Alright so yesterday afternoon I’m working at the kitchen table, trying to finally finish that article I’ve been putting off, when I hear this weird noise. Gulp. Gulp. Gulp. Like someone chugging water way too fast. I look over, and there’s Mittens, just sitting in the middle of the floor, head kinda up, swallowing hard over and over. Freaked me right out.
This was completely new behavior. She wasn’t coughing or vomiting or anything. Just standing there making these awful gulping sounds. Totally out of the blue. I mean, ten minutes before she’d been curled up purring on the couch like everything was fine.
My first move? Panic, obviously. Thoughts just raced: Did she choke on something? Eat something poisonous? Is she dying? I ran over to her. She stopped gulping for a second, looked at me like “What?” and then started grooming herself. Okay… weird.
Calmed myself down a bit. Decided it was maybe just a weird hiccup or something. Went back to my laptop. Five minutes later? Gulp. Gulp. Gulp. Again! This time I saw it clearly. She wasn’t gagging or bringing anything up. Just dry swallowing, hard.
Time for Google. Big mistake. Everything from “totally normal” to “imminent death” popped up. Got more worried. Checked her gums – looked pink. Felt her belly – no tenderness that made her pull away. Offered her food – she ate a little treat. Offered water – she had a sip. But the gulping kept happening in fits every few minutes.
I remembered she’d been sneezing a bit the day before. Maybe a hairball brewing? Grabbed that hairball gel stuff she hates. Squirted a little on her paw. She licked it off, gave me the stink eye. Gulping? Nope, kept happening.
Started feeling seriously helpless. The sound itself, the look on her face… it was just unsettling. This went on for maybe two hours. Every time I thought it was done, she’d start again. I was basically useless, just watching her.
Finally called my vet’s after-hours line. Explained it to the tech: sudden gulping, no actual vomiting, still eating a bit, sneezing history. They got the vet on the phone quick. Doc asked a bunch of questions: Any plants chewed? New foods? Household cleaners spilled?
Then she asked: “Any sneezing? Watery eyes?” Yes to the sneezing yesterday! “Any dripping?” I thought… actually, yeah. Very faintly, like a tiny bit of clear drool at the corner of her mouth when she gulp-hacks.
Bingo. Doc thinks it’s post-nasal drip! That little bit of mucus from her nose draining down the back of her throat was tickling it, making her swallow hard to try and clear it. Made total sense! Sneezing first, then the gulping later.
Doc said it’s common, like when humans swallow constantly when they have a cold and gunk drains down their throat. Treatment? Basically just managing it: keep her comfy, watch for worsening signs, use a humidifier near her favourite sleeping spot, maybe wipe her nose gently with a warm damp cloth if it seems gunky. No emergency visit needed unless she stops eating, starts vomiting for real, or gets lethargic.
Relief? Massive! Put a small humidifier next to her bed last night. Wiped her nose gently this morning – not much there, honestly. Checked on her constantly. The gulping seems way less frequent today – maybe only heard it twice all morning and way softer. Keeping a close eye, but feels manageable now. Crazy how something so simple can look so scary!
Honestly, watching Mittens gulp helplessly brought back memories of my old tech support job. Office was all cubicles, stuffy recycled air all winter long. Boss refused to pay for proper humidifiers, said they were “unnecessary energy sinks.” Every January? Half the floor started hacking. Full-on symphony of sniffles, throat-clearing, dry coughs echoing off the partitions. Felt like living inside a plague ship.
Manager? Useless. We practically begged for desk humidifiers. He’d just point at the ancient, wheezing central system. “Use that,” he’d grunt, shuffling papers like a constipated badger. Folks started bringing tiny, leaky personal humidifiers that tripped breakers twice a day. Chaos. Pure chaos.
Eventually, Karen from Accounting got so dried out her keyboard sparked. Not kidding. Little blue zap right between the F7 and F8. Took down her entire quadrant for three hours. Building supervisor finally blew a gasket seeing the scorch mark. We got proper humidifiers the next week. Funny how it takes near-electrocution for anyone to care. Sometimes fixing stuff fast just means waiting for a disaster.