Oh no...not again!!

Hi everyone. I haven't checked in for quite some time but did today because I am going through another cat crisis. Forgive me if this is long, I just have to vent.

As some of you know my kitty Minmin was diagnosed with asthma a few months ago. She is now on medication and doing extremely well.

Well, last night our another cat Peanut started coughing and hacking. She is showing the exact same symptoms Minmin was having. The episodes last only a short while. Well just a few minutes ago she started again. I am so worried that she has come down with the same thing. I gave her laxatone for hairballs just in case it could be that but I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that it is asthma.

I will wait a few days to see if the symptoms persist before consulting the vet. If it is asthma I do not mind treating her with the necessary medications. The only thing that frustrates me is having to go through the vet visits and tests which will again cost an arm and a leg only to be told the obvious.

I am wondering if anyone here is as unlucky with their kitties as I am. I used to let my kitties be indoor/outdoor. But when incidents started happening resulting in constant vet visits, we decided to make them indoor cats only. Well, I am still going quite frequently to the vet for some reason or other.

What ticks me off in all this, is that I know people who have outdoor cats only and absolutely nothing ever happens to them. They don't eat the best of foods, they are in contact with other stray cats, they spend all their time outside doing lord knows what and they NEVER HAVE ANY MEDICAL PROBLEMS!!

My cats are just the opposite, they eat the best of foods, are treated like kings and queens yet are always coming down with something. Just last month they all came down with ear mites and all had to be treated. How in the world could they get ear mites when they are indoors only? I just don't get it!!

Don't get me wrong, I love my cats dearly but just get so frustrated with these constant headaches. I just had to ask if there were others, like me, as unlucky.

And please say a little prayer that Peanut does not have asthma. I think your prayers will help. Thanks for listening.

Hi! You're not the only one with two cats with asthma. I had two. I say HAD two because Chloe just recently was put to sleep due to bad arthritis. Both were indoor cats but had access to the outdoors via a catdoor to an enclosed cat pen. I also have a cat with renal failure, lost a cat to a heart condition, one has neurological and skeletal problems and another has arthritis. I was feeling sorry for myself one day recently and my husband says that God (no offense to anyone that doesn't believe in God) gives the hard luck cases to the people he is sure is going to nurture and love them regardless. Kind of corny but it made me feel better LOL

Just a warning....both my cats that were on oral steroids for several years developed terrible arthritis. Related or not I don't know for sure. If you can do the inhaled sterioids this is considered somewhat safer. Take care.

Hi Brenda,

So sorry to hear about Chloe.
So I quess I'm not the only one blessed with this...was wondering if I was the only one. I even asked my vet that question and he said no I wasn't. I also asked myself that same question you were asking... if the man upstairs knew to give me problematic kitties because he knew I'd take care of them. Still frustrating though!!

Here's a list of the problems I have gone through:

Bud was hit by a car...had a dislocated right leg, a broken left shoulder and a fractured jaw. Required orthopedic surgery but has recovered completely. Since the accident, he now feels the need to mark his territory occasionally. Because of that, he is on Diazepam which helps to a certain extent. I always get angry with him when he leaves me a little dribble. GRRRR!!

Another was shot by a neighbor. Entered her backside and exited just missing her spine. She has also recovered completely. I do not have any medical problems with her besides her missing the litterbox every now and then and having to clean up after her.GRRRRR!!

Max was also shot(let's just say I am not too fond of my neighbor) but it wasn't severe...he missed I quess. His only problem is that after he goes for number 2, he feels the need to drag his butt on the basement floor. It's a full time job scrubbing those marks up. GRRRRR!! and also cleaning his butt!!

Minmin, of course, has asthma.

Oscar snores...but I can live with that.

Peanut has never had any medical problems except a negative reaction to being vaccinated. I am so praying that I do not hear another cough tonight.

Years ago, I had to put one down following a severe injury and another just diappeared (I don't think the neighbor missed that time).

So that is the reason why they have become indoor only. The outdoors here is just too dangerous.

I should have mentionned that Minmin IS on the inhalers. I had heard beforehand that oral meds were not recommended and did not want to go that way. Thanks for the warning though...really appreciate it.

