Feline Asthma

I hope someone can help you out. I'm not sure.

Originally Posted by crazyforinfo

Molly has asthma and yesterday she coughed up a small pile of green liquid with looked like sinus infection mucus. Is this normal? She isn't acting like she has a cold and her breathing sounds the same as always. I thought I read on here that someone has asthma and they said occasionally they have fluid come up. I just wish they could talk to us!

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Originally Posted by crazyforinfo

Molly has asthma and yesterday she coughed up a small pile of green liquid with looked like sinus infection mucus. Is this normal?

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Because you don't know what the green liquid is,
I think that you should give your vet call or take Molly in to be checked.
In humans....a green discharge usually means a bacterial infection.
She may need treatment if it is an infection.

Amanda...
I can see how trying to get a complete dose into Lombardi could be a major problem if you put it in his food.
Can you give it to him like a regular pill?

Loki has asthma too! He just had an attack the night before last - the vet thinks it was caused by dust. We were in the basement pulling down wrapping stuff in a room that is rarely used, so there might have been dust around. It's very scary when they have an attack. His meds got adjusted short-term to ease his breathing, and he'll go back to his maintenance dose in a couple of weeks. He doesn't have inhalers yet - since his attacks are so rare and his asthma is mostly under control, the vet doesn't want to go there unless we have to.

If Loki has to take meds longterm, like my Wellington (every other day for him) I think it is worthwhile to work hard on getting him to accept taking hte pill as a pill. Otherwise you will never know if he has had all of it and it is a long drawn out affair each time. Wellington fought at first, but now he almost opens his mouth for it and doesn't even demand a treat afterwards. I just scruff him, pop the pill in to the back of his mouth and stroke his chin for a moment.

I'm calling the vet today to see if this pill can be given just as a pill. It is a very chalky type of pill and I don't want it to get stuck in his throat.

Thanks for the advice

If you get the OK from your vet you might start a new thread about how to administer a dry pill to a kitty without breaking it up into food.

I think that some people use unsalted butter to coat a pill.
You could also ask one of the vet's techs.
They might have good tip about how to do it.
Let us know what you find out.

I just saw this thread for the first time. My Harvey has asthma, and was diagnosed with it about five years ago. We were able to control for a long time with occasional steroid shots, but lately he's needed them more and more frequently and they don't seem to be working as well. So we just switched him to the Flovent inhaler. We're starting with one puff a day, and that seems to be doing much better. (Though he's a very skittish cat and is still pretty irritated with me. We did a full senior blood panel, which turned up a high white blood cell count. So he was on an oral antibiotic for a couple weeks before we started the inhaler. I'm definitely persona non grata with him just now.)

Thanks for the resources you've posted here. I'm definitely checking them out.

Well after talking to the vet this morning. He was concerned about Lombardi doing well on pills (my husband didn't tell me that!) due to cats being much harder to fool or to give pills to. He also said in doing Lombardi would probably need something in additon to the pill. He told us to order the aerokat and he will give us a prescription for a daily and rescue inhaler.

Last night Lombardi wouldn't even touch his food. So I cheated and threw it away and gave him fresh and he ate it up and then loved on me so much last night. I think the inhalent will be so much better for him because it won't be associated with his food.

I am off to order the aerokat. I'll keep you posted with the med levels etc!

Husbands

Awww .... Lombari hated the taste of that pill in his food.
You are taking such good care of him...
Treating a kitty who has asthma is never easy.
Thanks for keeping us updated on his progress.
It will be interesting to see how he does with his inhaler.

Well we are going on day 3 of 110mg of Flovent inhaler. We are suppose to be doing it 2 times a day, but so far have eased him in with one per day. When I am home on vacation for the next 2 weeks I will make sure he gets up to that 2 times a day. Then the vet wants him to go down to once per day.

The first time he didn't get any. The second day I would say 3 seconds and today about 8 secs!!! We are slowly but surely working our way up to the full 10 seconds!

Currently we are in a two person holding process, but I"m hoping to try it alone soon.

How is Lombardi's breathing?
Does the inhaler seem to be helping.

Your vacation timing is perfect...
It will give you a chance to give the treatment twice a day plus monitor Lombardi's breathing.

Your sweetie remains in my thoughts.
I really appreciate your updates..
I am learning from them.
Dexter may face this someday.

^ Ditto

I was wondering the same thing.

Harvey started the inhaler about three weeks ago, and I had the same challenges. (Though it was just a one-person holding process...I've been trying to keep DH uninvolved so Harvey's only stressed around one of us.) I must say that he's adjusted to it far better than I ever would have expected. I still have to roust him out of his hiding place when it's time, but once he's caught he doesn't fight it, and will even stay for a nice petting session afterwards.

I think it helped that I started giving him his inhaler on his catnip pad, which I sprayed with Feliway. I think it helps calm him a bit.

I have a question, does humidity help/not help...also is it better to keep the house on the cool side or warmer side?

Good questions....
I don't have the answers.

Litter dust seems to be the main culprit involved with Dexter's lung inflammation.

Originally Posted by crazyforinfo

Molly has asthma and yesterday she coughed up a small pile of green liquid with looked like sinus infection mucus. Is this normal? She isn't acting like she has a cold and her breathing sounds the same as always. I thought I read on here that someone has asthma and they said occasionally they have fluid come up. I just wish they could talk to us!

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I had asthma from the age of 2 to around 18 when I started growing out of it. I have no idea about cats,but yes, occasionally, humans with asthma will cough up some phlegm and it can occasionally be green, fluid will sometimes accumulate a bit in the lungs with human asthmatics.. I was so happy when at the age of 12 I was prescribed my first inhaler. It was really nice to be able to breath again and not have to suffer through sometimes hours long attacks because the pills just didn't work fast enough.

Asthma takes place both in the lungs and the throat. A severe Asthma attack can cause the lungs to fill up with fluid, and the throat to constrict, causing suffocation. As someone who had to be hospitalized more than once when I was a kid, I can tell you that you never want to die by Suffocation, it's a really horrible way to go. You feel like you're breathing through one of those very thin and small coffee-stirrer straws.

ok what kind do you use again? I use the a&h and she seems to do ok with that. She was doing just fine with 2 steroids and 1/4 turbutaline a day and now that we are decreasing, problems.

Originally Posted by Rosey

I have a question, does humidity help/not help...also is it better to keep the house on the cool side or warmer side?

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In humans it can help to break up the phlegm, though it's not enough in it's own right.

I believe I saw someone else mentioning that moving out to the country really helped her cat. Interestingly enough, when My parents moved me out of Anaheim, California, it helped me a great deal as well. In a lot of cases the Asthma is usually due more to the chemical pollutants in the air/dust/surfaces that could be causing the issue. The dust/pollen, etc. Usually just makes the issue worse but is often not the only cause.

Well its been awhile.

Lombardi is currently getting 2 puffs of 110 mg of flovant each day. He has had a few small attacks that has required him to get a rescue inhaler. He has adjusted great to his inhaler. This weekend I even had my brother do it when we were out of town and Lombardi was great!

I haven't been able to keep him on one puff a day, because when I do that about 2 days later he is coughing. I need to call the vet to see if this is meaning he will always need 2 puffs.

Well Lombardi has been doing great! He currently gets 2 puffs in the am and 2 puffs in the pm. He has been symptom free for the past few months. He is off to the vet in July for a check up. Just wanted to keep you updated if you were curious!