Cat Breathing Noise (only when my ear is laid on fur) can it be heard, there is no wt loss, no vomitting, no coughing, no sneezing, etc

Hello Doc!

We have a female calico, age unknown, she adopted us (as many before her have done) by showing up at our sliding glass door. (kitten age, about 4 months or so) We are a single cat, single animal, household and "Baby" has not been outside since we took her in, about 5 years ago.

She has never had any visible health problems for the most part in all of this time. We treated her for worms and fleas when she adopted us and that is the only meds or applications she has ever had from a Vet.

The past few days, when I place my head (lay my ear) on her upper side I can hear some congestion in her lungs (??) She continues to have more than a healthy appetite, there is no coughing, sneezing, wheezing, vomiting, discharges or obvious congestion symptoms. She rarely even has the need to rid herself of hairballs (maybe twice a year or so) She is for all tense and purposes the same as always.

I was wondering what this might be and if there might be a home solution (natural remedy) that would get rid of the noise I hear when I lay my head on her side?

I did read through quite a lot of the posted questions and the contents table and nothing exactly like "Baby" was posted (especially minus the symptoms like I listed above) there was not a 'case' such as hers ;o)


I thank you kindly for any assistance or direction which you might be able to share.

Sincerely,

Diana


Hi, Diana,

I would love to help you with a suggestion of a home remedy for your cat if I could, but it would be dangerous for me to do so when we have no idea what is wrong with her.

Unless you are very experienced in listening to cat lungs, it is impossible to know what is normal and what is not and even if it is coming from the lungs. You can hear sounds when listening to the chest of a cat that are actually referred sounds coming from the throat or nose. Or you could be hearing intestinal sounds.

Lungs, as I'm sure you know, are so important and can have so many different conditions that it would impossible to know if anything is wrong and what to do about it without a veterinarian listening with a stethoscope. Even then, we often don't know what the condition is without an xray.

It's quite possible that all is well with your cat, but I wouldn't be able to say without an exam. Certainly, the fact that your kitty is acting normally and eating and drinking is a good sign. However, if you want to be absolutely certain, I would have to recommend a visit to the vet.

Thank you for writing.

Best,
Dr. Neely