Asthma or Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP)...

Hello everyone,
My cat was sick back in january. At that time he was coughing alot, his eyes were very watery and he became very lethargic. I took him to the vet and he was prescribed some medication (Amoxacillin mixture I think) and that was for a URI I think. We also started to force feed him because he wasn't eating anything (prob cause his throat was too sore). Well he got better from that but not completely. He gained back his weight and became active again. His sister never got sick and is still up and lively as hell. Oh yea these cats are around 6 months old.

Recently he started to get very very lethargic, breathing with is abdomen and he eventually stopped eating (that was last monday). I took him to the vet that day and that morning was when he stopped doing his usualy routine (comming to see me at my computer at night and purring and rubbing up against my face and also waking me and my gf up at 7 am every morning by purring and rubbing up against our faces). The vet said that he was pink, which is good (oxygen I think), his heart sounded good, his temperature was good also. He got a chest X-Ray to see if there was fluid in his lungs, there wasnt but his bronchiols stood out. (everything else in teh X-Ray looked good though) The vet said she didn't know what it could be and that we could try the amox again and see if that made him any better... well it didn't.

His breathing as gotten worse, hes started to breathe through his mouth now and he is the weakest I have ever seen him. I took him to the vet again today and hes lost weight, we got some pregnesone to treat for asthma but if it isnt that and its the FIP then (the vet said) that it'll just feed the FIP and make him worse. We also got some super vaccine to give him intramuscular.

His poo is really really thick and it doesn't smell like 'normal' poo. Its very viscous too.

I think that he's prob going to die soon but I thought I'd post on here and see if anyone has any ideas or has had the same experiences with their cat. Also maybe to educate people if their cats have the same symptoms.

Ive read that FIP is the worst because there is no cure or real treatment and it is very very hard to diagnose since it can mimic symptoms from so many other illness'.

Thanks for reading my post, let me know if anyone has any ideas.

Sorry if any of it was hard to read or understand... ive been up for over 40 hours with only a few hours sleep.

Sorry your Cat is Sick. It dosent sound like Asthma. I have a Cat with Asthma and she has a Uri right now. If your Cat has the wet form of fip he will not live. Is there anything else he could have?

What is the difference between the wet form and the dry form? He doesn't have any fluid in his loungs... if that is a symptom of the wet form.

There can't be anything else that he would have. If it is something else the antibiotics that were giving him intramuscularly should clear it up.

Its funny that a week ago he was happy, purring and cuddly. Now he can hardly stand up.

Here are some links for Fip
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/fip.html
http://www.peteducation.com/article....&articleid=212
What makes the vet think it is Asthma or Fip?
I can help if it turns out to be Asthma.
The Vet thought my Yoshi might have the Dry form of Fip last May but they were never sure. He was Pts in Jan and had Kidney Stones that could not be removed.

I'm hoping for asthma - maybe a chronic bronchitis with it, which could account for the thicker bronchioles.
During an asthma attack, belly breathing is actually encouraged as it helps open the lungs up with each breath.
When you can't breath, you don't feel like eating. It's hard to breath while you are chewing or lapping up food. And breathing during an asthma attack is very exhausting - very exhausting.
The prednisone will help with the inflammation, but won't open up the air sacs. Something along the line of albuterol or another rescue drug needs to be used. Prednisone might stimulate the appetite, but not if the breathing doesn't get better. It also causes increased thirst, heart rate, breathing rate and makes one jittery.
The pink gums just mean there is good blood flow - it doesn't really show the oxygen concentration.

Thoughts and prayers headed your way.

Here is a Video of a Cat with Asthma.
http://cats.about.com/od/catvideos/y...cat_asthma.htm
My Coco just had a bad Asthma attack last week and got a Depo Medrol Shot but it is still acting up a little. She also is on Antibiots because she got a terrible Cold too. When we found out Coco had asthma i was told she had a tumor by a bad Vet. Maybe you can get a 2nd opinon. The vet I go to now knew it was Asthma very fast. I was told she had Bronchitis years before she went to the bad Vet.

