My cat Sophie— since she was a just-rescued kitten— has always displayed an odd behavior of wheezing after drinking water, not all the time though, but enough for us to be curious about it. We took her to the Vet when we noticed this behavior and the Vet said it was not something to worry about and it may just be an “idiosyncrasy” of her.
Years passed by and our cat Sophie kept wheezing after drinking water, but again, not all the time. When she did, it was right after drinking, with a minute duration or so, and once the wheezing ended she would be back to being a totally normal cat. Watching our cat looking so OK after each attack, back to her business like nothing even happened, (plus the Vet telling us about this “idiosyncrasy” thing) we never gave a thought about this being a problem.
Wheezing but no water drinking being involved
Things changed this year when our cat started wheezing without drinking water. One time she was just sitting on the couch and started doing it. This behavior was rare though, about twice a month. However, I started thinking a lot about it and connecting the dots that maybe the issue was not as trivial as we were told.
My cat during a coughing episode after drinking water
Two things that made me suspect the wheezing was a health issue:
- When I rescued Sophie as a kitten she had watery eyes that I healed with proper treatment. The probable cause of it was the feline herpes virus. Sophie was cured of this watery eye condition and the virus was put on “stand by” mode, but I kept thinking that this fact could have been playing a role in the wheezing.
- My cat always seemed to gasp after running a lot when playing. I thought this was not normal. A couple of times she even had her mouth open when breathing after running a lot. After thinking about all these things, we took her to the Vet.
The cause behind my cat coughing when drinking water
The Vet did a physical examination on Sophie, then he took an X-ray and determined that she didn’t have asthma, her lungs, throat, and esophagus were normal, and her heart too. Everything seemed normal. Now what? The Vet after watching a video we recorded of Sophie having this wheezing attack, said the only explanation would be that our cat was experiencing some sort of inflammation process somewhere in her respiratory path. The way to discard whether inflammation was present or not was by giving her an anti-inflammatory shot to see if this wheezing stops. We agreed and the Vet gave Sophie the shot. We observed Sophie the following weeks and the wheezing episodes stopped completely. That was it! Sophie had a mild inflammatory process somewhere in her respiratory system.
The treatment
The treatment the Vet suggested (and the only one) was putting Sophie on steroids. I did a little research and I wasn’t a fan of this idea. Steroids are somehow corticoids that stop mild inflammation by lowering the immune response in case of inflammation or due to allergies. I just didn’t feel right about this treatment and I started researching a natural alternative for my cat.
A natural alternative
After extensive research, I found an excellent supplement that helps cats to clear the airways and relieve the symptoms of allergy or inflammation. The name is Wapiti Labs Chest Herbal Formula for Respiratory Function. The dose for cats weighing between 6-10 lbs is one full dropper, twice a day. My cat weighs under 10 lbs so we started giving her one full dropper per day and then we increased it to twice per day to give it to her gradually.
So far the wheezing attacks have stopped and I am so happy to have found a natural treatment for her. If your cat has this same problem I recommend you to take your kitty to the Vet and discard asthma or any other condition before treating your cat naturally.
Update: My cat went from having these wheezing/coughing attacks 3 or 4 times per day to almost once every 10 days. The problem didn’t stop completely but it got reduced dramatically. I still totally recommend it.
I found it on Chewy which was great because we needed it fast and they delivered it in no time. Get the Wapiti Labs Chest Herbal formula on Chewy here.
Hello I’m having the same issue with my cat took him to the vet and nothing. It always happens when he drinks water.
Hello Maribel, the same happened with my cat Sophie. The Vet found nothing wrong but he did test a possible mild inflammation in my cat’s respiratory system by giving her an anti-inflammatory shot. He discovered my cat had some mild inflammation but not something as bad as asthma.
Lorena – thank you so much for this post. I have been searching for a natural alternative to steroids for my kitten’s wheezing. She’s Hal been wheezing after drinking since she was born. The vet said she has asthmatic lungs but the steroids only made her super drowsy and didn’t stop the wheezing. I ordered the herbal formula last night as soon as I read your post. Thank you again and I will let you know if it is a success!
