- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
Hmmm.. I don't know much about kitty asthma, but my cat "coughs" periodically as well. She doesn't do it very often though, maybe about once a month she will have a "spell" that lasts about 30 seconds or so, but then she's back to normal. My mother-in-laws cat does the same thing when she gets upset (as in, when one of her other cats is getting all the attention lol) and she will sit on the floor and hack for 10 minutes straight!
I hope your kitty is ok. The fact that she is doing it so frequently is a little concerning. Do you think maybe she just has kitty anxiety? Hopefully all goes well and you figure out what's going on!
Poor kitty! I would definitely take her in for a visit with the vet. Here are three bizarre scenarios I've encountered over the years (all things that could be treated):
- Our dog has seasonal allergies, and apparently cats get these too. He starts wheezing and coughing in March when the trees blossom. Fun fun fun. :) Benadryl is the treatment, though we only give it to him when it gets really bad.
- We had a cat growing up who was constantly sneezing. It turned out that she had a tumor right behind her nose that they happily found and treated, and the sneezing stopped. Weird, but we felt terrible that for years we thought she was just a sneezy cat.
- And my parents have a cat who had anxiety related to being tortured by their older cat (literally---she was awful to people and cats alike). The vet put him on a mini dose of Prozac, and would you believe it---he mellowed out (and more importantly, stopped having accidents and getting freaked out, which they needed to resolve if they were going to keep him). After the other cat died, he came off of it and did much better in a single-cat household.
So....cats do get stressed/anxious, and they do get weird medical problems (asthma included), so it's definitely worth looking into it. Hopefully your kitty's problems are on the easy-to-resolve end of that spectrum, but if it helps any, these cats both lived/are living long and happy (well, okay, not so happy till the Prozac for the second kitty! ;) lives.
Do either of you guys smoke? Any of the kitties with asthma that I have run into have all lived with smokers. Definitely see your vet, they will be able to give you a better idea of what is going on. Hope she feels better soon!
What kind of cleaning products do you use? Our vet told us that many of the carpet or floor cleaner can cause respiratory problems as well as room fresheners, etc. We use all non-toxic stuff here.
Thanks everyone! So far we have been limiting her stressors and it has not happened again. Will still call the vet tomorrow, they were closed by the time our home visit for our dog adoption ended.
To address the questions...
Neither of us smoke, nor have we ever. However, I adopted her at the age of 3 and she was living with a crazy hoarder woman and 300 other cats. I suppose there could be leftover health problems from that but I doubt that's the problem now since she's been fine for the 3 years I've had her.
We're pretty light on the chemicals. Our dishwashing soap is a natural one from Whole Foods, no essential oils or anything. We do use Pine Sol to clean surfaces (desk and nightstands) so we'll switch over to something more natural and see if that helps. One thing that I'd like to change is their litter... I read that can be a big source of problems, and we're currently on a Big Name litter (Tidy Cats, I think) which I know isn't ideal now that we know she may have problems so we'll change that out as well. We don't use air fresheners.
If it is asthma or bronchitis, it is very much being set off by stress. Good news is that we'll be moving within the next few weeks, and the roommates (and their cats) will not be coming with us. We'll have to pay special attention to how she reacts to the dog, but that will be much more manageable since we'll be able to introduce them slowly and be firm about the lines of respect (read: our roommate thinks it's funny when her cats bully Holly, which is why our cats stay in our room now.)
if you are thinking of changing cat litters i highly recommend "the worlds best cat litter" its a corn based (ok pretty much all corn) cat litter, all natural, all organic, my cat LOVES it, it doesn't get "litter box smell"!
also, i second the benedryl, my cat occasionally get sneezy/coughy/hard to breathe, the vet suggested a half a beny and it makes all the difference for him!
i hope your vet is able to give you some good news and something to help your kiddo out!
hugs!
my cat wheezes and sneezes seasonally...I guess I should check it out...I never thought about her having a possible tumor or anything like that...I would hate to see her with serious problems that I've neglected for years!
@duck - yay, that's what we were hoping to change to! We wanted to avoid clays and they sell World's Best on Amazon in bulk, so we thought that would be the best balance between healthy and cost effective. Thanks!
@andreaandchinelo - I think in most cases, it's no big deal. Wheezes AND sneezes are probably just seasonal. But her attacks are not anything like sneezing, they're low to the ground wheezes where she can't breathe, and they come on in times of stress, overexertion (sometimes) and once in a great while seemingly random times.
We called two vets, her normal vet, who said bringing her in in 1-2 days would be best, just because it might be something serious that we can catch early, and a city vet, who agreed and whom we made an appointment with tomorrow afternoon. She does not travel well and gets really stressed in the car, so taking her back to the suburbs was the last thing I wanted to do. This vet seems really good, though, and quoted a fairly reasonable price for exam, bloodwork, and X rays if they are necessary.
Update for anyone interested:
vet basically said it sounds like the early stages of asthma. Her lungs still sound good but the symptoms are chronic enough that he wants her on steroids. He did some blood work, and we're giving her the pills for a couple of weeks and we're going to see how they work. He's hopeful that if she responds well to the medication, we can get her asymptomatic and get this under control.
Thanks for the update, hope the meds work! I was wondering how things went for you guys.
Oh, I pray that the meds work! def. switch over to non-toxic cleaners for all your house cleaning products. I had to switch to seventh generation cleaners because one of my cats started throwing up a day after I cleaned my floors and I found out its from the floor cleaner! eeks! poor baby.
