If your cat is choking, you can perform a modified Heimlich maneuver by holding the cat upright against your chest and delivering quick upward thrusts just behind the last rib. The technique is similar to what you’d do for a person, but scaled down and adjusted for a cat’s smaller, more fragile body. Here’s exactly how to do it, step by step.
Make Sure Your Cat Is Actually Choking
Cats gag, retch, and cough for lots of reasons that aren’t choking. Hairballs, asthma attacks, and upper respiratory infections can all look alarming. True choking usually involves pawing at the mouth, visible distress or panic, and an inability to breathe or make normal sounds. A cat coughing up a hairball will typically crouch low and produce a characteristic hacking noise before something comes up. A choking cat often can’t vocalize at all.
If your cat is coughing forcefully, that’s actually a good sign. It means air is still moving. Give the cat a moment to try to clear the object on its own before intervening. You only need to step in when the cat can’t breathe, is turning blue around the gums, or is losing consciousness.
Try a Mouth Check First
Before doing abdominal thrusts, quickly open your cat’s mouth and look for the object. If you can see it, try to gently sweep it out with a finger. Be careful here: if you can’t see the object clearly, don’t blindly push your finger into the throat. You risk shoving the obstruction deeper or getting bitten. Cats in distress will bite hard, even the gentlest ones. Only remove what you can clearly see and reach.
How to Perform Abdominal Thrusts
If you can’t remove the object by hand, move to abdominal thrusts. Pick up your cat and hold it with its spine pressed against your chest, head up, legs dangling freely below. You want the cat upright, facing away from you.
Find the soft hollow just behind the last rib. This is where you’ll apply pressure. Clasp your hands together into a fist and place it in that spot. Then push upward and inward (toward the cat’s head) in a quick, firm motion. Deliver 3 to 5 thrusts in a row. For a smaller cat, use your fingertips instead of a full fist to avoid applying too much force.
If your cat is panicking and struggling too much to hold this way, grab the scruff of the neck with one hand to stabilize the cat and deliver thrusts with your other fist.
If Thrusts Don’t Work: Back Blows and Gravity
When the first round of thrusts doesn’t dislodge the object, try using gravity. Hold your cat by the hips with its head dangling toward the ground and firmly pat between the shoulder blades with an open palm. The combination of gravity and the force of the blows can help shake the object loose.
You can also deliver 5 sharp back blows with the palm of your hand between the shoulder blades while the cat is in a normal position. Alternate between abdominal thrusts and back blows, repeating the cycle until the object comes out. The American Red Cross recommends continuing to rotate through these steps until the airway clears.
If Your Cat Loses Consciousness
A cat that stops breathing from choking needs immediate action. Check for airway, breathing, and a heartbeat. If the cat has gone limp, open the mouth again and look for the object, which may be easier to see and remove now that the jaw muscles have relaxed. If you still can’t clear the airway and the cat isn’t breathing, you’ll need to begin pet CPR while someone drives you to an emergency veterinary clinic. Every second counts at this stage.
Always Visit the Vet Afterward
Even if you successfully remove the object and your cat seems perfectly fine, a vet visit is necessary. The object may have scratched or damaged the throat on its way out. Abdominal thrusts themselves can bruise internal organs or strain the ribcage, especially in smaller cats. Choking can also cause fluid to accumulate in the lungs afterward, a complication that isn’t visible from the outside but can become dangerous. Texas A&M’s veterinary school specifically recommends a post-incident exam to rule out internal injuries.
Common Choking Hazards to Remove
Most cat choking incidents are preventable. The biggest culprits are string and string-like objects: thread, yarn, dental floss, rubber bands, hair ties, and holiday tinsel. Cats are drawn to these items but can’t spit them out easily once they start swallowing, because the barbs on their tongue point backward. Cooked bones (especially from chicken or fish) splinter into sharp, irregularly shaped pieces that lodge in the throat. Small children’s toys, particularly items like Legos, are another frequent cause.
Keep these items stored away or off the floor entirely. If your cat likes to chew on toys, choose ones that are too large to swallow and don’t have small detachable parts.