Asthma, Flovent and Albuterol

xthoroughbred

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My 18 year old cat had been on Flovent for his asthma and got 2 puffs twice a day. About three months ago, we went to the vet and they noticed his breathing sounded worse - there was more wheezing. I was a surprised because I thought he had been doing better. The only time he coughs is after drinking water, but he still sounds very noisy/labored with his breathing. They suggested upping the Flovent to 2 puffs 3 times a day and adding in Albuterol 3 times a day.

Because I think his breathing is getting even worse, I looked up other treatments online and found a site that said using a bronchodilator (such as Albuterol) on a daily basis can actually be damaging to the lungs. I tried to confirm this on another site, which said that it's damaging when used alone without Flovent. I'm worried I have done this before because there is no countdown ticker on the Flovent and it's very hard for me to tell when it's empty.

Is this true? Should I stop using the bronchodilator? Are there any other treatments I can use that are safe for a CRF kitty? We're currently getting acupuncture and laser therapy done on him once a week because of arthritis and I know asthma can be helped by the acupuncture. Has anyone had good results from this? Thanks!!
 

white shadow

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I'm going to pass along the two things I would do - were I faced with this:

First, because increasingly laboured/difficult breathing in a CRF kitty can be a "stand-alone" symptom of anaemia, I'd have this checked out asap...a simple blood test will rule it in/out. You can read about this here http://www.felinecrf.org/anaemia.htm#page_index

Now, as for the inhalant questions, if anyone is going to be on top of all that, it will surely be the people here http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/felineasthma/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1 After 13 years and 3600+ cats, you'll find that they do know a "thing or two" about kitty asthma- and, I'm sure yours will not be the first CRF kitty there. That's where I'd be posing those technical questions.

xthoroughbred, I've just read through all your posts...do you know that you still haven't posted your kitty's name? ....unless, of course, he'd rather remain anonymous
 
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