Hi Nicole, I look forward to hearing from you. I am sure it will help your kitty.
Hello there! My cat Theo is also the same. Wheezes and coughs after drinking. I’ve looked for the wapiti you recommend but they don’t do it here in the UK. Is there an active ingredient in it that helps the kitty that I may be able to find in other products? Thanks in advance
Hello Andy, these are the active ingredient for the formula: Citrus Peel, Pinellia Rhizome, Poria Sclerotium Fungus, Trichosanthes Fruit, Chinese Fritillaria Bulb, Honey Baked Licorice Root, Fresh Ginger Rhizome, Mume Fruit. I think the combination of all these makes the difference. You can buy products from abroad in Ubuy, this is the link https://www.u-buy.co.uk/ I have bought products for my mom’s cat when I was in South America through this website. Hope that helps!
Thank you. My kitten is having the same issue tho I couldn’t record it as it happens so fast. Now he is refusing to drink water. I will consult another doctor and see what is his problem. His last vet said that his breathing is completely fine.
Hi Ayamoh, I am so sorry to hear that your kitten developed a fear of drinking water. The problem is that Vets can’t find anything wrong and the events keep happening. The only solution I found was giving my cat those drops that have cut the wheezing attacks by 70%. I hope you can find a solution for your kitten.
My 7 month old kitten has the same problem! It’s always after drinking water. I just thought he was inhaling the droplets that got on his nose. He does not have apparent asthma though, he never gets out of breath when his (biological) brother does.
Hello, my cat has the same problem but it’s been managed a little better so far. I figured she will never get cured of this (she doesn’t have asthma either, only a mild respiratory inflammation). But with some herb drops she does it less. The weird thing is it looks so bad when she is having this attack but as soon as it finishes, she is back to normal like nothing even happened.
Hello!
Thank you for posting this. We have been dealing with an identical issue with our cat, he is 1 year old now but started at 3 months.
He only does this wheeze/cough after drinking water, sometimes it happens once or twice a day..sometimes not for 4 days.
Been to 2 different vets, had a shot and also had dewormer’s as he tested positive for worms. Worms are now cleared but hes still doing this.
I am a bit confused by your post, if you read from top to bottom it says that he received that anti-inflammatory shot and that completely solved the issues all coughing gone. But then as I scroll down you say that you started using the Chest Herbal supplement and it reduced the coughing to once every 10 days.
Did you start with the chest herbal supplement then get the shot and that solved it completely?
Trying to figure out if I should order this supplement to try (its expensive to get into canada) or just ask my vet for a similar shot. Thank you so much!
Hi Hayden, the antiinflammatory shot was to confirm or discard inflammation in her respiratory pathways, which she had. The following treatment was steroids (not the same) but I didn’t want to do it since I heard from a friend that her cat got kind of sick with steroids and the wheezing didn’t stop anyway, so I didn’t want to put her on steroids. I have to say that with the herbal drops the wheezing problem hasn’t stopped, but it has been reduced. I suggest you ask your Vet for the best treatment for your cat since it could be a different problem. Hope that helps!
Hey Lorena,
Just wanted to pop on here and thank you for your post! If I didn’t find your blog on google, I would’ve never tried this treatment.
I am happy to say after giving this to our cat for about 2 weeks he hasn’t coughed/wheezed a single time since. It has been at least a month at this point.
Thank you thank you!
I am so happy to know that my experience helped your cat, and you are very welcome Hayden :)
Hi thank you so much for all this information my baby is having exact same issues but she seems completely fine before and after do you have a video of what it sounds like?
Hi Carolyn, that’s the video I made of my cat while an attack. It sounds like a little liquid is in her lungs sometimes. The Vet said she doesn’t have any respiratory conditions, only mild inflammation.
