strange cough/choke

Last night my 12 yr old spayed Spirit was sleeping next to me and woke me up making odd coughing/choking noises-this lasted about 5 min or so-she hasn't eaten anything odd-as I said she was sleeping next to me so couldn't have choked on anything. It was similar to when you get a drink and it goes down wrong. She rec'vd quickly and seems fine.  She was @ vet and got thorough check when she got the bladder inf a few months ago-all ok then. Any thoughts?? We were ready to dash her to ER but she's fine now...I'll be home w/her all w'end and can keep an eye on her; anything odd I should watch for?

[LindaTX]

Sorry Spirit was experiencing such difficulty.  Is it possible she was trying to hack up a hairball?  Or maybe she was dreaming of a juicy piece of tuna and her salivary glands started working overtime and the resulting saliva did indeed go down the wrong way causing the cough.  I bet she'll be just fine now...sure hope so!

[spirit3]

She wanted to  play after the incident-she didn't seem to be having any sort of seizure-her pupils were normal and she seemed just fine..it was just very odd.  she was 100% ok today: appetite, play time, bathroom, personality-all ok. I guess it was just some sort of an anomaly.  She's no spring chicken any more so I get nervous at the slightest sign of anything odd w/her!!

[asdf125]

It would be a bit odd to devellop asthma so late in life.. I guess.

I had a cat with asthma (it ended up killing her after 3 months, she had it really badly with weekly episodes), she normally got it while sleeping and it lasted about 5 minutes. Stared with a cough and then a hoarse breathing. She would play, eat and behave normally before and after.

I think asthma symptoms can be triggered by some sort of infection or virus and can be treated if caught early enough (at least I believe that is the case in children). I would take her to the vets if it happens again, but be careful not to stress her while she has the episode, or mention it next time she is in for vaccinations.

Hopefully it was just a hairball... Good luck.

[spirit3]

ok-I have asthma myself and now that you mention it, it was kind of like an asthma attack.  will  watch her vigilantly.