Aspiration Pneumonia

Is anybody here familiar with aspiration pneumonia? I have a 5 month old kitten who aspirated some of his food. He's been to the vet and is on antibiotics, but the sound of his breathing has me so worried. The vet said that the only cure for this is time and antibiotics. It's killing me to see him so uncomfortable. I posted in the pregnant cats and kittens forum, but I guess no one there has any ideas. I'd just like to have an idea of how long it could take him to heal.

Steam therapy is also helpful for congested kitties.

Some people steam up a bathroom and leave the cat inside for 20-30 minutes several times a day. Confinement in a small room with a vaporiser is an alternate method.

The prognosis is poor at best, if the 3 kittens we've had with this are any example. All died within 24 hours of diagnosis. Ours were all very young, 7 to 8 weeks. The fluid could not be drained from their lungs and the antibiotics couldn't react quickly enough.
Hopefully, yours being older will stand a better chance. You have my best wishes, as this is a terrible way to lose an otherwise healthy kitten.

for you!

GayleMG,

info that might be helpful to you:

http://www.petplace.com/cats/aspirat...ats/page1.aspx

Thank you for all of your comments and suggestions! I will try the steam. The website was very helpful, too.
This kitten has made it 48 hours so far. The problem is that I have been giving him the antibiotics, but I don't see improvement. I'm trying to decide if he is worse. It's hard to tell. He is eating a lot, though. This hasn't affected his appetite.
I'm going to call the ER vet in a few minutes and see if she has any reassuring words! She's the one who said time and antibiotics. Now I want to ask. how much time.

This is not good, I am sorry to here about it. Take care and I hope all turns out well.


K.

Thank you, Wings!

I found this lady earlier today. She is really helpful. I just wanted to give others a heads up about this site. I know that all of you know that the first step with a sick cat is the vet, but this forum can give additional advice when you are still a little unsure. She answered my questions better than the vets I saw in person.

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/show/112

I am having a similar problem...please see my post. How is your kitty doing?

I don't know if this helps you or not, but my vet (about 9 years ago) gave our foster kitten who had aspirated milk ( and I won't go into who gave a 2 1/2 week old kitten a plate of milk, but certainly it wasn't me *sigh*) the tiniest lasix shot (nothing in the syringe, just enough to fill the needle) a couple of times (she also aspirated formula later- that was with me , but I did realize she did it and took her to the vet right away again).

I could hear the gurgling in her tiny lungs, and when they gave her the shot (they may have given/probably gave her an antibiotic shot too, but it was a long time ago...), they gave me a sad look and said that that was the best they could do. Now she is a 9 lb spoiled brat.

I hope you kitten does as well as Smoochie.

Thanks, Catsallover! That gives me hope!
I'm glad your kitty did OK. I'm not sure what lasix is. Maybe I can ask my vet.

I'll take a look at it, kittylover.

You're welcome, laureen! I hope you won't need it though!

Cuddles died this morning. I'm getting a necropsy done to find out what happened.

You're doing the right thing and hopefully they'll have some answers for you.

I'm very, very sorry about Cuddles, this is truly heartbreaking.

(((Hugs)))

I'm very sorry for your loss.

Thank you. I've been feeling terrible about it all day. I guess we can't save them all, but I really loved that little guy. I still have his brother and most of his sisters with me. I had to come straight to work after he died. When I get home from work, I'm going to give hugs to all the kitties I have left.

kittylover, I hope your baby is still hanging in there.

I am so sorry. I was hoping for better news too.
You did a great job with Cuddles, no one coud have done more.

Oh, I am so, so sorry...

Thank you all for the kind words! I have a thread in the Crossing the Bridge forum now. I'm just enjoying the kitties I have left. I'm working on getting over Cuddles.