One of my cats has been coughing quite a bit lately and at first I thought it was just a hairball. He's now started wheezing a little while coughing. I tried to do some research online and I think he might actually have feline asthma (at least the videos of cats having asthma attacks online looks similar to what he is going through). Does anybody have experience with this? I assume if it continues I'll have to take him to the vet, but I'm not sure what they'd do to determine this or how to treat it. Also, we moved from Zurich to Basel in May so now I'm in need of a vet in the Basel (or St. Louis) area - suggestions?

Hi abzurich,

I'd keep a close eye on him until you can get it checked out.

If it's asthma then the breathing can go into spasm which would need medical attention because it can deteriorate. If you find he's having to keep his mouth open with tongue out then get him in quick.

MY cat had asthma and a number of treatments were tried as suggested by our vet:

1. asthma inhaler as used by babies - absolute waste of time an money and distressing for the cat
2. pills to be taken daily - did not work
3. steroid injection - once every 6-8 weeks

The injections worked best, but was told they may have side affects - she was alot happier on those than the other treatments.

Still a happy cat, but sadly in the uk while i'm here ......meow