Thanks for the support! We are definitely making the switch with cleaning supplies. It'll be better for us, too. And I'm thinking good thoughts. :)
I can tell the meds will be a bit of a hassle! She's a rather spunky cat, so getting her to take them orally willingly is a challenge. I ended up crushing the pill and putting it in a spoonful of her food, and then letting her eat. But of course I had to give Zoey, our other cat, a little more so she would finish later and not try to butt in! So far so good, though. She's taken two of the pills, so three more before we can reduce the dosage. No attacks for the past three days.
i'm glad your cat is doing better. But I would definitely stop using Pine Sol. It's actually really bad for cats. The shelter I work at will turn away or throw out donations of Pine Sol IMMEDIATELY so no one tries to use it with the cats.
Just some things I found on it:
**I recently became aware of cleaners that pose serious health issues to pets, particularly any cleaner or disinfectant that contains the word "sol", that is cleaners such as Lysol and Pine-sol. The culprit is the ingredient phenol, which in many cases may not even be listed on the label of such cleaners. This not only means the cleaners like the "traditional" pine-scented Pine-sol or Lysol cleaners, but even the pleasantly scented cleaners manufactured by the same companies, such as Pine-sol's choices of scents such as Lemon, Lavender, Sparkling Wave, and so forth. It should be noted that shelters, and pet rescuers have eliminated the use of such cleaners due to their toxicity to animals.
Now one would never expose children to such cleaners, but does one give a thought about their pets? Here's are two classic scenarios of what I mean by seemingly and innocently exposing their pet to these toxic cleaners and may not even realize the harm they are causing to their pet. Scenario one: You've just cleaned your kitchen floor with a Pine-sol cleaner and the floor is drying. Your dog or cat comes into the kitchen while the floor is still drying. The pet gets the cleaner on their paws, then later on, the pet grooms itself cleaning off their paws...bingo, they just ingested some of that cleaner. Scenario two: The kitchen floor you cleaned hours ago with one of these cleaners is now dry. It's feeding time for your pet, and you give your pet moist food on a dish or in a bowl. The pet gets some of the food onto the floor and eats it off from the floor. The moisture of the food absorbs into it some of the chemical cleaner even though the floor was dry. Once again, you've unknowingly exposed your pet to that chemical cleaner.
Therefore, you may be inadvertently exposing your pet to severe health risks every time you use any one of these chemical cleaners Now here are the alarming facts about the ingredient of phenol that is found in many chemical type disinfectant, antiseptic and anti-bacterial cleaners, particularly the ones containing the word "sol". Phenol is in itself a highly toxic compound derivative of coal tar, and the health hazard symptoms it can create in pets, range from liver and kidney damage, respiratory problems; phenol is also caustic to mucous membranes, and since cats are more sensitive to phenol, even just a few drops that are accidentally ingested can cause death. While the following symptoms, such as panting, drooling, vomiting, voiding green or black urine, muscle tremors, among other symptoms (1) may be caused by other health problems, if your pet shows any of these signs shortly after you have used a chemical cleaner, your pet no doubt had been exposed and ingested the cleaner, and it's important to take your pet to a veterinarian immediately!
**
Not trying to make you freak out or feel like a bad pet parent, just informing you because I had NO IDEA they were bad before I worked at my shelter!
I have no advice to give but all my good wishes reach out to you and your soulmate kitty!
And a little comedic relief... Get your cat a chihuahua!! They cure asthma!!
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1894946/chihuahuas_and_asthma_is_there_a_connection.html?cat=53 And yes, people actually come to my shelter and say they need a chihuahua because their child has "the asthma".
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| Lyndzo | 52 |
| Brielle | 41 |
| mypinkshoes | 34 |
| Cady | 32 |
| fivemonthsnotice | 32 |
| AshleyR83 | 30 |
| ndreighton | 27 |
| rebwana | 26 |
| funkymunky85 | 26 |
| fishbone | 26 |
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| UpstateCait | 5 |
| cbee | 2 |
| sara_tiara | 2 |
| JulesSchnooks | 2 |
| Future Mrs. Martin | 1 |
| hergreenapples | 1 |
| ArwenBride | 1 |
| SapphireSun | 1 |
| pharmy | 1 |
| SoupyCat | 1 |
So for the past few months my kitty soulmate, Holly, has had what seem like the start of hairballs but never spits anything up. It happens maybe 4 or 5 times a week, usually out of the blue, except when she is stressed they happen more frequently - usually when our roommates' cats pick on her. She is normally separated from them.
I didn't think anything of it until today. I realized that it was happening consistently when she was stressed, and that was odd. So I did what you're never supposed to (looked online) and saw that it does sound like the beginnings of kitty asthma.
We're calling our vet tomorrow to see what she thinks since it's not an emergency situation (she's never had her gums turn blue or anything, and they've always stopped after about 30 seconds) but I can't help but worry. I can't deal with losing another animal! We just lost a kitty suddenly due to an unexpected heart problem in December. Holly is my absolute pride and joy kitty. I know that asthma would not be the end of the world, but the thought of her life being significantly shortened or finding her after an attack while we were gone just terrifies me.
I'm not letting myself get panicky about it, but animals are the world to me... you know when people say their animals are their kids? We've considered not having kids because that would limit how much we can spoil our animals, haha.