Mews2much,
Thanks for the site links
The vet said that he has all the signs of FIP except for the fluid in the loungs. And same with allergic bronchitis. He doesn't have and cough right now its more of him struggling to breathe or get breath. When he was sick the first time back in January he had a cough but it didn't sound like that cat in the video... maybe its cause hes a kitten and it sounds different. His cough was more of a... cough-and-let-all-your-breath-out kinda cough.

In my town (its my university town) there is really only one vet, the other one closed down this year. I think there is a shelter vet and I might give them a call and come in just to get their take on his situation.

Mom of 4,
Thanks for your information. He seems to be really dehydrated no matter how much liquid we give him (we do the skin test on the back of the neck). Ill ask the vet tomorrow about the albuterol... if he is still alive by then that is. Hmm thats interesting the vet didn't mention that prednisone increases breathing rate.

His body temperature seems to have gone down and his breathing is still very bad. I don't think he gets much sleep because of his struggle to breathe. He is very very very weak right now and he looks like he might go today. If he doesn't i think I might have to put him to sleep tomorrow. I don't want him to suffer... but I also don't want him to go....

I do hope it isn't FIP - it doesn't always cause fluid in the lungs, the most common place for fluid build up is the abdomen. Every cat is affected in different ways though. I will keep you in my prayers.

I sure hope it isnt Fip. Coco dosent sound like the Cat in the video either. Sorry he is doing bad. They think my Yoshi had Dry Fip and he was Pts Jan 11 He would Cough once in awhile but not like your Cat is. He was down to 5.2 Pounds when he was Pts from 14. He had Kidney Stones that could not be removed. Coco had had the Pred before but she never breathed like that from it.

Has bloodwork been done? Most (though not all) cats with FIP have specific blood work values that indicate FIP is likely--namely high total protein, high globulin and low albumin levels. If you've had blood work done, it would be helpful to see the values.

well... we didn't get blood work done. The vet said that bloodwork wasn't reliable... so we trusted that. He's on pregnesone now so I think that that interferes with bloodwork (beause its a steroid).

Oh I fogot to ask a question.

He's making a *thunk* noise when he swallows sometimes. What does that mean?

He needs to get blood test. Something else might show up in the test. Coco makes that noise when her Asthma is bad sometimes.

I'm sorry I can't be too helpful. My first Smudge died of the dry form of FIP. Usually the wet form shows up as fluid in the abdomen, that can be aspirated with a needle. Does he have a fever? That was our big symptom. A fever that doesn't go down with antibiotics.

The blood test specifically for FIP is not reliable (it is a titer test and measure only exposure to the feline enteric coronavirus), but a general blood screen that checks chemistry values like protein, potassium, etc. and white and red blood cell counts should definitely be done to rule out other problems. FIP is hard to diagnose, and it should only be diagnosed when you have excluded all the other possibilities.

No he doesn't have a fever. Is body temperature is actually really low. We keep him heated with a heating pad.

Im going to be going to the vet in around 4 hours so I will ask if we can get a blood test done (even though he is steroids). How long do the results take to come in?

thanks again everyone for your help with this

yet another night without sleep for me

Depends on what Tests they take. Some take a day to come back. Some tests come back within a hour.

Hello everyone. Thank you for all your help with Spaz. Unfortunatly he passed away about 20 min ago. I can honestly say it was the worst experience ever for me and even worse for him.
I was sleeping and my gf started yelling for me, I came over and he was jerking around. He basically ended up suffocating in my arms. I tried to clear is throat but couldn't do it. He was throwing up dark coffee ground stuff (I think it was blood).

I feel so bad because I wanted to help him or just let him die right away but he suffocated for like 1 minute.

Again thank you everyone and keep Spazy in your thoughts.

So sorry about your Cat.

My deepest condolences to you.