Cheap asthma meds

evezombro

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Recently, my 4 year old boy, Enzo, was diagnosed with asthma.  At first I thought he had a hairball but he never got it out.  The coughing got worse and worse. The radiologist said it may be asthma or it may just be bronchitis. The X-rays weren't very conclusive. He also has FHV. We put him on a corticosteroid pill AND an antibiotic.  When we took him off the antibiotic he went into a full-blown URI.  Sneezing, snotty, watery eyes...the whole thing. Of course he wasn't coughing because he was on the steroids still.  So my instincts tell me it may not be asthma but just a bad URI because my other cat is also sick.  She's not nearly as bad, but she doesn't have herpes and has had her shots less than 6 months ago. 

He's been off the corticosteroids for a week now and has only coughed once.  Before it was like 6 coughing fits a day.  Now he's prescribed a inhaled steroid, Flovent HFC 220 mcg., which I figured can't hurt even if it isn't asthma. I'll give it too him for a few months until he's over this bronchitis. And if it is asthma, he'll start coughing when I take him off of it and I'll just put him back on it. 

Then I saw the price!  $300 at Costco for a 2 month supply!!  That's absoulutely ridiculous for a chronic sickness.  Then I found this site that I just had to share!  Because I don't see how anyone can afford a lifetime of that!

https://www.universalpetmeds.com/medications/Flovent+Inhaler/220mcg+(250mcg)

Needless to say, I ordered him a 4 month supply.
 

Anne

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I'm glad you found an affordable source. I'm not a vet, so while it does make sense that an infectious URI could mask asthma or seem like asthma, I would be very careful to follow the vet's instructions about treatment. Have you asked the vet whether this could possibly just be the URI and not a chronic condition?
 

maday

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how to this work out for you buying from the online pharm?  My senior rescue cat was just diagnosed and in CA my Costco wants $300 for 220 mcg.  That's crazy but I have no choice as I am committed to her.  But I need to find a cheaper place to buy it....
 

ldg

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Bronchitis or other URI issues can absolutely mask asthma, that happened with my Flowerbelle. If you want to "treat" for asthma without using an inhaled steroid, you may want to discuss with your vet trying the approach we use with her. It was a year-long mystery with a diagnostic chain that led all the way to an MRI that "only" found an inner ear infection that needed to be treated with a myringotomy and 3 months of Baytril (!!!).

Her asthma was come-and-go visible on x-ray, usually not visible, leading all of us to think this issue wasn't asthma. But I have several kitties prone to URIs, and this is what I do to support their immune systems to help prevent URIs. The regimen is 250mg lysine twice a day (total 500mg lysine), one-half of a 250mg Jarrow lactoferrin capsule twice a day (total 250mg bovine lactoferrin daily), and 1/2 a Symbiotics Colostrum Plus capsule twice a day. Flowerbelle at 7 pounds gets the same dose as Billy at 14 pounds.

During a flare, I double the lysine, the colostrum, and add 1/4 of a capsule of Transfer Factor Plus. The dose of lactoferrin remains the same. In my FIV+ cat, this resolved a bad URI (he was blowing bubbles) inside of 3 days.

For Flowerbelle's asthma, I have increased her dose of standardized curcumin to 1/32nd teaspoon twice a day. This is the post within her thread where we FINALLY figured out what was wrong: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/253783/...sthma-attack-or-a-weird-purr/150#post_3510250

I just updated her thread with how we're currently managing her asthma.
 
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