If your cat shows signs of having asthma you need to take the subject seriously because asthma is both for your cat and you an unpleasant and partially painful issue.
In the following we want to help you find out if your cat just has an harmless cough or if there are real asthma symptoms occurring.Symptoms for a Cough
Short coughs that don't hold on for longer than two minutes and don't come again more than two times can be considered harmless. If cough attacks just happen 1-2 times a month (or even less) without any signs of breathing trouble you can stay at home with your cat and have a nice time. You won't need to see your vet.
Close observation can't be bad though, because also cats can develop allergies. For example it could be that your lil' tiger reacts allergic to haispray that you are using just once a month. When you suspects that it could be something like that just stop using the "hairspray" (or other things you suspect) and see if the coughs come again.
Symptoms for Feline-Asthma
1. Gasping cough attacks that last longer than usual coughing and - above all - takes place a lot more often.
Asthma attacks most commonly happen in the early morning and at night because it than that the body doesn't produce any cortisone which could alleviate the airways' inflammations.
2. Dyspnea as well as whistling noises that come from your cat's throat are further signs for feline asthma.
3. In quite a lot of cases the eyes are also wide open because dyspnea causes for cats as well as us humans panic.
What is Asthma? In a Nutshell!
Asthma attacks are caused by bronchoconstriction as well as the constriction of the airways.
Inflammations lead to those dangerous constrictions and are caused themselves by certain substances.
The constrictions can be so strong that it leads to dyspnea which can lead to death even. Therefore asthma should be considered dangerous and a meeting with your vet is inevitable.
Those substances that can trigger feline asthma are treated in an other article of ours. In there is also valuable information on how you can ease your cats life if it is in asthma: Feline Asthma - Help your Cat
Picture: CC 2.0 by Just me...