Cats with laryngospasm/respiratory/oral symptoms

[Mary K]

  This subject is written in response to a personal request for an elaboration of laryngospasm, which I have mentioned previously.

  My last cat died of a laryngospasm, although I believe this was a complication of something else. It has nothing to do with the pet food recall.
  Here is what I noted. My female calico, who was at the time 17, began having episodes seemingly related to purring. She would purr, and then the purr became very deep and guttural. She would raise her head and shake it, choke and sputter, and breath with her mouth open. All the while she would continue to purr, as though she couldn't stop. This would go on for a few minutes, then she would swallow hard for a bit and it stopped. She would have difficulty eating and drinking shortly afterwards. Then all would be well again. Her lungs remained clear of fluid and she demonstrated no other respiratory problems. Other medical conditions were chronic renal failure, liver disease and borderline thyroid disease, all related to age. The vet said the problem was either weakness of the throat due to old age, ulcers of the lower oral cavity or a tumor. Of course she refused to demonstrate this episode to the vet, and I didn't have a video camera. An aside, her same age male sibling was diagnosed with asthma and so for him, kidney disease and oral ulcers were overlooked until he was end-stage renal disease. He only lived to be 16. I am still amazed at the lax attitude of that vet (2001) and sought a more knowledgeable one for my female cat after he died. Back to the purring problem, once in a while she could purr without this happening. Usually it started if I picked her up or pet her and was induced by the purring, although sometimes it started spontaneously with no stimulation. Needless to say, this was heartbreaking for me because I felt guilty after giving her affection. This continued until her death. She otherwise led a happy-go-lucky life and was affectionate and playful, and had always enjoyed being petted and held. 6 months after this purr problem started, at the age of 18, she died. I was with her and she was having a happy day. In the evening I absent-mindedly kissed her on the head and the purring/choking began. This time she couldn't stop, and turned blue. I realized I was losing her and tried to give artificial respiration, but her airway was completely blocked off. So I just held her next to my heart. The whole episode lasted only about 2 minutes from the beginning until she died. I was just grateful I had been home with her when it happened as I had been anticipating her death for many months. Later, when I described what had happened to her vet, he said it was a laryngospasm (a spasm of the larynx or breathing airway). The larynx is a structure of muscle and cartilage at the upper end of the trachea. The vet also said that this often happens when an older cat is anesthetized for surgery while an artificial airway is being placed in the cats airway. He didn't recommend surgery for older cats for this reason.

  Well, that is the evidence as I know it; I couldn't find anything more about it on the internet at that time. I would be interested in seeing if anyone else has observed this problem. I hope the information helps someone!

 

[Davis]

Mary, thank you so much for posting this.  My former cat use to have what appeared to be a swallowing problem.  She would gulp hard for no apparent reason, and sometimes cough with it.  This would continue for a while, then it would subside.  Does this sound like the same thing?

The cat I have now does this on occasion too. What a sad thing for your cat. I am always afraid of surgery for older cats, because it is said to be very risky, and this must be one of the reasons why. I am going to be watching for this, and hope it never happens to my cat.  Everytime he starts to gulp and cough (it looks like a spasm), I'm going to be worried that he's going to suffocate.  Sadly, it sounds like there is nothing that can be done about it.   

[Mary K]

Thank you, Davis,
  I am not sure what you are describing is the same thing. My cat definitely always did it with purring. But it could possibly be similar, for example, the same physiologic problem but just in a different area of the airway. I don't think so though. Interestingly enough, my second and very competent vet had never seen or heard of this happening. But he did recognize the laryngospasm I described to him that killed her. I hope you do not needlessly worry about your cat. You could ask your vet. I have lived in 3 different areas of the country and have always found most all of the vets misdiagnosed all of my cats problems. For instance, when this same cat was 12 years old, one vet told me she had stomach cancer (after giving her an ultrasound!), needed surgery or would only live 3 more months. I said no to surgery, changed her diet, and she lived 6 more years! My calico definitely had all of her  9 lives!
I did read that the cats trachea is very small and fragile, and so this could easily be a problem area for many cats in my opinion. For instance, if they received an injury to the area from a collar or a fall. Lets both do some more on-line research for your concern!