cat asthma

Does anyone's CAT have asthma?
My oldest has been suffering with it for over 2 years...looking To see how other people treat feline asthma

Re: cat asthma

I have two cats (bother and sister) and they both have asthma.

Our little girl (Oli) has had it since she was about 4 months and our boy (Ravi) was diagnosed when he was a little over 2. They will be 3 in July.

Both are treated with a bronchodialator (Theophylline) that comes in pill form and Oli also gets Folvent via inhaler twice a day. Ravi will probably need an inhaler too since he really isn't responding to just the Theophylline.

Oli's asthma needs to be better controlled. We have a follow up appointment with our vet in about a month. They are going to do another chest x-ray and I am going to ask them to come up with more options for her to control her coughing better.

I posted Oli's story on the other board once, it is actually very sad. In short, before she was officially diagnosed we took her to a vet who gave her an injection of steriods. He figured it was asthma or an allergic reaction. It really helped her so about 2 months later she got another shot. Well, after the second shot she really sick and almost died. She got a very bad infection that caused her back legs to become paralyzed and she wound up having a leg amputated b/c of it. Needless to say, we will never have them on steriods again!!

I'm glad you posted - i am always looking to get info from other people too.

Let me know how you treat them, I'd be very interested to hear.

Re: cat asthma

I'm so sorry to hear about Oli but I'm sure she is a trooper!

Scamp went to the vet with this cough and he did crazy blood work and x-rays. It was determined to be asthma so the Vet gave him a shot of steroids (Depo) every three to 6. Which worked great.

Scampie is a very large cat, not really over weight, just a big cat his max weight was 24 lbs. We slowly started to loss weight, all the way down to 13 lbs. you could feel his bones. During this more crazy blood work was being done.

Scamp now was diabetic! I had him on special food and pills to create insulin. We went every few weeks for blood work and in a year got his insulin levels back to normal and his weight back up to 16-18 lbs.

He is now in diabetic re-mission so we are now focusing back on the asthma.

I tried the pill form of the steroid but that did not help. So we just switched to the inhaler. (Just Flovent, twice a day) Not working! It only seemed to make the cough a bit more productive.

I gave a call to the vet. yesterday and he was calling his Respitory guy to find out about a different inhaled drug.

Re: cat asthma

Yes, my fat boy has asthma.

It probably has to do a lot with his weight....

At first, we were medicating him with steroids- but I found it doesn't really make a difference for him.

So basically we just realize that he has it worst in fall and spring and we deal. It doesn't seem to bother him.

Re: cat asthma

Weight definitely is an issue, although Oli has always been at a good weight. Ravi on the other hand is an orange tabby, and they are prone to being a little chuncky.

We are trying to stay away from the steriods, especially because of the diabetes. I'm glad you got your cat's under control.

How often do your cats cough??? Oli is almost daily. Hers seems to be worse in the winter.

What do you ffed them and what litter do you use? Have you done anything atound the house that hels them???

We got an Ionic breeze form Sharper Image that we wound up returing because I read it is actually bad for asthmatic cats.

Re: cat asthma

Oh - I also want to add that you should be patient with the Flovent because I know it can take a few weeks before you see changes.

Re: cat asthma

Re: cat asthma

Message edited 5/22/2005 9:18:44 PM.

Re: cat asthma

who is your Vet?

I use Dr. R. Fredericks in Northport.

I had to go to a different vet once as an emergancy for my other cat. Since I had to pay for an office visit I asked Him what is course of action for cats with asthma....he told me Steroid shot and laughted at me when I spoke about using an inhaler.

Message edited 5/22/2005 9:22:47 PM.

Re: cat asthma

We use to feed them Wellness, now we use Innova. For wet food, they are currently eating Merrick - which they are crazy about. We have also used Wellness and Evolve in the past.

For litter, we have always used World's Best. It is corn based and claims to be almost 100% dust free. However, they get breakdown from it on their paws which I don't know if that may make them cough. We tried Yesterday's News b/c I know that is also suppose to be dust free but THEY ATE IT!!! Crazy cats. They would throw the pellets all over the house then chew on them. We bought a crystal type litter just a little while ago but threw it out once we opened the bag because you could smell the dust right away.

As far as meds go - I don't really see much difference with Theophylline alone but the Flovent has without a doubt helped Oli. Ravi is just on Theophylline and we don't notice a change. However, before Flovent, Oli could barely run around before without a coughing fit. I really recommend you use it. The Flovent is kind of pricey but it is worth it for us. You also will need the Aerokat spacer (which is about $60).

For a vet - we go to the Animal Medical Center in the city. It is expensive but we feel very confident with the care they get there. We live in Queens and when Oli got sick in the middle of the night we rushed her there b/c they are 24 hours. Thank God we found them because me and my husband absolutely ADORE our vets - don't know what we would do without them. We lucked out because one of the top cardiologists and top surgeons took Oli under their wing because her condition last year was very rare in cats (not the asthma but the reaction she got from the steroids). She spent a whole month there and they would talk to us almost everyday. They are the ones who told us about Flovent.

It pisses me off that the vet laughed at you. I would never want to go to a vet who wouldn't consider all the options.

Let me know if you have any questions or need information, I'd be glad to help.

Message edited 5/23/2005 5:13:54 AM.

Re: cat asthma

My 8 year old Siamese has been laboring to breathe these past few weeks. I took her to my vet which said it was possibly feline asthma or allergies. She also had a lump on her breast which he said just to keep an eye on.

She got worse. I took her Friday to see a different vet. This vet took an xray and says she thinks that cancer cells have traveled to Ginger's lungs. The xray looked like it had a spider web in the lungs. No tumor. This vet thinks it is lung cancer.

Ginger received a shot of steroids and theoplylline to take nightly.

I am going to have my old vet consult with the other one. They're both with the same animal care center.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Re: cat asthma

My Bonnie (see picture) was coughing a lot and we took her to the vet and they said she probably has asthma. They treated her with steriods and said if it didn't work they'd have to put her on all kinds of meds.

I hope that it's really asthma and not just something they say when they don't know what's wrong. I can't believe so many ppl on this board alone have cats with asthma! That's crazy!

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Re: cat asthma

Siamese cats are prone to asthma. We think my cats may have a little Siamese in them.

I would really rec. you ask your vets about the inhaled steriods, Flovent being one. If the 110 dose does not work try the 220mcg. It will take about 2 weeks to build up in their system. My cats do great on them. The inhaled steriods do not have the side effects that oral/IV steriods do (ex - infection, diabetes).

Also - it is really important to have dust free litter and don't use a lot of perfumes around the house. Take all the asthma precautions you would with a child.