I am sharing this clip of my cat’s asthma attack in hopes to help others identify this issue with their cats. Many people mistake a feline asthma attack for a cat trying to work up a hairball. They will flatten / lower themselves, stretch their necks out straight and make this wheezing, almost coughing noise. This was actually a mild attack for my Odin here, who was a shelter adopted Norwegian Forest Cat with an obviously rough history, as seen by his strange eye and cauliflower ear, and also has diabetes and (of course) asthma. With medications his asthma is usually fairly minimal. But just like human asthma, it is hard to predict.

If you suspect your cat is having asthma attacks, get them to the vet!