my cat has developed a gulping reflex when she eats or purrs

Wed, 2011-08-10 09:32 — Catlady

My cat Apple has recently developed a problem when she eats or purrs she does a "gulping" reflex like "hiccups" in humans but with a pronounced moving forward of the head.

I took her to the vets and she examined her,she could only find a little tenderness around Apple's larynx when she touched her neck and it made her gulp.The vet suggested full blood checks to rule out inflammation or signs of a tumour (lots of white cells in the blood who indicate a problem) but all bloods came back normal (thankfully)

The vet suggested that the only way to find out what was going on would be to give her a full examination under anaesthetic and also take X-Ray and if there is a lump there to take a sample for histology.I am reluctant to let Apple go through all this but at the same time I'm worried if I don't and it turns out to be serious?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks from catlady

Forums:

Health & Wellness

Add new comment

Thu, 2011-08-18 14:19 — Robin Olson

Gulping

Hi Cat Lady, Is your cat vomiting at all? I would go along with your vet on this one. When the vet says "exam under anesthetic" does he/she mean doing endoscopy??? That would be the only way to really see what is going on. xrays are OK, but don't really give the info you'd need that endoscopy can provide. If you're vet is just going to "look" down the cat's throat, that's not enough. I'd take the cat to an internist and have the endoscopy done with them if you can swing the cost. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Best, Robin

Mon, 2017-10-23 18:29 — Jay Broad (not verified)

Cat gulping and swallowing heavily when purring

My 7 year old cat (very fit, active and healthy otherwise) has had the same symptoms. After being referred for C-T scans and endoscopy which showed "infection of the lower bronchi. My cat is going through a course of treatment with medicines; steroids and Veraflox (Pardofloxacin) for a short term. So far we found that these two meds reduced the gulpig dramatically, so we just kept on the steroids, then the gulping came back. So we just re-started the Varoflox for 4 weeks which completely stopped it. Then after 10 days the gulping started again. Back over to the Referrals Vet, upto £4000.00 GBP so far, but thats reached my maximum insurance policy limit for the policy's year. Ouch..

Anyone else got any results for Vets investigating these cats gulping symptoms?