Opinions, please? Is Flowerbelle having a mild asthma attack or a weird purr?

HI HUN!!!! :sun: MEGA LOVING VIBES to our Flowerbelle this morning. She certainly DOES get into her purring and I wonder if that brings on an episode because that closes off her throat a little? :dk: Who knows... Wendall's main symptom is the coughing upon rising in the morning after sleeping all night, after a nap and after exercise. It is a raspy, mucousy cough. He has not had any breathing episodes such as your girl, yet. Wendall has not seen the vet here in Indiana yet, but I discussed him with her when I went to meet her. He will soon go in for another x-ray.

I do hope that the pred, in the lowest dose that works for her, and given periodically, will help with these episodes. Seems that all the vets say that the Pred. is the first course of treatment. Inhaler after and adequan can be added as well.

Flowerbelle is such a little angel and so dear. Give that little darlin' a big, snuggly hug from Auntie L and let us know how she does today :rub: :heart3:

edit: Adding a question here. Has she had any of these episodes while not purring? If you already mentioned this above, I must have missed it. :bigwink:

You know what? She hasn't had any of those episodes without the purring! Interesting. And it's also when she's excited about something (often a meal :lol3: ). Though she did have one when waking up from a nap the other day, she woke up because she heard me open the Whole Life bag to fill up the little jars....

She had a really short one this morning, and she had a short little (dry) cough at 3:00pm today. (Using this thread to keep track of these now).

For dinner, she was purring REALLY hard and squealing, and her body was heaving like it does when she has the episode, but she was clearly breathing.. clearly. :lol3:

I also wonder if I have damaged her throat by pilling her with her heart medication daily without using a water chaser. I do give it to her right before she eats, so has the moist food and the liquid in the bowl. It's a teeny quarter pill, but... I think I'll start coating it in a little butter so it definitely would go down smoothly.

She had another - very short - episode of that breathing. It was, again, at a meal. She was excitedly pacing around on the counter, purring and squealing up a storm.

But now I have to give her pred 2x a day. So I got everything out to get breakfast ready, and then gave her the pred. It was just after I gave it to her that the breathing thing happened. But I put a bite of raw juicy chicken down to "chase" the pred, and she ate it - which stopped the weird breathing episode. So it was just two very short labored... squealy things.

There hasn't been any more coughing so far.

I totally get your concern about your hurting her throat with all of these pilings. I am not sure that would really cause these new breathing episodes. I do not think you have damaged her throat unless you are jamming a pill shooter way in there each and every time. Believe me, I have had my issues with trying to pill Pipsqueak and worry about that too. The throat/mouth will heal real fast and if you find another way to pill her easily and she stops these episodes then you have your answer. Her throat was sore. I just don't think that is it. :dk: It is so tricky and takes some thought about HOW to get those darn pills into our cats, safely, quickly and easily.

I wanted to mention that Walden does a very similar breathing sound when he purrs. He gets SO into purring and makes a squealing noise with each breath. There are times when he does open his mouth during his love fest purring but he doesn't stretch his head up in the air and open the mouth like Flowerbelle did in the video. I want to tell you not to worry but I know first hand that is impossible. :lol3:

I also forgot to mention in the PM to you that I have empty pill capsules on hand and if a pill will fit inside a capsule (pred will.). I get the capsule a bit wet so it becomes sticky. Stick it on something that she will absolutely devour and down the shoot it goes. Hopefully. Just another trick I have on my list of pilling ideas.

:rub::rub: Flowerbelle :heart3:

Thanks! I do keep capsules on hand. I'm going to try soaking some FD liver and using that as a "pill pocket" and see how that goes... the heart med is 1/4 of a small pill. I don't use a pill shooter, I just use my finger. I typically just slip it over the hump of the toungue, and then put down a treat to eat, so she swallows the pill to eat the treat. But I worry about it going down dry....

LDG said:

Thanks! I do keep capsules on hand. I'm going to try soaking some FD liver and using that as a "pill pocket" and see how that goes... the heart med is 1/4 of a small pill. I don't use a pill shooter, I just use my finger. I typically just slip it over the hump of the toungue, and then put down a treat to eat, so she swallows the pill to eat the treat. But I worry about it going down dry....

Click to expand...

I can use my finger for some of the cats but not for Pipsqueak. He thrashes and I end up with gashes. (hey, it's a rythme.... thrashes/gashes. ) Yeah, I always follow up with a treat or food too. I have also used the FD treats to stuff pills in after soaking the treat first. :cross: for your homemade pill pocket to work.

No coughing or breathing incidents since my last update.

I'm suspecting I need to change the way I pill her, and that she doesn't need the pred. I'll keep her on it for the week and taper her off. The cough... I don't know what to think. But the pred is making her hyper for sure. :lol3:

FD liver doesn't soak up water very well. :lol3: But I have started adding a small amount of the krill oil to her breakfast instead of pilling her with it, and she ate it this morning. So hopefully I'll be able to work her up to the whole pill. The heart med is really small. I put a touch of butter on it, and she ate it. :cross:

Ooooooo this is GOOD news on the little sweetie!! :rub: for no more episodes!!! :cross:

Little pills are the best, are they not!!! Glad the butter works for now for the heart meds. :nod: :cross: Seems we have to become tricksters when it comes to thinking of techniques to get meds into the kitties. :lol3:

Well, she did have a tiny episode like the one in the video in the middle of dinner tonight.

But now that I'm altering how I pill her... I don't know if the reduction in incidence is because of that or the pred!

