Last night gone for two hrs w/ friends and dinner we arrive home to greet the fur kids. Ransom is removed from his play kennel and I begin to notice him lick obsessively and experience gagging reflexes.
I pick him up and begin checking him over. He's breathing fine, not shaking, wanting to play, etc. He stops this licking and gagging but then shortley starts up again. I begin to mentally go through my check list. Hypoglycemia? No. Chocking? No. Collapsed Trachea? No. Did he get into any sort of poison that I could think of like cleaners on the floor or such? No. I open his mouth and see nothing, no blockage, no loose teeth or anything????
I'm totally lost at this point and thought Id try some water and a soft treat. Ransom drinks and eats his treat just fine. He begins his licking and gagging again.
I'm like "what the heck is going on here?" My husband says "get on YT and ask". Im telling him I don't have time and that we need to head to emergency that I'm not taking any chances. We no sooner get half way to the vet and Ransom is fine. Totally fine.
Come home and he starts licking and gagging again then stops and never started up again. So after gathering gobs of blankets and pillows I decide to bunk with Ransom for the night. I'm up each hour checking on him and he sleeps peacefully w/out a problem.
Well...this morning everything seems great, Ransom is fine. Then oh no!! He begins his licking and gagging again. I immediately call my vet and they can work us in in a couple hours.
So, I decide to bath Ransom and get him cleaned up for his vet visit. As I'm grooming him I notice he has this long stream of hair that was under his chin by his lips. It was wet and matted to the size of a cotton swab thickness. It was nasty and there was no way to unmatt this soggy mess. I soon realized he had this string of matted hair stuck probably on the roof of his mouth leading down to his throat. It wasn't much at all, but just enough to make him "lick and continue his gagging reflex".
I can't tell you how many times I looked into his mouth and didn't even notice this hair, it was just too thin to see. Still can't figure out how I even missed it???
I cut the small glob of hair and he's been great ever since. WOW! What a day.
Oh, and I cancelled our vet visit too.
**sorry this story is so long**