There is far too much annoying or bad news lately. Instead, let’s talk about—cats.
This morning, I was upstairs in my office, when I heard wheezing coming from downstairs. Tig 3.0 has asthma, which is mostly controlled by not giving him grain-filled cat food. (Hello, they’re predators, wtf do they need corn for?) But since Gracie also has asthma, also brought on by allergies (dust and mold in her case; gone since I moved to Richmond, go figure), I’m familiar with the problems and keep an ear and eye out. Gracie once had an asthma attack so bad she seized and nearly died; lucky for her, we were leaving the vet’s at the time, and he saved her life (and diagnosed her with asthma; prior to that he was mystified by my description of her coughing). So when Tig wheezes, I find him and observe him until he stops.
The cause? Well, he choked on water. Yep. Tig regularly starts coughing and wheezing right after he drinks water, particularly from the water dish downstairs. I have one cat that is terrified of scary things like ants and the wind blowing. And I have another cat that chokes on water. Regularly.
So here they are, my two doofuses. Tig’s licking Gracie’s ears. Gracie is accepting his homage.
Perhaps if you elevate the water dish a few inches, Tig wouldn’t choke on the water as much. Just a guess.
It might be worth telling the vet about Tig choking on his water.
KITTIES!!!!!
Orange tries to lick Simon and a tussle ensues.
Well, I have asthma myself, and I frequently choke on water! I know that sounds completely ridiculous, but… The truth is, I’ve often wondered if it’s related, because I do it more often when I’m feeling tired or allergic. I have a (completely unscientific) suspicion that there’s some kind of inflammation going on that makes my epiglottis malfunction. And then of course, when I cough from choking on the water, it trigger spasms that make me wheeze. So… you really might want to mention it to your vet.
I look at this photo, and it makes me think:
There’s something so right about a cat in a sink.
You know what, Laura, your post made me remember that I sometimes have a tough time drinking out of plastic bottles. Some brands of bottled water irritate my throat. Others don’t. I wonder if it’s the plastic. But the weird thing is, the container downstairs is EXACTLY the same as the two water dishes upstairs. There’s no reason for Tig to be choking when he drinks from this one but not the other two.