On the other hand, there has been NO coughing.

Laurie, I'm wondering about something. Could you possibly talk to your vet about using prednisone injections instead of pilling? The injections can be adjusted to the exact amount of the pills you would be using. Like 1 mg, 0.5 mg, or whatever. Any amount. You give the injections the same way you would give subq fluids. And they are a Godsend because they bypass the esophagus and the stomach. No irritation and, most importantly, they can be given even if a kitty is not eating. I really consider them a special blessing.

Thank you so much for the idea Violet!

Right now, I'm suspecting that Lauren's right about the breathing thing - it's related to her crazy purring - but affected by my having been pilling her with her heart meds daily for the last year.

As to the coughing... so far it does seem to have basically gone away since being on the pred. But given it was so infrequent before, I'm wondering if it needs to be treated with pred. We'll keep her on this dose for a few more days, but I'm not sure we need to go the full week, and I'll taper her off, and we'll see what happens I guess. :cross:

But if it turns out she needs the pred, that is definitely the way I'd want to go!

Violet said:

Laurie, I'm wondering about something. Could you possibly talk to your vet about using prednisone injections instead of pilling? The injections can be adjusted to the exact amount of the pills you would be using. Like 1 mg, 0.5 mg, or whatever. Any amount. You give the injections the same way you would give subq fluids. And they are a Godsend because they bypass the esophagus and the stomach. No irritation and, most importantly, they can be given even if a kitty is not eating. I really consider them a special blessing.

Click to expand...

LDG said:

But if it turns out she needs the pred, that is definitely the way I'd want to go!

Click to expand...

I had no idea about Pred injections!! That is really, really great to know and IS a little blessing if pilling a cat who needs Pred daily is practically impossible. That's the way I would go to, if need be.

OK, I'm not pilling her with anything any longer. I'm sorry it took this to get me there, but...

She does continue to have these breathing things. She had one AFTER breakfast this morning. It isn't as bad - but it is "revved" purring with her mouth opening on each breath intake. Knowing us, we'll probably go ahead and schedule the endoscopy, just for peace of mind.

Awwwww Laurie, for you and Flowerbelle!

Just looked at the video and read all the responses. That is GOOD to know about the pred. Goes into the file for future possible use. I have no idea what poor Flowerbelle's issue might be.

I've only seen a cat do this once and it was Hoot when we first found her. BUT, hers was cause by massive injuries from being thrown from a car. She had a herniated diaphram which needed surgery but we could not do it for a week because she only weighed in at 1 1/2 pounds and they couldn't get an IV needle in her until she gained a few more ounces.

I'm hoping Flowerbelle improves since the pilling has stopped. Maybe it will just take some time for her to get back to normal breathing? I dunno. I think the endoscopy is a good idea and might give you some peace of mind about what is going on with her. Poor baby. She is labored at times but does not seem distressed.

NutroMike said:

I've only seen a cat do this once and it was Hoot when we first found her. BUT, hers was cause by massive injuries from being thrown from a car. She had a herniated diaphram which needed surgery but we could not do it for a week because she only weighed in at 1 1/2 pounds and they couldn't get an IV needle in her until she gained a few more ounces.

 

Click to expand...

It's interesting you say this, NutroMike, as it is the kind of sound Sundar used to make as a kitten after he had raced around madly, and that was because he has pectus excavatum, so his diaphragm is quite severely affected (he's now learned not to race around madly ). 

I was assuming Flowerbelle's issue was higher up because of the motion of her throat, but maybe a diaphragm or lung issue could be something to consider, Laurie?

It's certainly worth asking about. She had ultrasounds done of her chest and abdomen just a few months ago when we were working on diagnosing the reason for her high blood pressure. At the time they found nothing unusual - but I know the "tuning" on those things based on what you're looking at/for can make a difference now that it's all digital, so ... ???

It was also suggested in another thread that I have her checked for Bordatella because of the slight cough she had. She didn't have any other symptoms, and the cough has gone away completely on the pred - but I don't know if that rules it out or not.

She also has a small spot on her face, near her nose. I totally forgot to ask about it when we were there for her breathing issue. So another long list to head back to the vet with. :lol3: We'll probably stop by their Monday to have a chat with the vet before we bring her in again.

I suspect she's still going to want to start with the endoscopy. But we'll see. I REALLY appreciate all the input!!!

How is Flowerbelle?

Thanks for asking. I was JUST coming to update the thread. :lol3:

I tapered her off the pred. Yesterday was her first full day off the pred - this morning she was coughing, in the "asthma" position. I'm obviously going to keep a log of her coughing - we'll see if it's enough to merit being treated.

We scheduled the endoscopy. We have to drop her off Friday morning and pick her up Friday evening.

It's one of two doctors doing it, and I just realized that one of the docs that may do it is probably one of the docs we REALLY dislike (she got married, which may be why I didn't recognize her name). But the one we'd really like to do it is out of town until the 18th. We may just wait until then if they can't guarantee that the doc we don't like won't be the one responsible for performing it. (That might be too many negatives :lol3: but you know what I mean).

OH Laurie, I totally agree (and about the negatives :lol3:, I get it!!) with you wanting to make sure you have the vet you trust do the endoscopy. If you think Flowerbelle is about the same and not getting worse then you could wait till the 18th?? But that would mean putting her back on the Pred for another week?? Either way, I know Flowerbelle could not be in better hands! :heart3: Loads and loads and loads of vibes/prayers to our little Flowerbelle. :rub: and HUGS HUGS for momma :grphug: :heart2: