Feline asthma

Now that the North Carolina toe sucker has been nabbed, we can all breathe easier.....  Unless we have asthma that is flaring up. 

Until the beautiful boy pictured on the right was diagnosed with asthma, I did not know cats were susceptible.  Unfortunately, they are, and it's more common than one would think.  About one out of every hundred cats has asthma and supposedly it's more common in purebreds.  Leo is only part Siamese.

Feline asthma usually makes its self known between the ages of two and five.

Leo was nearly on schedule at about eighteen month old.  The Vet treated Leo's first few terrifying asthma attacks with oral steroids.  This soon became a nightmare.  As soon he was tapered off one round of the pills, he would have another asthma attack and have to start them again.  The pills did not seem to work that well and the doses had to keep being increased.  The side effects of steroid pills are numerous and frightening, and I could tell he often didn't feel well.  I couldn't get his asthma under control and his activities were being restricted.  Almost anything seemed to set his asthma off.  To control the asthma better, he would have had to add other pills with other side effects.  During one of his exams, a heart irregularity was discovered.  Some of the pills could have also caused heart issues for the young man.

ENTER INHALED STEROIDS!  One puff a day and his activities do not have to be restricted.  Occasionally, maybe once every couple months, he will have a mild coughing attack but it is usually brief and subsides on its own.  I do keep a rescue inhaler in the house, just in case.

Giving a cat an inhaler seems a daunting task.  But if the cat cooperates, it's easy.  To give a cat an inhaler, you must use a feline aero-chamber fitted with a little mask that covers the cat's nose and mouth.  The inhaler is inserted in the aero-chamber in the opening opposite the face mask.  Then the mask is placed over the cat's  nose and mouth and the top of the canister is pressed once.  The mask and chamber holding the medicine are held in place until the cat has taken five or six breaths.  That's it. 

With the right cat, administering an inhaler is much easier than the all day ordeal of collecting a feline urine sample with the wrong one.   

The fledgling flight with the inhaler was scary for both Leo and me.  I love the cat dearly and didn't want to mess up.  He didn't like the face mask or the hissing noise of the canister.  But after about a week, we both were pro's.  Every morning, he gets his puff and then breakfast.  The trickiest part of the whole thing turned out to be keeping his nosy siblings out of the way. 

The aero-chamber and steroid inhalers are more expensive than steroid pills.  But inhaled medicine goes directly to the problem area, instead of affecting the whole body the way oral steroids do.  This increases the effectiveness of the treatment and reduces side effects and risks.