Can I Give My Cat Cough Syrup?

If you’ve noticed that you’re cat’s been coughing the first thing that might have popped into your head was that they need some cough syrup. After all, it works for us, why not for them? But even though it might seem innocuous, cough syrup is still considered medication, and has some active ingredients that might pose a problem to your furry friend.

The general rule of thumb is that if it’s human medication you want to avoid giving it to your cat, and keeping it out of reach so that they don’t stumble onto it. You may read about how someone’s vet told them it was OK to give their cat cough syrup, but this doesn’t help you make your decision, because they’re not referring to your cat specifically. Although other cat owners might be thinking that they’re being helpful, it’s pretty dangerous to tell someone how to care for their cat without knowing all of the facts.

So the best thing to do is make a quick call to the vet’s office and see how they size up the situation. They’ll either tell you to take a wait and see approach, or they’ll give you the exact doses you should give your cat, or they’ll tell you to bring them in.

Can I Give My Cat Cough Syrup? Answer: Ask Your Vet

You don’t want to give your cat any medication on your own without first consulting your vet to see if it’s something that might help them, and to get the proper dosing instruction. There are no hard and fast rules on how to give your cat cough syrup, so it’s unwise to trust general advise on what kind of medication or how much of it to give your cat. Since the cough syrup is created for humans, and intended to be used by humans there’s not a very good way to translate that to feline use.

The Symptoms
It’s really hard to tell what sort of cough your cat might have. It could be that they’re allergic to something and giving them cough medicine would not help them at all. Or perhaps they’ve got a really bad cold and you’d just be treating the symptoms, and not treating the underlying infection. It could also be the case that you’re giving them medication with an ingredient in it that is harmful to cats, and you would be endangering their life instead of helping them. With so many unknowns it’s really your best bet to just let it be unless they really need your help.

Cat Ownership is Easy
The pressure is off as a cat owner because there are only a few situations that can ever occur. Either your cat is fine and they’ll be able to get over whatever symptoms they’re displaying, or there is a severe problem with your cat and you need to take them to the vet. In very few instances does it make sense to play doctor at home with your cat, or try to give them assistance by treating them as if they were human. Far too many cases have happened where well-meaning owners ended up getting their cats into hot water because they tried to help a little too much.

When to Go to the Vet
You don’t necessarily have to make a trip to the vet in order to find out what to do. Often they will have an assistant manning the phones so that you don’t even have to bother the vet. They’ll be able to pull up your cat’s history, listen to the symptoms you’ve observed, ask you some qualifying questions, and then make an educated recommendation from there. If your cat looks like they are in real pain, or they are displaying other symptoms in addition to the cough, then you may want to bring them in, but you can also call first to see if the vet agrees.

At the end of the day it’s probably not a good idea to give your cat something like cough syrup because it’s only trying to treat the symptoms, and it isn’t going to help them as much as you think it might, and could even hinder their progress at getting well.

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