Asthma?

[gomie]

My girl, Zsa Zsa, is will be 2 in April. She's had sporadic coughing fits. They're not frequent, but they do cause me concern when they happen. They usually happen when she's purring really hard. I've suspected that she could possibly be asthmatic, but I haven't pursued it because it really happens so infrequently.

However, around 4am this morning, I woke up to her wheezing very quickly. It really shocked me. I've never gotten out of bed so quickly. I ran to her and tried to comfort her until it was over, then I took her to the sink for a drink of water. She seemed okay shortly afterward, but it was the first time she's ever had such a coughing fit and I think I'm going to take her to the vet tomorrow.

My question is - what is the standard procedure for determining if a cat has asthma or not? What are the typical tests? Is a diagnosis usually obvious and quickly identifiable? If your cat has asthma, what were their symptoms that caused you to pursue a diagnosis? Do you have any tips or wisdom?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Alldara]

Tests for coughing in cats: Testing for Cough | VCA Animal Hospital

Possible diagnosis: Coughing in Cats.

Athsma in cats: Asthma and Bronchitis in Cats

 

[stephanietx]

I have 2 asthmatic cats, one who is very mild and seldom has an attack and one who has frequent asthma attacks and is medicated. My vet determined by checking lungs, doing a chest x-ray and by looking at videos we'd taken of her.

 

[Cataria]

Symptoms in my cat, Shade, started with coughing and throwing up phlegm. When she was a kitten, she also would sometimes open-mouth breathe after especially wild play sessions. As she's gotten older and she's had worse flare-ups there has sometimes been a whistling note to her breathing.

I think they diagnosed her with a chest x-ray? I remember the vet showing me the pictures of her lungs and pointing out the parts that looked bad. They also listened to her breathing and could pretty easily tell something was up because her symptoms worsen when she's stressed, which she was at the vet's office.

One tip I will give in regards to asthmatic cats -- it's normal for symptoms to ebb and flow, but if things suddenly get worse, it might not just be asthma. At one point, Shade's symptoms were so terrible that I was giving her multiple types of steroid shots everyday *and* an inhaler, but still nothing seemed to help her symptoms. She eventually got an abscess from the steroid shots, and I had to put her on antibiotics for that.

... And then her symptoms went away. Turned out she had a respiratory infection on top of the asthma, and the medication for her abscess cured the respiratory infection! Now all I have to give her is an inhaler, thank goodness.

All that to say, if your cat does turn out to have asthma, make sure your vet also looks into the possibly of a respiratory infection if symptoms worsen. I saw two different vets and neither one considered that she might need antibiotics in addition to the steroids.