Pets with asthma

[NoDivision]

I was just wondering if anyone else has a pet who has asthma. I had a pretty scary weekend having to check my cat into the emergency animal hospital because he couldn't breathe. After a few x-rays, a lot of oxygen, a few days and nights observation and several medications the vets there diagnosed him with feline asthma. I'd never really heard of asthma in cats before, but now after reading more about it I can see that he's been showing symptoms the whole time I've had him and I just mistook them for something else (which is pretty common apparently.)

I will be visiting his regular vet to talk with them about what this means for him long term as far as medication and lifestyle changes. But I'm just wondering if anyone else has gone through this and can tell me about their experience.

[kaoskat]

We deal with reverse sneezing in all three Chihuahuas but no asthma that we know of.  I hope you'll be able to get your kitty the help he needs to keep him safe and healthy even with his illness.

[flyawayraven]

Sadly the only animal I knew with asthma was a Shetland pony and that was 16 years ago at this point.

I hope your little guy feels better with his new meds!

[melodys_angel]

Nothing to that point but in some of the toy breeds, its an inherent thing most pups get so you need to be super careful like make sure they don't overheat.

As far as kitties go--its the first ive really hear of it but I guess anything can happen

[pinkkittywinks]

Zurrieq (horse) had hay fever....seriously! Soaking her hay or feeding hayledge and a shaving rather than straw in her stable helped. She did seem to grow out of it when she got old. We had to switch her on to staw bedding when the price rose and she was fine.

Love pkw xxx

[mlp4me]

I knew about reverse sneezing, but not about asthma. Your poor kitty!

Now that the greyhound is getting old he makes some nasty weird noises after he eats, almost like caughing but not. It's bizarre.

[NoDivision]

I guess even though it's apparently not that uncommon it's still not exactly common, haha. I know I'd never heard of any cats having it. Anyway, we had our follow up with our regular vet today and all seems to be well for now. Looks like we'll just have to keep him on steroids for the rest of his life. Hopefully we can get a good (lower) dosage sorted out so that it will do minimal damage and give him the longest life.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

My friends had a cat named Wheezer... for obvious reasons!  He had steroid pills he had to take, and you couldn't race around the house with him like all the other cats.  He sat in your lap and wheezed. 

[ChipsteRJ]

I'm sorry to hear about this. I have a cat with possible asthma, but nothing near death/ non-breathing. Occasionally he sneezes with wheezing, we need to be careful not to burn scented candles.

At this point the cat is too old (17) to treat, he also had diabetes, for which I've been to Emergency Vet clinic multiple times.

Good luck, and hopefully your cat will grow out of it.

[GazeboMouse]

I only knew a horse with asthma (had a sort of nosebag nebuliser contraption that it used to get a dozy, happy, glazed expression with!), and a pony with hayfever, but no cats. Hope you get it sorted soon, I had visions of a poor little cat being asked to breathe into a Peak Flow Meter!