathing and heart rate are normal (according to goolgle). Slight wheeze on inhalation, audible only when I put my ear to his chest. No other abnormal sounds on auscultation. No discharge from eyes or nose. No redness to his throat or ears. Colour of muscous membranes is good. If he was human I’d say upper respiratory infection (cold). But he’s not… should I worry?

Ps. I’m a nurse. For humans. I’ve had cats as pets before, but not with coughs.

Probably cat flu - it's very common.
Mine had it as a tiny kitten and still gets the odd flare up of sneezing.

Is there a reason he's not fully vaccinated at five months old? That's quite old to be having first jabs in a cat.

Theres a shortage of vaccinations for kittens, coupled with a shortage of actual vets at a lot of practices locally. I’ve been trying different vets since September (I tried around 20!) but no one could give me a vaccination appointment in under 2 months. One practice actually offered to book me in for February….

My cat did this.... She'd swallowed a darning needle attached to some thread shed played with and it was sideways across her throat. They got it out under sedation and I now have a locked sewing box.

Ah, that's fair enough then!

Cat flu is very common and it sounds like yours is a very mild version. Mine had a slight wheeze and sneezing at first - they put him on antibiotics as he was so small (he was semi feral and weighed less than a kilo) but now he just seems to get a sneezy nose for a day or so and that's it.

Where did he come from out of curiosity? Cat flu is quite common in busy rescue centres and in farm kittens.

He was from a breeder, but that was in September. Could he have had it since then? I read (just now) that some cats carry the virus for life and it reoccurs at times of stress (being neutered??) but he’s had no symptoms at all until now, despite the move from his mum to us. I was assuming he caught it at the vet: they wouldn’t neuter until he’d had his first vaccination but obviously he won’t have full protection until the second dose. They neutered him after one dose because of his age and the fact he lives with his sister.

Yeah, it can lie dormant and then flare up when the cat is unwell or stressed (or just at random, unfortunately).

Ours was from an abandoned farm litter so I assume he had it from birth, pretty much. He's seven months now and full of beans, just has the odd day or so where he sneezes constantly!

Are you feeding him dry food ? If yes , he could be allergic , probably to wheat . Switch to a dry food that doesn't contain wheat , the two I know of and use are Purina 'sensitive' and royal canin . You should notice him stop coughing immediately after you switch .

EVERYONE WHOS CAT COUGHS ! If you are feeding dry food , change it ! It probably has a wheat product in it and many cats have a wheat allergy and this makes them cough . Purina One Sensitive has no wheat , neither does Royal Canin Savour Exigent . I adopted a 14 year old and couldn't get the food his previous slaves fed him , he loved dry food but it made him cough so I did some research and switched to wheat free and he's not coughed once since . He stopped immediately wen I switched brands . There may be others that don't have wheat in them but I found those two are perfect for him , I mix them together in equal amounts . So before you go to vets and get expensive bills and pointless medicine , GO WHEAT FREE !

My cat did. She had an X-ray to check for a blockage. They decided she had stab, so put her on steroids. She had to come off them after a while to have an op. Asthma had disappeared. Then didn't need the op so wins all round.

Stab?ffs. I think I meant to put asthma.