Oh man, I’ve been searching for articles to help deliver some sort of comfort. After my cat started showing behavioral responses due to my ex now allowing her to sleep on the bed next to me and finally kicking her out of the room completely, she began peeing in the living room. I hated this for her and knew it was because of that. I ended up purchasing Angry Orange pet odor eliminator spray after seeing that it had over 100,000 reviews around a 4.5 star rating and a non scented enzyme remover spray to try and tackle it before it was too late. Well…I think had I waited one more day for the non-scented option I could’ve prevented my cat from experiencing her onset of wheezing after drinking water. After I was don spraying the areas where she had peed (which were quite a few over a period of time, I noticed my throat was a little irritated and realized it was likely from the spray. I aired out my apartment especially remembering how sensitive cat’s are to smells. That might have been too late…
The next morning she had a bit of a raspy meow and within 2-3 days her meow became raspier to completely gone. Sooner after that came the wheezing, but ONLY after she drank water. I took her to her vet who ran tests and X-rays, looked for polyps and found nothing. She was given steroid shots and oral steroids, but was told the risks of long term use in those forms, so they wouldn’t be a good long term option. The vet then mentioned the possibility of it being heart worm which is very rare for a cat and she herself did not think it could happen until the day she had a young cat die on her table from heart worm, so we tested for that too. Obviously not that. They thought maybe it was heart related. I decided not to further test knowing how it came almost immediately following that citrus spray and the fact that I also experienced some irritation. Plus, I had spent over $5,000 in vet bills, food, other various cat related items within 2 months (as she was also suffering from UTI’s prior and during). Anyhow, vet said it could be asthma and you might have to use a cat inhaler if things don’t get better. Well, here we are after steroids and 7-8 months later and still wheezing after drinking water and a raspy meow with almost no sound. It came back ever so slightly, but it’s not consistent. :(
Going to give your suggestion a try and last case try her on an inhaler. I hate this for her. 😭
Thank you for sharing this!! Also, everyone be advised, PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE ANGRY ORANGE PET OROR ELIMINATOR SPRAY.
Eventually found another ad for it and looked through their negative reviews too and saw owners that experienced the same issue, some of them losing their pets because of it. Heart breaking and terrifying.
Danielle, your story is really sad and I am really sorry about what you and your cat are going through. It is really heartbreaking :( We all make mistakes with our pets and some of them are fatal, but you still have your baby with you, and thanks to your love she will get better because I know you won’t quit until she gets better. I had a cat, her name was Lily and she passed away because of my mistakes on how to feed her, and that’s one of the reasons why I created this website, to help cat owners to deal with their cat’s issues in the best way possible according to their possibilities. We are continuously learning and whatever we do it’s because we love our cats. Thanks for sharing your experience so other cats don’t go through the same. God bless you.
Lorena,
This completely makes sense! We adopted a feral mother and her kittens a year or so ago and slowly they have become tame, living both inside and outside. I also discovered that her and one of her sons would make hairball noises, similar to your cat, after drinking water. It only happens after drinking water. This being an inflammatory issue makes the most sense because I suspect they both have allergies. I hate giving steroids to cats, especially long term. I had a bad experience with a vet who prescribed my cat with steroids knowing he had a serious heart murmur. The cat went into heart failure and almost died. When he recovered, he was placed on dozen different medications. I went rogue after 7 days, and cut all meds except the heart meds. Switched to holistic treatments and he recovered. Lived months happy and healthy until dieing of a sudden heart attack. That is why after reading your post, the lightbulb went off for me. Im going to order this and try it with these two cats because so far, the vet has no answer and since both cats are 1 and 2 years old + healthy, they are not concerned. I know there has to be more to it.
Hi Danielle, I am so happy to be able to help you with my experience, I don’t like steroids for cats either. My cat’s attacks lessened with the drops, but she still has some, but not as bad as it was. My cat and I can live with those.
I’ve been searching for a story like this! I have the exact same issue with my lil rescue kitten. Thank you for your very detailed post.
You are welcome, Lori :)