Tommy has asthma. He has bouts of coughing up to 7 times in 24 hours. He wheezes when he breathes. My vet said we needed to get a sample of the mucus / congestion before prescribing any meds. I really didn't want to put him through that. Tommy is age 10, indoor only, lived with me since he was 4 months old. Asthma developed in June 2016.
Yesterday Tommy was in (with 3 other cats) for their rabies shot. Saw a different vet in this practice. She listened to the 'noise' in his chest, looked at the xrays taken in Dec, and said he has significant disease and needs to be on prednisolone, probably for life. We are starting with a 25 mg tablet twice a day for 4 days, then once a day for 5 days. She said the goal is to control the asthma / wheezing / coughing with a tablet every other day. I asked about long term effects. She replied that cats do very well with this med, they don't have nearly as many issues with it long term as humans and dogs. She also said a cat with asthma can 'crash' and need to be at the ER vet. (I did not know this re asthma.)
So now I am researching online, that is not what I am seeing. I am seeing the same issues with cats as with dogs: Suppression of the immune system, impact on kidneys. Possible diabetes though if caught quickly, this resolves once you stop the pred.
Anyone with any info for asthma long term care? Anyone with long term use of pred. for cats? For now I will follow the meds prescribed so he gets some relief. I'm looking for long term solutions.
Yesterday Tommy was in (with 3 other cats) for their rabies shot. Saw a different vet in this practice. She listened to the 'noise' in his chest, looked at the xrays taken in Dec, and said he has significant disease and needs to be on prednisolone, probably for life. We are starting with a 25 mg tablet twice a day for 4 days, then once a day for 5 days. She said the goal is to control the asthma / wheezing / coughing with a tablet every other day. I asked about long term effects. She replied that cats do very well with this med, they don't have nearly as many issues with it long term as humans and dogs. She also said a cat with asthma can 'crash' and need to be at the ER vet. (I did not know this re asthma.)
So now I am researching online, that is not what I am seeing. I am seeing the same issues with cats as with dogs: Suppression of the immune system, impact on kidneys. Possible diabetes though if caught quickly, this resolves once you stop the pred.
Anyone with any info for asthma long term care? Anyone with long term use of pred. for cats? For now I will follow the meds prescribed so he gets some relief. I'm looking for long term solutions.
