Cat's Coughing and Vomiting

Hi. My name is Sara, and this is my first time here. I'm just trying to find out some information on possible causes of my cat's cough, before calling the vet.

Our cat, Butthead, is a 1 1/2-year old Ragamuffin (long hair). Before we were married, my husband bought Butthead from the veterinarian/breeder that I worked for. Butthead lived with my husband and his parents for a few months. Then my husband and I got married and moved about an hour away. Our landlord said he would prefer if we didn't have pets, so Butthead continued to live my in-laws. Now my father-in-law is retiring, they plan on travelling, and we have had to take Butthead back (not that I'm complaining).

Anyway, not long after he moved here we noticed him coughing a few times a day. Initially I assumed it was just hairballs, but he never coughed anything up. Now, he will cough things up occasionally, but it's not a typical hairball. Working for a ragdoll/ragamuffin breeder, I became pretty acquainted with hairballs. What he does cough up is usually medium to dark brown in color, and smells like feces. Besides that, he seems fine. No runny nose, no lethargy.

I'm just at a loss for what this could be. I couldn't find any information on any kind of cough that was accompanied by such foul-smelling vomit. My husband has pondered whether it could just be from getting feces caught in his fur, licking it out, and then him getting sick. We decided to stop giving him moist food (which contributes to the runnier stool, which gets caught in his fur more easily) and see if that helps. If it doesn't, I guess we'll just have to go to the vet. I was just wondering if anyone had any idea what this could be.

BTW: If anyone feels weird referring to a cat named Butthead, he also goes by "Feeny."

"MrsJ" wrote in message
...
We decided to stop giving him moist food (which
contributes to the runnier stool, which gets caught in his fur more
easily) and see if that helps. If it doesn't, I guess we'll just have
to go to the vet.



Surely you know that the cat needs to be seen by a veterinarian to be
properly diagnosed.
When was the last time he had a complete exam and work up?


--
Toni
http://www.irish-wolfhounds.com

My friend's cat did this and turned out he had azthma. Required lots of
special care. It got worse when the cat was exposed to smoke too.
Definately get him checked out, he could be suffering.
Good luck

I know we need to get him checked out. Once we get past the first big financial hump of the month (rent!), I plan on making an appointment with the vet. I hate to wait, but I don't think my landlord would understand if I waited to pay him so I could take my cat to the vet.

I actually planned on taking him to the vet soon anyway, because I don't know if he's had a check-up since he's lived with my in-laws. They're pretty bad about vetting their pets. The vet that I used to work for (our vet) once told me that their dog tested positive for heart worms years ago, but my mother-in-law didn't want to pay to get him treated. I do understand when people are facing the choice between treating a pet and feeding their children, but her husband's an engineer! Anyway, last year the dog just disappeared one day. I wondered if the heartworms finally got him.

One of my friends mentioned that it could be worms, but I don't want to diagnose him myself, buy stuff from Wal-Mart, and make things worse. That's one thing my former boss used to warn me about.

As far as his condition, he's only coughed about twice this weekend, and he hasn't coughed anything up in a few days.