Mimzy got me up with a severe quacking cough this morning. I would’ve thought it was the dog or one of the cats hacking up a hairball until I realized it was him! It sounded like a sneeze and a cough combined with him strangling and I thought he was choking to death. It only lasted for about 5 sneezes/coughs, but it frightened me terribly. I tried rubbing his throat and he hopped into the litter box and that was it. I was afraid to leave him for most of the day in case he did it again. He got his metacam and some benadryl to help. He’s been okay the rest of the day, but I am wondering if even an isolated incident like this is vet visit-worthy?

He’s got his usual bit of snot. There’s no blueness to his lips, ears or tongue. No sound from his chest (as best I can hear without a stethoscope) that alarms me. He still has that odd breathing that he does while he sleeps, but he’s had plenty of chest xrays without any sign of pneumonia (last one was just the other month) and I don’t think anything there has changed. Not sure I’d want him on antibiotics again after the TMS reaction, but I’d be asking for Baytril anyway, he seems to do well on that. Don’t want to get a script for him unless he really needs it even though he’s supposed to be able to have Baytril if his ‘snuffles’ symptoms recur just to try to keep them under control.

What do you all think? Take him in or wait and see if he does it again? I suppose I could just call tomorrow and see if his favorite vet is in this weekend. Nothing wrong with asking questions. We did have our new air purifier/ionizer on last night and he did have a lot of hay dust on the floor overnight…maybe he just snorked something down the wrong way and couldn’t shake it lose? He didn’t seem to be sneezing before this coughing fit. I hope to God I never hear him do anything like that again, I was terrified I was going to lose him right then and there.

Even though we had fresh snow last night, I decided not to bring any in today for him to sit in, just in case he picked something up that way or stressed his immune system chilling himself too much last time. He does’t get it every day, just when we have fresh powder.

Many thankies in advance for your help.