Coughing

[smoothnobody]

my cat has been coughing daily for the last 2 months. no history of this prior. it sounds like when you are sick and trying to break up / bring up mucus in your lungs. after she does this i can see her swallow. eating drinking using potty playing behavior and everything else is normal. no sneezing vomiting discharge from nose or eyes. she doesn't seem to be having difficulty breathing.

went to the vet last month. they did a xray and said her lungs look bad but they can't say why. no mention of any problems with her heart. blood test was good. tested negative for FIV. they gave her prednisone and antibiotics. there may have been a minor change from the prednisone cause it helps with inflammation but can't really say any of this truly helped. i'm told a bronchial wash can tell us whats in her lungs (if there is anything in her lungs) but it's expensive invasive and still may not provide any answers.

i've been trying to do as much reading as i can and most of what i read is asthma chronic bronchitis / lower respiratory disease. i hear this isn't something that can be properly diagnosed. it's basically a process of elimination you test for everything else and if you don't find anything asthma is the default answer. this methodology kinda drives me crazy. i think since we already tried antibiotics the vet is going to say she needs to use an inhaler long term and i'm worried the corticosteroids will do more harm than good.

the only other thing i can add is i recently found a worm on her. not sure if she got them while at the vet or if she had them prior. they tried to do a fecal test but they said she was empty. she doesn't use a litter box she uses the toilet so the fecal test is going to be difficult. i told them i'm concerned about lung worms. i was given profender 2 weeks ago and told this will kill worms anywhere in the body. i'm still not sure if this will help with lung worms. anywhere in the body was obviously an overstatement cause if she has heartworms i hear there is nothing that can be done. can't find solid answers if lung worms are the same species found in the digestive track such as tape round and hook or if they are something completely different.

i'm not sure what to do for her. hoping somebody here has something to share. thanks.

 

[smoothnobody]

so i decided to call an animal emergency since they are the only ones open at this time. i asked if profender will kill lung worms and was told yes. i like to be thorough so i called another one to make sure i get the same answer and was told no it's only for intestinal parasites. i called another and they also said it will not treat lung worms. long story short 2 vets say yes 2 vets say no. this is incredibly frustrating.

 

[white shadow]

.
Hi smoothnobody and welcome to the forum !

I have a couple of thoughts for now and I'll share these.

First, there are some specialized online communities for folks whose cats have respiratory conditions. They have been active for many years (1 since 1999) and that provides new members with a collective wealth of knowledge and practical experience which is unmatched anywhere else, and which often outstrips that of most general practice Veterinarians.

Secondly, if your Vet is not a restricted practice, cat-only Veterinarian, give some serious consideration to (at the very least) having her seen for a 'second opinion' consult with a 'cat Vet'. There may even be a Board-Certified Feline Specialist who's accessible to you, though they are few and far-between.

To the online groups

• This is the original group: Feline Asthma and Respiratory Disorders Community and this is their website: Feline Asthma.org - If you click "Related Diseases" on that menu, you'll get a sense for the scope of conditions they deal with.
• Here is another group - their focus includes a specialty in inhaled medications, and again, there are years of experience to be accessed: FAIM - Feline Aasthma Iinhaled Mmedications - Here is their website: Feline Asthma with Fritz the Brave - your comprehensive resource since 2001

Each of these still use the original "message board" format, so that email is their 'operating platform'. From my own experience, I found that getting a new, separate email account for each group was the easiest way to manage the info flow. Yahoo and Gmail are fine for this.

I'll leave it at that for now and deal with the Vet thing tomorrow.


Now, in the meantime, this "My cat" thingie simply won't work! She cannot remain anonymous and, of course we'll need picture ID
.

 

[smoothnobody]

i obviously like multiple opinions so i will post there too. thanks.

her name is stinker. her picture ID is my avatar.

after more reading i think i know why i'm getting multiple answers from vets. if you read the box of this medication it does not mention lungworms nor does the manufacturer website. but i was reading journals from medical institutions that say they have reports of using it for "off label" use of lung worms. revolution and panacur is the same story. not "officially" labeled for lungworms but there have been cases of it being effective.

adding to the mix of WTF is going on with my cat she was just coughing and for the first time produced a hairball. i heard her coughing but it turned in to gagging and i heard her vomit. the sounds are totally different you can hear one is coming from the lungs and the other from the stomach. i would like to think problem solved but i'm not buying in to that cause the xray showed severe lung distress.

 

[Jcatbird]

I am so sorry Stinker has been coughing! I understand your frustration. I have a cat with heartworms and the protocol for treating this is still undeveloped at this point. Each time BJ coughs I hope for hairballs. You’ve gotten some great tips already here. I don’t know where you are located but I thought I might add that you can try calling a Veterinary College. Some are doing research and may be of help.

I love the name Stinker! I expect the opposite is true. Looks like a sweetheart to me!

 

[smoothnobody]

also sorry to hear BJ has heartworms. since i'm researching parasites i decided to do more reading about heartworms and much to my surprise i hear heartworms end up in the lungs of cats. dogs are the natural host and they know exactly how to get to the heart in dogs but get lost in the cats system and end up in the lungs. also reading cats are much more resistant to them than dogs and usually have less worms cause cats aren't the target host and don't provide the same suitable environment for them to thrive. i thought heartworms in cats was a guaranteed death sentence cause there is no treatment but i've read a few articles that said most heartworms don't make it to the heart or adult state. cats immune system goes in to overdrive and they usually die early in the life cycle. even if they do make it to adult state they don't live as long usually 1-3 years. cats can outlive the worms and the biggest risk is when the worms die. i've read a few articles that said this is something that might actually clear up on it's own if the cat survives the death of the worms. link for the most interesting article i've read so far. it pisses me off that these vets dish out antibiotics when they don't even know if there is a bacterial infection and these antibiotics are reducing the immune system reaction when that immune system reaction is actually what we want. now i have to look in to how to boost her immune system. i've been giving her salmon oil and plain non sweetened kefir for the last 3 weeks but i'm sure i can be doing more.

Feline Heartworm Disease: Is It Really a Threat?

 

[smoothnobody]

there are tons of articles about doxycycline being effective for killing heartworms. even the american heartworm society recognizes it's effectiveness. google doxycycline heartworms. it doesn't kill the worm it kills a certain bacteria in the worm and without that bacteria the worm dies slowly. a slow death is good cause the sudden death of multiple worms is dangerous. the reason we don't hear about using doxy for cats is the exact same reason drug manufacturers don't advertise killing lungworms with intestinal dewormers, it's considered "off label" usage due to lack of regulation.