My new cat has laryngitis. How can I help him get his meow back?

Your cat may have laryngitis, which is an inflammation of the larynx or "voice box". Signs of laryngitis include hoarseness and/or loss of voice. The most common causes of laryngitis are excessive vocalization and chronic[ coughing](https://www.petcoach.co/cat/condition/coughing). Both put strain on the vocal cords. Laryngitis can also be due to other underlying medical conditions such as throat infections, [allergies](https://www.petcoach.co/cat/condition/feline-allergies/), tonsillitis, [pneumonia](https://www.petcoach.co/cat/condition/pneumonia-1/), tracheobronchitis, foreign bodies and rarely tumors. Since it has been three days since your cat's symptoms began, I recommend having him evaluated by your veterinarian to check for throat infections or other sources of irritation of the larynx. You may need to feed a soft, bland diet and keep him as stress free as possible during his treatment and recovery.

It could be laryngitis from an upper respiratory infection. Usually, the symptoms will go away within 10 days or so. If she worsen or it doesn't go away your vet may have to do more testing to figure out what is going on. https://www.petplace.com/article/cats/keeping-your-cat-healthy/everything-need-know-cat-laryngitis/

If she is still eating and drinking and not coughing, then she may just have a mild laryngitis. I would watch her closely and it will likely heal on its own. Allergies during the changing of season can cause this as well. You can contact your vet for the appropriate dose of children's Benadryl for her to help speed her healing. I hope this helps.

Poor Chatter! Feeding a diet aimed at skin health will actually be beneficial to the lining of the throat as well. Royal Canin and Nutro are both good diets that would be beneficial. Giving him an additional omega 3 fatty acid supplement for cats will also help to decrease inflammation. Lastly, it's possible a virus is also at play here and could be causing some inflammation in the throat. Since this is your first time experiencing this, it may be worthwhile to have him examined and see if the doctor suspects a virus is the real cause. Some of these viruses may respond to cat supplement called Lysine. It's always best to gather information and then move forward with any preventive measures. I hope this helps.

Hi, and thanks for your question. This sign is often secondary to an upper respiratory tract inflammation/infection or possibly to a pharyngitis (inflammatory, allergic, infective). A clinical examination at your local veterinarian is essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and treat appropriately. Antibiotics may be needed. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

I would wait it out at this point in time because he is eating and drinking normally, using the litter, and acting normally otherwise. He might have a respiratory infection, and losing his voice is the only sign. I would keep an eye on him for the next 72 hours. If he still has no voice at that point, then I would take him into the vet for an exam. Should he develop other signs in these 72 hours, such as stopping eating and drinking, then I would take him into the vet sooner. Hopefully, his voice will return on it's own.

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Ollie. Upper respiratory infections (URI) in cats is extremely common. Kittens get infected from their mothers who start shedding the viruses thus infecting the kittens. Many cats live their whole lives carrying these viruses. They will occasionally develop signs of upper respiratory infections during times of stress at any point in time. We vaccinate for a few of these upper respiratory viruses but we still see many many cases. The vaccines should provide some protection and usually adult cats develop very mild signs. Signs of URIs- loss of voice or harsh sounding meows, sneezing, runny eyes/nose, fever/lethargy, decreased appetite, etc. Treating these infections can range from very simple to very complex cases that take weeks to months to improve. Possible treatment involves monitoring only or more in-depth treatment with antibiotics, antiviral medicines, a good deworming program and vaccination program, eye drops/eye ointments, nose drops, a nutritional supplement called L-lysine added to the food may help, and probiotics are all things to try. If Ollie continues to act normal (eats, drinks, goes to the bathroom and doesn't develop more signs or a worsening of the signs present), you can just monitor him. Hopefully, the change in the voice is self-limiting, but if not have your vet evaluate him. Good luck with Ollie.