THE COMMON CAT BEHAVIOUR THAT COULD MEAN SOMETHING MORE SERIOUS

Most cat owners are familiar with the ‘yacking’ sound a cat makes before it coughs up a furball as a result of their constant grooming.

However, if your pet isn’t following through with the goods, there could be something more serious going on with their health.

When eight-year-old Hamish the devon rex recently started making some strange noises, owner Jassinka Randall became a little concerned.

“Does anyone know what this is? I’ve never heard it before,” Ms Randall wrote in a devon rex Facebook group along with a video of Hamish making a coughing sound.

Other cat owners were quick to offer advice with some assuming it was a furball and others shared that their cats made a similar noise.

“My cat does this when he gulps down his water too fast,” one cat owner wrote.

Ms Randall responded that Hamish did enjoy some water from the shower shortly before the coughing session but she was still curious.

“My devon rex has cat asthma and sounded exactly like this when she was first diagnosed,” one person commented.

Another cat owner said their moggy was just as puzzling, making “different sound every day”.

What could lead to coughing in a cat?

Resident vet Margareth Chang from Vets On Call told Yahoo News Australia that without examining Hamish in person the behaviour in the video would be tough to diagnose, but she did caution that if a cat has a persistent cough that doesn’t end with them brining up a furball for their owners to clean up, it could be the sign of a serious health condition.

“Most vets would agree with me that the top two things we would think about are feline asthma and chronic bronchitis. The two conditions can present very similarly, so further testings would be required to differentiate between the two,” the vet told Yahoo.