asthma attack?

We weaned Isis off her steroids and she is supposed to be on one pill a day for another week. We started this on Thursday.

I'm already noticing that she sometimes has a little bit harder time breathing. She will be fine, sitting and then start breathing deeper and her nostrils start going. I gave her her steroid and her terbutaline too today.

I am pretty sure that stress triggers her as well as dust and I found her in my closet yesterday a few times. How do they get in there??

So please send vibes. I'm sure she'll be ok, we just need to find out what we need to do to control her asthma.

Asthma is such a challenging disease.
I am sending lots of calm, easy breathing vibes.
Come on Isis...you can do it sweetie.

Thank you so much! She is doing great now, she actually played, chased Orion.
I am just so worried about this weaning but at least we know what it is and I know that meds will get her all better and fast. I went to check on her and she was snoozing soundly behind the couch, under the piano. That's her hiddy hole. It has a bunch of piano books there though so i'm going to get plastic tubs and clean thoroughly under there to make sure everything is as dust free as possible.

have you tried changing some things around the house to help the asthma? (vaccuming more often, brushing her more, using nondusty litter, etc.)

yes, i am still adjusting somethings. It's only been a few weeks and i've been sick all week. I specifically bought a new vacuum with a hepa filter and I dusted thoroughly yesterday but she wasn't in the room. She was in my bedroom. I bought our regular good litter which doesn't have much dust.
We're still working on adjusting a lot of things. I want to get an air purifier but that's not possible. We had an 800$ car repair bill

What else?!?

But we are working on it and i'm definately going to do more. Since she likes that spot under the piano, I am going to remove all the books, vacuum thoroughly. The piano is against the wall and my couch is against the piano. The piano has some problems and it's not working and we live in an appartment so I had to make room. I'm probably going to do that tonight since I can't sleep.

I vacuum every day. We have birds so I have to vacuum every day if not every other day for sure. Sometimes I can't if we get home too late or the car breaks down....

Anyways, I am rambling but if there is more I need to do, please let me know. I am new at this and I want to do everythign I can to prevent her from having asthma attacks and hopefully

Sending lots of healthy, easy breathing vibes to you and Isis.

Well after cleaning her hidy hole really well yesterday, she won't go back! Grr! I put a round hidey hole back there and i put a blanket behind there tonight. She loves laying on blankets so I thought maybe it would make her come back there. She is under the tree, as good as can be.
She is breathing a little deeper and I called the vet this morning but she never called me back I'll call again in the morning.
I'm not sure if I should give her another steroid or her turbutaline. I'll see how she does later on.

ASAP...I would discuss with your vet about what you should do if her breathing deteriorates.
I have an emergency pet hospital nearby that is open at night and on holidays.
I have their phone number on my fridge & would give a quick call so they would be ready when I pull up to their door.
There is little room for delay with an asthma attack.

How is Isis doing now?

I know where the emergency vet is too. She gave us that number on the first night when we thought she was going to crash.
She is doing fine. I think stress triggers a lot of her "spells" but she has not had an open mouth episode at all. She just starts breathing a little faster or a lot deeper.
This afternoon her nostrils were flaring. I have been vacumming (hepa filter vacuum) every single day to remove as much dust and dirt and hair as I can. I notice that the amount I am pulling out is decreasing. I'm going to start dusting more often if I can. I can't do it when my husband is around or he will have a nose bleed or worse. I dust with a damp rag too so everything doesn't fly.
This I think is the biggest change in our lives. My husband had diabetes and that didn't even really change things this much.

So she is fine and resting. I'm definately calling tomorrow first thing. I'm worried if she has to stay on a large amount of drugs, how will that affect the rest of her body?

You are taking such good care of Isis.
I need to follow your example and buy a vacuum with a hepa filter.

I have a hepa filter in our bedroom....
a Honeywell that I have used for several years.
That is for me because I have Asthma too.
I wonder I passed it down to Dexter?
They do say it runs in families.

Dexter had a depo-medrol shot that can last as long as 3 months.
I was concerned about side affects too, especially after I read up on that medication.
He is doing well now though, so the medication seems to have helped knock down his lung inflammation.
Let us know what you find out today.

Good luck with Isis - it is hard to know what to do for asthma. You seem to be doing everything possible and I hope it works.

Well I gave her 2 steroids and her 1/4 pill this morning, she was breathing hard again. She did fine on that but cutting it makes her do not so well. I wonder about those shots. A shot every 3 months isn't too bad compared to pills every day.
Do you have meds just in case he has an attack?

I need to get a purifier but i need to wait until our tax refund for that. My jeep still has no heat after i told them to fix it...

I am still waiting on the vet to call me back. They were short a person blah blah blah. I think she's fine, I just want to know what we can do to figure out her long term care. I am not thrilled with her being on 2 and 1/4 for a long period of time.

Dexter has not needed medication since his last flair up but it sounds like Isis's asthma is more severe than his.

I know that this is really stressful for you....
If you can, you might want to get a referral to a specialist or vet school if there is one near by.

You need a vet who is your partner in Isis treatment ....
I know that it can get expensive fast so a good vet who really understands the treatment of asthma may be less expensive in the long run.

I am not saying that your current vet is not a good one but I do wonder way he is not more responsive.
Maybe you need to clarify to him, what you expect.
You are not alone in this.
Isis

Well apparently they are shorthanded so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt this time.

They put her on an antibiotic just in case she has an upper respitory crud going on as well. After she finishes that treatment we will reassess decreasing her steroids.
She wants me to keep her on the 2/ 1/4 since she did well on that.

I am going to try to find a good cheap (oxymoron i know) air purifier hopefully in about a month. I have birds and they do give off a lot of dander.

I'm not surprised no one is looking for her now but she is ours and she is loved and i hope she knows it eventhough the meanie lady keeps putting pills in her mouth!

Ok the vet called me again today and told me that as long as she is doing well on the 2 / 1/4 combo, we can leave her at that dosage but we'll have to test her liver every year and watch for diabetes. She said we could probably wait until summer to have it done but if I have enough money I'll do it earlier just to make sure.

Keep your fingers crossed!