And thanks for your reply!! Take care also!!

Sorry for venting again guys...just feels good to get it off my chest!!

I have had, and still do have, my share of outside only cats. They do not stay healthy, but because you see them so much less, when they get sick, I believe they just crawl off and die.

A barn cat with asthma? Most people would see the cat sniffling or wheezing, wonder if he had a cold...and before you know it kitty sneaks off and is gone. Same thing with a gunshot, rather than coming home-in the house, they head for the hayloft or somewhere inaccessable, and either survive or don't. Arthritis? Moves slower and the coyotes get them.

I'm not saying people don't love or care for their outside cats. But reality is that you do not notice the little things about them, monitor how much they eat (usually it is a bunch of them), how they void, etc. Don't get me wrong, like I said, I still have outside cats. But I know their lifespan is drastically shorter than the inside only cats.

I'm sorry your kits have had such health problems. They are lucky to have you to care for them.

Hi Becky. I'm sure the large majority of outdoor cats don't have it so well and don't survive so long. I was talking about the people that I know personally who have outdoor cats only. My sister-in-law loves cats but won't allow them in her house. She has quite a few that stay outside and nothing ever happens to them. I don't think she has ever taken them to the vet. I see that and wonder why, with all the loving and nurturing I give mine, that there's always something wrong.
There are even two outdoor feral cats that have been hanging around here for over two years. They are very timid and run off when they see me but return because I leave them food...I feel sorry for them. Other than a little skinny, they don't seem all that bad...I don't understand how come their still alive.

Same sort of thing seems to be happening to me, too. Before last year, none of my pets had the best of foods, they never went to the vet, my dog was an outdoor dog, etc., but nobody ever got sick or hurt. Then I learned about proper nutrition, got my dog to the vet for his annual vaccinations, dog came inside more, etc., and all of a sudden bad things started happening. First Jake had a run-in with a porcupine twice, with the same porcupine (June 25 and July 25 in 2004, both around the same time in the evening, around 8:00-9:00). Then Jake cut his foot during the winter at the same park that the porcupine lives at. Then he developed arthritis. Then he started getting lumps on his belly (fatty tumours). Then he tore his ACL and had to have surgery. As for the cats, we've been a little luckier, though Willow tore her nail half-off when she was trying to scramble out of a hole in the screen of a window and Buffy recently got out and got attacked by a cat (we believe it was a cat anyway) and had wounds all over her back. Makes you wonder if a higher being is trying to tell us something, lol

Both Buffy and Willow are indoors, but previous cats were indoor/outdoor. The last cat we had that went outdoors never got sick either, except he had a tear in his left ear from a cat fight years ago. His coat was freakishly dull, though, and I wish I'd known about good nutrition back then, because I'm dying to see what his coat would have looked like. He had a lot of dead hair around his mane, yet when I brushed it, the hair wouldn't come out. He was a black, but the area around his mane was more of a dark grey. I wonder if good food would have changed that or not.

Oh yes, I know exactly how you feel!!! What annoys me more is i have one neighbour tell me that because i only take on oldies, I should expect them to have probs!!! Even my vet keeps threatening to get me a healthy kitten - she has only worked for us since Oct, and has had to put 2 of my cats to sleep already

I have had 6 cats in 3 years - only 1 has been under 10, I thought she would be the cat I would have for years while my oldies came and went - 8 months later she went to the bridge after getting FIP. I have had one cat that fitted, and although she was kept on morphine for 2 days, she went naturally, FIP, Liver probs, mammary cancer and a foster that also went from liver probs. Out of the 2 i have now, one is fine, just a slight heart murmur, and the other may have early kidney probs, need to get another urine sample to check. They get taken to the vet at the slightest thing, try to give them Senior only food, pampered etc. My neighbours cats, in my opinion, dont get looked after as well - only get taken to the vets when they are ill, don't really get played with, and the ex-feral rarely gets petted, never mind anything else. Yet their cats seem to get on just fine, although I think i could do better with 4 out of the 5. They are sure one has liver or kidney probs, but don't see the point in taking her to the vet as she wouldnt eat the special food anyway. What worries me is that they prefer to let their cats go naturally, and I dont always think it is the right way.