My cat is having trouble swallowing, and seems constipated. What could cause this?

Question

Over the past few weeks I've noticed my 4 year old tortoise shell cat (female) occasionaly reaching and making a coughing noise, but she is never sick. Recently this then developed into what appears to be constipation. She is still drinking water, but when she eats her dry food, she chews it up, but most of it ends up in the bowl. When I watch her eat, you can see this reaching motion like she's about to be sick, but she continues trying to eat and seems very hungry.

My concern now is the vet has eliminated constipation, and taken some x-ray's but they can't find anything wrong. Could it be a long hair tangled in her thoat? Would an x-ray show this? She's now lost weight, but still tries to eat and I don't know what else to do.

The vet has now put her on anti-biotics, but I'm not sure if this is going to work.

Answer 1

Ask for a second opinion and get one fast. This fits the symptoms of a blockage and urgently needs further investigation.
A hairball might not show up on an x ray. Or she could have something stuck in the back of her throat, like a sewing needle.

Answer 2

I have a very old cat who has had similar problems all her life, and she is currently eighteen!!

If your vet has ruled out constipation, then your cat's digestive problems are probably the result of nothing more than a VERY sensitive stomach. If she does have a sensitive stomach however, you DO need to look out for constipation in the future. That problem was a direct result of my cat's digestive problems, and it made her very sick numerous times. A hair tangled in her throat is an unlikely cause which would not show up on an X-ray, although if you are really concerned, you can ask your vet to investigate it.

As far as what to do about the problem, try feeding her canned food or baby food. It'd be less harsh on her stomach and she might have better luck with it. You might also want to pay attention to see if she has hairball problems- if she does, then a little bit of hairball remedy should help.

Good luck, and if my advice doesn't help, check back with another vet. Hope your cat feels better!!

Answer 3

Check the roof of her mouth as she may have a bone from bird or a mouse stuck across the top of her pallette which could prevent her eating. Also check around her tongue, as I heard of one case where a cat got an elastic band tangled round the tongue and couldn't eat because of it. It took days before anyone thought to check the mouth properly. Otherwise I would agree with the majority here, that it sounds most likely to be hairballs or an internal blockage or growth. (I used to be a Vets Nurse some years back).

Answer 4

They sometimes look like they are chewing gum as well. This is caused by hairballs, or dental problems. Teeth cleaning is expensive, and there are lots of hairball remedies out there, over the counter ones and from your vet. The hairballs get in their esophagus and in their bowels, so you get trouble at both ends. The Antibiotics may help the bowels, but try some hairball remedy for her throat problem, It has a malt taste they like, it looks like brown salve, but they usually like it and eat it up, licking it off your finger and when they eat it, it helps them get the hair out, so be prepared to pick up after kitty.
I have a tortoise shell long haired too. She gets remedy twice a week.Best of luck to you!!

Answer 5

Sounds like she has something stuck in her throat. Have you tried giving her that hairball remedy stuff? Also, may try adding a little bit of water to her food bowl to make the food softer, maybe she is just having trouble with hard food.

Other than that, all I can recommend is getting a second opinion from another vet.

Answer 6

I assume the vet eliminated constipation because there was cat -poo discharged. Something given to elimimate hairballs like a little paraffin orally would help .There are so many questions like type of food, food preferences, previous history etc. What about teeth ?

The vet is the best person to help you.

Answer 7

Cats go off of their feed when they are sick. Your cat was not swallowing because she was constipated and the pain was causing her to loose her appetite.

If your cat doesn't start eating again, she will develop fatty liver disease. The vet should cut a hole in her throat and insert a tube. You can feed the cat through the tube until she develops the desire to eat again.

My cat died from this. She stopped eating because she was constipated and then couldn't bring herself to eat. I was unaware that "going off of her feed" meant she had lost the desire the eat and wouldn't eat again until we could get food in her stomach. By the time the vet told me hat was wrong, she had fatty liver disease and died.

Answer 8

had a similar problem with one of my ragdoll cats. the vet couldnt find anything wrong with her. after about 4-5 weeks of this she threw up what i can describe to be the biggest furr ball you could ever imagine. it was the size of my fist and still cant understand how she brought it back up. she was fine after that and i now feed her cat grass regularly which makes her throw up her furr balls more often.

my cat also had an xray but that didnt show anything up either. maybe worth asking the vet to knock your cat out with some gas and stick a camera down its throat down to the stomach.

Answer 9

Mmm..I was gonna say that maybe your cat had been chewing grass and had some caught in its throat...my cat, baggy, had a blade of grass stuck between his oesophagus and tongue and the symptoms were exactly the same..It could be a bad tooth aswell?? hope this helps cos I was outta my mind when it happenned to baggy

Answer 10

Set your laptop alarm to ring hourly—stand upward for 1 to 5 minutes everytime it goes off.