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- Sep 6, 2011
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My sweet boy, who is 18 years old and has plenty of health issues, was recently prescribed an Albuterol inhaler for 3x a day as his breathing has become more labored. He's been taking another inhaled corticosteroid 2x a day and has always been okay with that. When I give him the Albuterol, he kind of huffs afterward. It's not quite a cough, but a little wheeze. Is this normal? I obviously want to help his breathing out but is it possible that the Albuterol is making things worse? He is a noisy breather and the vet said (at his most recent appt. about three weeks ago) that he was wheezing. He does not breath through his mouth, though.
I'm also worried that maybe the asthma isn't the problem. He had a chest xray about 9 months ago and everything seemed fine except for some small bronchioles (hence the inhalers). The xray was looked at by both a vet in person and a heart specialist virtually. He has a heart murmur but no vet has ever acted like it is a big deal for him. He is also overweight (19 lbs.) and arthritic. The vet is relatively okay with his weight since it's better for him to eat than not eat, and he's likely gaining weight from the inhaled steroids (although he was around 17 lbs. before those). He went through kidney failure thanks to Metacam about 2 years ago so we have to be gentle with his kidneys. The last time he had bloodwork was probably 9 months ago as well and no red flags were raised there. I'm just giving this background info in case anyone is connecting dots to something I haven't.
I'm planning to do some major spring cleaning in the house tomorrow to get rid of any dust/mold that might be triggering the more labored breathing (which has gotten worse since the weather has been nicer). It's possible this could be the end of the road, though - we've been anticipating it since October - but (hopefully) it's not and we still have time left. In that case, I'm trying to make him comfortable.
Any thoughts?
I'm also worried that maybe the asthma isn't the problem. He had a chest xray about 9 months ago and everything seemed fine except for some small bronchioles (hence the inhalers). The xray was looked at by both a vet in person and a heart specialist virtually. He has a heart murmur but no vet has ever acted like it is a big deal for him. He is also overweight (19 lbs.) and arthritic. The vet is relatively okay with his weight since it's better for him to eat than not eat, and he's likely gaining weight from the inhaled steroids (although he was around 17 lbs. before those). He went through kidney failure thanks to Metacam about 2 years ago so we have to be gentle with his kidneys. The last time he had bloodwork was probably 9 months ago as well and no red flags were raised there. I'm just giving this background info in case anyone is connecting dots to something I haven't.
I'm planning to do some major spring cleaning in the house tomorrow to get rid of any dust/mold that might be triggering the more labored breathing (which has gotten worse since the weather has been nicer). It's possible this could be the end of the road, though - we've been anticipating it since October - but (hopefully) it's not and we still have time left. In that case, I'm trying to make him comfortable.
Any thoughts?
