Lung Issues (fibrosis, cancer, asthma???)

[candacelynn9]

My cat Pepper is 14 years old and was slowly losing her appetite and losing weight over the course of a year or so (8 lbs down to 6.8 lbs). I had also noticed her coughing (~1x per day or so for 1-2 minutes) and I always assumed she was trying to cough up a hairball that never produced itself. More recently I saw a few videos of asthmatic cats and determined that she looked like she was having asthma symptoms when she was coughing and so I decided to take her to the vet alongside the increasing loss of appetite.

I took her to the vet, they did bloodwork and fecal sample which were both normal and xrays which showed disease throughout her lungs which the vet said looked like infection. This was the first xrays on February 15th (xrays are attached and dated) She was put on an antifungal - Itrafungol (itraconazole) and an antibiotic - Veraflox (pradofloxacin) for 2 weeks as well as an appetite stimulant. Appetite improved but coughing did not.

Xrays were repeated 2 weeks later on March 1st (xrays are attached and dated). They look similar to the first ones and at this point the vet no longer believes it is infection and had considered a tracheal wash but wanted to reduce some inflammation beforehand and so we started her on albuterol and prednisolone (5mg, 2x per day) for 2 weeks with the prednisolone tapering during week 2 so she could have the potential tracheal wash at some point in the near future.

Xrays were repeated 2 weeks later on March 15th (xrays are attached and dated). Upon reviewing these xrays the vet informs me that it is likely fibrosis or cancer and that I should continue albuterol and prednisolone until she declines and I have to put her down. She does not feel the tracheal wash is worth it at this point.

Does anyone see anything on these xrays that could indicate anything I should be doing differently or alternative diagnoses that haven’t been addressed? Has anyone had a cat with xrays that look like this?

 

[FeebysOwner]

I don't have anything to say based on the x-rays themselves but would be curious what the affiliated written report results/analyses say. Do you have those to share? It might help to 'ring bells' with those who cannot read x-rays but have seen similar result reports.

 

[Jjohnson6240]

My cat Pepper is 14 years old and was slowly losing her appetite and losing weight over the course of a year or so (8 lbs down to 6.8 lbs). I had also noticed her coughing (~1x per day or so for 1-2 minutes) and I always assumed she was trying to cough up a hairball that never produced itself. More recently I saw a few videos of asthmatic cats and determined that she looked like she was having asthma symptoms when she was coughing and so I decided to take her to the vet alongside the increasing loss of appetite.

I took her to the vet, they did bloodwork and fecal sample which were both normal and xrays which showed disease throughout her lungs which the vet said looked like infection. This was the first xrays on February 15th (xrays are attached and dated) She was put on an antifungal - Itrafungol (itraconazole) and an antibiotic - Veraflox (pradofloxacin) for 2 weeks as well as an appetite stimulant. Appetite improved but coughing did not.

Xrays were repeated 2 weeks later on March 1st (xrays are attached and dated). They look similar to the first ones and at this point the vet no longer believes it is infection and had considered a tracheal wash but wanted to reduce some inflammation beforehand and so we started her on albuterol and prednisolone (5mg, 2x per day) for 2 weeks with the prednisolone tapering during week 2 so she could have the potential tracheal wash at some point in the near future.

Xrays were repeated 2 weeks later on March 15th (xrays are attached and dated). Upon reviewing these xrays the vet informs me that it is likely fibrosis or cancer and that I should continue albuterol and prednisolone until she declines and I have to put her down. She does not feel the tracheal wash is worth it at this point.

Does anyone see anything on these xrays that could indicate anything I should be doing differently or alternative diagnoses that haven’t been addressed? Has anyone had a cat with xrays that look like this?

 

[Jjohnson6240]

Hi, I'm really sorry about Pepper. I am in a similar situation with my Oreo who will be 17 in Oct. He also lost a lot of weight even though he was eating. He would sometimes cough but I thought it was a hairball, now looking back after watching videos like you, I think it was asthma. He had a great checkup in Feb but in May he started to have noisy breathing at times but it would go away. I just thought he had a cold or was snoring when he slept. Things got progressively worse and I took him to vet. Xrays showed most likely a fungal infection so had urine test to see what fungus it was so could treat. 2 weeks later test negative. So vet thinks just respiratory infection and puts on antiobiotic and prednisolone. Next day, he is open mouth breathing, rush to emergency vet. They do new xrays and say most likely asthma. Also discover heart disease so immediately stop prednisolone. Bring him home after he is stable the next day. 2 days later take to vet for followup and he says latest xrays look a lot worse than 2 weeks ago. He also says it's most likely asthma, and prescribes Flovent and ProAir for emergency. Oreo had been on Flovent for 2 weeks now and it hasn't seemed to help. When I give him the fast acting Proair that doesn't really help either so I'm at a loss. Is it really asthma? Both vets did say his wheezing sounds more like stridor coming from nose of throat so he may have a polyp or obstruction on top of asthma. Seeing another vet for 2nd opinion. Oreo's xrays look similar to yours so that's why I am sharing his story.

Please keep us updated on Pepper.