My cat is coughing: causes, when to worry and what the vet will do
A coughing cat is not “bringing up a hairball” by default. Feline coughing has its own causes, very different from a dog’s, and the most common one, asthma, goes unnoticed for years because it is mistaken for retching. Here is how to recognise it, what may lie behind it and when you need to act quickly.
What a cat’s cough looks like (and why it is confused)
When a cat coughs, it crouches with its body close to the floor, stretches its neck forward, opens its mouth slightly and gives several dry expulsions of air in a row. At the end it sometimes swallows, but nothing comes up. That posture looks very like the retching before vomiting a hairball, which is why many owners spend months thinking their cat “gets a lot of hairballs”. The difference is in the ending: if it vomits, something comes up (hair, food, fluid); if it coughs, nothing comes up or it just swallows. If in doubt, film the episode on your phone. A ten-second video is far more useful to the vet than any description, because cats almost never cough in the consulting room.
What it usually is not: the heart
In dogs, a chronic cough in an older animal immediately makes vets think of the heart. In cats it does not work that way. The most common feline heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, usually causes rapid, laboured breathing when it decompensates, not coughing. So with a coughing cat, the vet will look at the airways and lungs first. That does not mean the heart can simply be ruled out, but a cat breathing fast at rest, with or without a cough, is a different and more urgent matter: we cover it in the article on breathing difficulties.
The most common cause: asthma and bronchitis
Feline asthma and chronic bronchitis are inflammatory diseases of the lower airways. They cause a dry cough in bouts, which may appear a few times a month or every day, and sometimes wheezing. Many cats are perfectly well between episodes, and that delays the diagnosis. It is made worse by tobacco smoke, air fresheners, incense, aerosols, dust from some litters and sudden changes in temperature. It is a chronic disease that cannot be cured but can be well controlled with treatment, usually inhaled corticosteroids given through a spacer and mask designed for cats. If the diagnosis points that way, you will find all the details in the article on feline asthma.
Lungworm and heartworm
The second big group of causes is parasites. The most common in Europe is a lungworm, Aelurostrongylus abstrusus, which a cat picks up when it hunts or eats snails, slugs or the animals that have eaten them (lizards, birds, mice). It causes a cough very similar to asthma and can be mistaken for it on X-rays, so a cat with outdoor access that coughs should have a specific faecal test before starting corticosteroids. Heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis), transmitted by mosquitoes, also affects cats in parts of Spain where it circulates, such as the Canary Islands and some humid areas of the mainland, and in cats it causes mainly respiratory signs. Both are prevented with parasite control suited to the cat’s lifestyle.
Other causes to bear in mind
A foreign body (a grass awn, a blade of grass) that reaches the trachea or bronchi causes a sudden, intense, persistent cough from a specific moment. Viral or bacterial respiratory infections, common in kittens and colony cats, usually come with sneezing and nasal discharge and sometimes a cough. Pneumonia causes coughing with lethargy, fever and loss of appetite. In older cats, lung tumours, either primary or spread from another organ, can also cause a cough. And nasopharyngeal polyps, common in young cats, produce breathing noises and throat clearing that are sometimes mistaken for coughing. The list is long, which is why a recurring cough deserves a diagnosis, not a cough syrup given blindly.
When it is an emergency
See the vet the same day, or an emergency clinic if it is night-time, if the cat is breathing with its mouth open, if its belly moves a lot as it breathes, if its gums or tongue look bluish or very pale, if it stretches its neck and cannot get air in, or if you count more than about forty breaths a minute at rest or asleep. Also if the cough began suddenly after being in the garden or the countryside (possible foreign body), if it comes with fever, lethargy and not eating, or if it is a young kitten. On the other hand, an occasional cough in a cat that is otherwise well lets you book an appointment in the next few days, filming the episodes and noting when they happen.
What the vet will do
First, a thorough history: whether the cat goes outdoors, whether it hunts, whether anyone smokes or uses aerosols at home, how long it has been coughing and how often. Then the examination, listening to the chest and trachea and checking the breathing rate. The usual next steps are chest X-rays, which show the pattern of the bronchi and rule out masses or fluid, and a faecal test using the specific technique for lungworm larvae (the Baermann technique), sometimes on three samples from different days. Depending on the case, the vet may request blood tests, a heartworm test or, if things are still unclear, a bronchoalveolar lavage under anaesthetic to study the cells in the airways. It is not unusual to try a parasite treatment first before diagnosing asthma.
What it costs in Spain in 2026
As a guide: consultation, €40 to €60; chest X-rays, €60 to €150; faecal test for lungworm, €25 to €60; general blood tests, €80 to €160; heartworm test, €30 to €60; bronchoalveolar lavage with anaesthetic and laboratory work, €250 to €600. Treating asthma with inhalers and a spacer means an initial outlay of €40 to €80 for the spacer and €20 to €60 a month for medication. A lungworm treatment costs the same as an ordinary broad-spectrum wormer, €10 to €25. None of these figures is fixed: they vary a great deal between clinics and cities.
What not to do at home
Do not give it human syrups or cough suppressants: many contain active ingredients that are dangerous to cats, and some human painkillers, such as paracetamol, are fatal to them even in small amounts. Do not keep giving hairball paste indefinitely, assuming it is hairballs, if nothing ever comes up. Do not start leftover corticosteroids from another treatment: if the cause is a parasite or an infection, it can get worse, and the diagnosis is masked as well. And do not put it in a steamy bathroom or shut it in to help it “breathe better”: stress makes any respiratory problem worse in a cat.
Prevention: what is in your hands
No tobacco smoke at home, including on the balcony if the cat is nearby. Get rid of spray air fresheners, scented candles, incense and essential oil diffusers, which irritate the airways and can also be toxic. Unscented, low-dust litter. Parasite control matched to its real life: a cat that goes out or hunts needs protection that covers lungworm, and in areas with heartworm, monthly prevention during mosquito season. Up-to-date vaccinations against herpesvirus and calicivirus. And one very useful habit: count its breaths now and then while it sleeps. If you know its normal number, you will spot any change sooner.
A cat’s cough looks like retching up a hairball, but nothing comes out. The most common causes are asthma or bronchitis and lungworm, not the heart. Film the episodes, see the vet if it keeps happening and go to an emergency clinic if it breathes with its mouth open or very fast.
Educational content from Michipedia, translated from the Spanish original. It does not replace the advice of a vet or a feline behaviour specialist. Every cat is an individual.