Cat coughing

Hi. Almost 1 week ago we got a Ragdoll kitten(almost 3 months old). From the first day at her new home, she began to cough occasionally. For the last couple days it’s getting worse and oftener. It looks like it’s hard to breathe, she opens her mouth and panting. She eats and drinks normally. Any ideas what can it be? thank you in advance for her help

Hello- there are many possibilities, but to be clear, dyspnoea (difficulty breathing) is an emergency in cats.  You might want to call your vets immediately about this one.  MTF

Possibilities are wide and varied; heart disease is a common one.  Lung diseases can include pneumonia (infection), odema (thats fluid on the lungs), lumps or bumps in the lung fields, diaphragmatic hernia, bleeding within the chest and so on.  Cats can also sometimes present as breathing cases when they are in labour or a crisis such as diabetic ketoacidosis, where the acidity / gasses in the blood are out of balance and the body pants to try to correct the problem.

Allergy, asthma and fungal infection, clotting problems are also possibilities.  I'm sorry for this dramatic answer, but I'll stop typing now - please do get your youngster checked out.  Will you let us know how she is?

We brought her to the vet: he examined her, prescribed her some gel for immune boost and deworming. But nothing changed for now(

Common reasons for mouth-breathing, include stress, (goes away again when no longer sressed), pain or heart / breathing problems.  If this has not resolved it sounds as though you need to present to the vet again, possibly as a matter of relative urgency.  If you go again and they don't seem concerned, it would be a good idea to ask at what point / severity it is important to be seen, or else why they think you might have been seeing the sign (what the possibilities might have been) and how to go about ruling out some of the more severe possibilities.  I hope that helps a little.

Hmmm I'm not sure when you went to the vets;  if it was a while ago, it sounds from your description as if the signs have got worse since then, so a resee is important.  If it was in ghr last few days, then they have seen your kitten more recently than I have, so perhaps the conversation about what it might be / at what point to worry or resee is more apt in that scenario.

Hmmm I'm not sure when you went to the vets;  if it was a while ago, it sounds from your description as if the signs have got worse since then, so a resee is important.  If it was in ghr last few days, then they have seen your kitten more recently than I have, so perhaps the conversation about what it might be / at what point to worry or resee is more apt in that scenario.

(More recently than the clinical signs that you described to me)