Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Hey guys, do any of you have experience with cats that have asthma? I think I remember several people commenting a bit on cat asthma previously.

My cat has been having a cough off and on since the summer (goes away with steroid injection :T) and I finally got X-Rays to to rule out heart-disease. So now that I know it's asthma, I'm not sure what to do. The vet was not super helpful and just recommended more injections, but I'm really not trying to make that a regular thing with her. I've heard that long term steroid injections are baaaaad. I want to look into maybe getting her a kitty-inhaler, but I have no idea how to get the actual medicine, or the dosage, or what. The vet did not seem knowledgeable on AeroKat at all. It looks like one can buy the device online, but not the medicine?

I'm thinking of maybe trying the Petsmart vet for some advice on this? I dunno. I just feel so bad for my poor little fat-cat. No wonder she just lays around all day. What else should I be doing to prevent attacks? I don't know if I can afford air filters, but I'm not lighting incense around her, or smoking reefer, or anything. Any experience/knowledge would be helpful!!

One of my kitties has asthma. He gets an inhaled steroid every other day, Flovent, and has a rescue inhaler for sudden coughing attacks, albuterol. They are administered via AeroKat. Just like with humans you need to keep it under control to prevent attacks since lung damage accumulates over time, so my cat always has to have his inhaled steroid. The inhaled steroid stays more just in the lungs though so it lessens the risks of long term steroid use. Some of the steroid will get into the rest of their body though and you may see a few side effects. For my cat though, the side effects (thinning ears, slower hair growth so he can end up with thinner hair in some places) are definitely better than him not being able to breathe.



Here is the gist of the treatment: http://www.felineasthma.org/pdf/inhaled_protocol.pdf

When I was a teenager we had a cat with asthma. He wasn't on an inhaler, but we had these pills that we had to give him if we noticed he was breathing heavy. This was about 13 years ago so I have no idea what the pills were.

He ended up passing away at a young age from a bee sting (I guess he was allergic?). :(