Asthma? Really???? Just like my Tracy cat!

Apparently three weeks of sinus issues, coupled with a sore throat and a wicked cough, assaulted my lungs to the point of “temporary” asthma. O.O


Crazy!!! Who knew?!?!


I had asthma when i was younger, along with a slew of allergies, but fortunately as I grew older I grew out of them. Thank goodness!


No worries today though! I got all the drugs yesterday!!!


I got Advair and Albuterol for the asthma.

A Z pack of antibiotics for the sinus infection. She thinks I’m over the infection but wants to be safe since I’ve been sick so long.

And for a cough suppressant to help ease the inflammation (coughing makes it so much worse) she gave me Hydrocodone pills for day time and Hydrocodone -Homatropine Syrup for night.

Phew! Now that is some meds!!! If I don’t get better now… I don’t think I ever will! I’m hopefully on the mend! Fingers crossed!


Speaking of asthma though… I thought this would be a good opportunity to tell you about something most people don’t even know exists.


Feline Asthma



Yep… you read that right. Cat’s can have asthma. 

A LOT of cats have asthma.


We have a very special cat named Tracy that has severe asthma. ♥♥♥


Please take the time to read this… you never know when you might need to know this information. Had I not known about feline asthma Tracy wouldn’t be here with us now.

Knowledge is power.





Asthma, in humans and in cats, is a constant inflammation of the lungs. And even though you can’t see it, that inflammation never completely ceases. Our cat receives the inhaled asthma medication Flovent every 12 hours to make sure that her unseen but constant inflammation is treated and never worsens.


What does feline asthma look like? Kind of like a hairball but it never produces a hairball which is why it is often overlooked. People often dismiss it because it often seems like nothing more than a hairball hack. Until they find their cat dead of “Unknown causes”. But really it was asthma.


It could have happened to us if I wasn’t already cat health obsessed when I rescued Tracy. Fortunately I knew about Feline asthma because I sit around and read obsessively about cat health. (My husband swears I know so much about feline health I could be a cat vet right now if they would just give me the paper that lets me be one. ) My husband was even convinced her persistent coughing was just hairballs. It looks so much like it… but it just never ends. If I had listened to him… our darling little girl would most certainly not be with us anymore. With treatment she hasn’t had a single attack since we started Flovent in mid 2008.


I took this video for my vet during the diagnosis process. This is what asthma coughing looks like.


This is a video of Tracy having an asthma attack.

If the inflammation were allowed to continue it causes irreversible permanent damage to the lung tissue that can not be repaired. Every cough… makes the lungs tighten more and more. Not treating asthma consistently is dangerous and deadly. It only takes one asthma attack to kill a cat and since that attack can not be foreseen, you have to treat the inflammation daily, with either pills or an inhaler, so that an attack never happens.


So many people, vets even, think that asthma needs to be treated after an attack, but that is not the case at all. You must control the inflammation to protect the cat (or human) from any further lung damage daily and before an attack happens.


Many vets are not up to date on the latest treatments so if you ever face this situation arm yourself with knowledge because you’re going to need it to make an up to date educated decision on what treatment is best if your cat does have asthma. A few of the best websites out there that discuss all the options, from pills to shots to inhalers are:


http://www.fritzthebrave.com/index.html


http://www.felineasthma.org/


http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Pages/Feline_Asthma_Web.pdf


My personal choice for Tracy is the inhaler with Flovent but there are other daily meds you can choose from. I chose the inhaler for her because it has the least side affects of all the choices. Since she will be on medicine for the rest of her life, the least harmful option was the obvious choice in my book.


Bonus: Tracy loves getting her medicine and she races me to the chair to get it. She knows it makes her breath. ) If I even sleep in on the weekend one minute past 7:30am she pokes me in the face to wake me so she can have her meds, and the feline greenies treats that go with it. It is so adorable. ♥♥♥


Here is a video of Tracy getting her meds one week after starting.

FYI… don’t get your panties in a bunch because I tell the other cats no. I’ve been flamed to no end on youtube for treating my other cats “badly”. EYEROLL! Yeah… we all know how bad I treat my cats. In the beginning it was very important to make sure this was TRACY time only. And this was taken only one week after we started the inhaler.


Extra information…


I highly recommend you print out this protocol and show it to your vet if asthma is the diagnosis.


http://www.fritzthebrave.com/meds/inhaled_protocol.pdf


And this is the device you will need to buy to medicate your cat if you chose inhaled meds.


http://www.aerokat.com/


There’s also an online yahoo group here that you should join if you choose Inhaled Flovent.


http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/felineasthma_inhaledmeds/


And here are other videos of cats getting their inhaled meds.


http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Aerokat&search_type=&aq=f


So there you have it… if you ever face a cat having an asthma attack… you now know everything you could possibly need to know to go get them the proper treatment.


>^..^<


Thank you for reading my Feline Asthma Public Service Announcement.


Tracy and I will be having our asthma inhalers together twice daily for the next two weeks. They do say you turn into your animals. LOL!


Until next time…


Carmen and the Primcats