I recently adopted a young male cat, who appeared to be having occasional asthma attacks when playing or sleeping (he's had two, a few weeks apart). Head down, neck stretched out, tongue sticking out, rasping noises -- looked EXACTLY like any YouTube video of a cat having an asthma attack.
But our vet says his lungs sound fine and there is absolutely no sign of asthma. He's also had a negative heartworm test and has been on heartworm preventative for several months.
The things that finally led our vet to the answer:
- Both times it happened were right after he'd been upside-down (once playing on his back, once sleeping on his back). He returns to an upright position and then immediately crouches down, stretches out his neck, and struggles to breathe.
- Both times, convinced that he was choking, I had run over and grabbed him and pulled his mouth open to see if I could clear whatever he was choking on (never found anything), at which point his breathing immediately went back to normal. Apparently asthma attacks don't abruptly stop like that.
- He's carrying a couple extra pounds (not huge, but he's 13 pounds.)
She says that, just like overweight humans can have fat around the airway that gives them sleep apnea, overweight cats can too -- that's why it happens when he's been upside-down, and why me rushing over and grabbing him always ends the episode, because it changes his head/neck position and re-opens the airway.
All we have to do is get him to lose a couple pounds and he's going to be fine!!!
After all of that, I didn't even flinch at the $30 diet food, it's still way cheaper than the inhalers I was bracing myself to buy... and, most importantly, HE'S GOING TO BE FINE!!!
But our vet says his lungs sound fine and there is absolutely no sign of asthma. He's also had a negative heartworm test and has been on heartworm preventative for several months.
The things that finally led our vet to the answer:
- Both times it happened were right after he'd been upside-down (once playing on his back, once sleeping on his back). He returns to an upright position and then immediately crouches down, stretches out his neck, and struggles to breathe.
- Both times, convinced that he was choking, I had run over and grabbed him and pulled his mouth open to see if I could clear whatever he was choking on (never found anything), at which point his breathing immediately went back to normal. Apparently asthma attacks don't abruptly stop like that.
- He's carrying a couple extra pounds (not huge, but he's 13 pounds.)
She says that, just like overweight humans can have fat around the airway that gives them sleep apnea, overweight cats can too -- that's why it happens when he's been upside-down, and why me rushing over and grabbing him always ends the episode, because it changes his head/neck position and re-opens the airway.
All we have to do is get him to lose a couple pounds and he's going to be fine!!!
After all of that, I didn't even flinch at the $30 diet food, it's still way cheaper than the inhalers I was bracing myself to buy... and, most importantly, HE'S GOING TO BE FINE!!!
