Hairballs

[myrnafaye]

Well, it certainly makes sense to eliminate that as a possible culprit...dont you just hate, though, depriving them of their little pleasures?  I had to stop giving Obi table scraps...and he loved them so much!

 

[mommytobuck]

 
Well, it certainly makes sense to eliminate that as a possible culprit...dont you just hate, though, depriving them of their little pleasures?  I had to stop giving Obi table scraps...and he loved them so much!

I know, he will be confused, but the more I think about it... the more I think this has to be it.  Or, if not enough of a contributor to make the problem. His mouth is not open today but I find his breathing kind of quick. Nothing over 30 per minute unless he does some exercise. Does anyone know what a normal rate would be after exercise? It is just that when he does something like walk down the stairs his respiration is like 50 per minute but once he lies down he is at 20 to 30. The vet said yesterday his respiration was slightly elevated but really it is hard to tell because he fought so hard on the way there.

When he would cough before it always sounded like he was bringing up fluid. It always sounded like he would cough up the liquid so that he could swallow some of it. Like right after he would meow at me and it would sound like he had water in his throat. And last Sunday he had runny eyes and he NEVER has those. A few years back my mom had a bad bronchial infection and at one point the fluid started coming out her eyes because the congestion was so bad.

I called the vet and told them what I discovered and they said just keep him on the same meds which will help him either way.

I am feeling excited.

 

[myrnafaye]

I think at different times, Kiku was also on lasix.

 

[mommytobuck]

So a couple of developments.

I got to work and checked my cats blood labs from April.

WBC: 6.9 (normal 3.5 to 16.0)
Eosinophils 414 (normal 0-1000)

Does this suggest he didn't have inflammation at that time?

In addition I got the records from the emergency department

No pleural fluid or thoracic lymphadenopathy (guess that is water in the chest cavity) was seen (which is strange because I would assume that him getting water up his nose would have some in the lungs); and no evidence of congestive heart failure is present. That is good.

Mild increase opacity is detected along bronchi creating rings and lines.

Mucos Membranes were reported as being pink (though honestly I find his tongue to be purple)

His Pulse was 212; his respiration was 52 ( which I am not worried about because I am sure he was fighting hard with the vet)

When listening to his lungs it says "no effort, lungs clear bilaterally".

From the records it seems to me that the actual diagnosis is bronchitis -- but because nothing else obvious has presented to cause the bronchitis, they are presuming it is asthma... but to me, it could be water causing the bronchitis.

 

[bonepicker]

Vet's Best natural hairball relief digestive aid and canned good not dry will solve problem. Cats love the flavor tabs and eat them like treats but at Amazon.

 

[bonepicker]

Canned food

 

[myrnafaye]

Hi, I am not an expert but I doubt the drinking from the faucet is causing the problem although you should ask your vet or the Emergency clinic. Water in the lungs would indicate pneumonia in a person (fluid).  Some cats do have chronic bronchitis and I am not sure how that is distinguished from asthma, probabaly the radiographs and blood work.  Its good your kitty has such a good report, so I am not sure, then, how the diagnosis was made other than the opacity of the bronchi.  I suspect the treatment is the same, although sometime with bronchitis, and anti biotic is administered, but only if it is bacterial, and that would probably be indicated with an elevated white count, which is normal...perhaps this is viral, in which case, the pred is for the inflammation, as I said, same as for asthma.

But, if it was me, I would definitely want that diagnosis confirmed and differential diagnoses ruled out.  

 

[mommytobuck]

Hi, I am not an expert but I doubt the drinking from the faucet is causing the problem although you should ask your vet or the Emergency clinic.

So far they have largely avoided the question. But I am going to guess that they can't really answer. This is likely a very unusual thing that is happening. In the wild the pressure would not be so large from water and it would not happen daily. What cinches it for me is two things (1) this has increased since moving to a new home with this new faucet and (2) I just looked up water boarding and it is a long term side effect of it (bronchitis). Yes I just looked up waterboarding at work.

"The immediate effects of these techniques (waterboarding) vary according to whether there has been any contamination (water boarding involves a cloth or plastic bag over the nose). If so, there is likely to be severe upper respiratory and perhaps broncho-pulmonary inflammation."

I suppose I am not really saying that he has water up his nose... but I am saying that a few inhalations of water -- even once or twice a week could have caused the bronchi to get inflamed and irritated.

But, if it was me, I would definitely want that diagnosis confirmed and differential diagnoses ruled out.  

Well, normally I would but he is such a terror I would prefer NOT to go back to the vet... and, as you see, IMHO most vets will not really do the work to find out the cause... just treat the symptoms.

My vet just called and we are going to try a liquid steroid does but she said that sometimes for mild asthma... the don't even treat it at all... so she might take him off the steroid.