Asthma Diagnosis - Inhaler advice needed

[heyitsfae]

In August 2019 we adopted our boy, Lebowski. He was part of a local TNR program but he turned out to be quite friendly and was adopted out to me rather than released back to his colony. We think he's about 3 or 4 years old. He's settled in wonderfully but over the past couple of months my husband and I noticed him making a weird coughing noise maybe once a week. Given the situation with COVID-19, we put off a vet visit since he seemed completely unfazed by the cough. In the past couple of weeks it progressed to an almost daily cough so we made the call and brought him to the vet.

The vet listened to his lungs, reviewed a video that we had taken of Lew coughing, and did a series of X-rays. She said his lungs looked "loud" (i.e. a lot of inflammation) and ultimately decided this is likely asthma. He's been prescribed Fluticasone and Albuterol but he's temporarily on an oral steroid until we can get the inhalers (inhalers are backordered in many areas). He's also on a kitty diet because he could stand to lose a few pounds which will also likely improve his day-to-day symptoms of the asthma.

My question is for other asthma kitty guardians; Where do you fill your prescriptions? I was looking at Walgreens and CVS and the price without insurance for these meds is scary. More than anything I need a cost-effective place to fill the Fluticasone prescription since that is his daily inhaler and I will need to fill that multiple times per year.
As always, I really appreciate all of the insight this community has to offer!

 

[havecats]

When my kitty had asthma I filled my prescription through Costco which is very similar to Sam's Club. It was less expensive through Costco, but still really pricey. I'm sorry you're having to go through this. When I was waiting for my kitty's inhaler to arrive, it was recommended to me to use the cone from a toilet paper roll to help kitty adjust to the inhaler. Not sure if it helped that much because he did not like the sound the inhaler made. The sound of the rush of air would cause him to wince and at times he would struggle in my arms.

Have you checked into Good Rx? Or any other discount prescription program? Costco has one which is why they would offer discounts for prescriptions. Not sure if it applies to all prescriptions, though, but it has been really helpful. I'm sure others will chime in shortly with more info. Hope all goes well with you and your kitty

 

[LTS3]

A previous cat had asthma and took Flovent daily. I found the vet hospital's in-house pharmacy cheaper than CVS, etc. If you can only buy from a pharmacy, compare prices with GoodRx.com Also look into a a pet prescription discount card to use at the pharmacy. These are free to print online. Here's one: http://www.petdrugcard.com/index.html The web site also has a tool to compare prices at your local pharmacies.

Do you have AAA for your car? AAA offers pet prescription discounts.

Pre-pandemic, Costo allowed non-members to use the pharmacy. I'm not sure about now. Check the Costco web site.

Join this feline asthma group for other ways to save on inhaled medicines: felineasthma groups.io Group I believe many members there buy Flovent and other medicines from an overseas web site for pretty cheap, Inhouse Pharmacy | Medical Prescriptions Shipped to Your Home

 

[heyitsfae]

Thank you both so much! This is all very helpful. The asthma group is especially helpful... they recommended a couple of online pharmacies that are significantly cheaper than anything here. Thank you!

 

[BlackCatOp]

My cat uses a daily inhaler for chronic rhinosinusitis and it has made a HUGE difference in his quality of life. Cost wise, I filled the first one at a grocery store and used goodrx (paid $400) I wanted to make sure it actually worked. I hated the idea of purchasing meds online as pets are not able to voice if something is wrong with the meds but since the inhaler made such an improvement for him, I decided to take a gamble. I have had good luck ordering at inhouse and used plastiq.com to send them a check as I didn’t want to provide my personal checking account info.

Here are the inhaler I have ordered (Flixotide (Fluticasone) Inhaler 125mcg (Sourced from Turkey) - InhousePharmacy.vu). I would caution ordering the generic as the inactive ingredients are not completely the same as the GSK version.

Also, to clarify some confusing names/terms

Flixotide=Flovent=fluticasone
(European vs USA vs generic drug names)

125mcg=110mcg
250mcg=220mcg
(it depends on where the dose was measured- at the start of the puff or at the mouthpiece exit but ultimately they are equivalent)

Do you have the aerokat yet?

 

[heyitsfae]

BlackCatOp The Aerokat should arrive tomorrow (fingers crossed). I don't know how Lew is going to handle it... he's not great with things around his face so it will be an adventure! I see sooooo many scratches in my future.

I was going to order the fluticasone from inhousepharmacy; since that site is highly recommended on the feline asthma group that LTS3 recommended above. Online pharmacies seemed a little sketchy but realistically, $400 every other month is not sustainable right now and even with discount programs and coupons that seems to be the cheapest in our area. The other positive reviews from folks who have used inhousepharmacy make me feel better about it. Thank you for sharing that plastiq site! Truthfully, I never would have thought of that and it's a great idea.

Our prescription was for fluticasone 250 mcg so I was looking at the Flixotide 250 mcg. He also has a prescription for albuterol which is the exact same prescription that my husband uses for his asthma so we have a couple of those on hand.

Our vet had warned us about delays in getting the inhalers delivered. I guess a lot of folks have even had longer than normal waits filling them through CVS and Walgreens so she wrote us a prescription for prednisone to hold him over until everything arrives.

 

[BlackCatOp]

The cost was my biggest factor too. My choice was between no meds or online meds as the other was not financially obtainable either.

As far as the aerokat, I started with my cat Chester really slowly and he is great now at accepting his breathing treatments. First, I only used the mask without the spacer attached. I did this for nearly 2 weeks several times a day - increasing the time I held the mask over his face. Then I attached the spacer to the mask and also practiced with it for several days. Since he was use to the mask, he didn’t object to the spacer being attached too much. What Chester didn’t like was when I depressed the inhaler while the aerokat was held to his face. Thus, I depress first and then place the aerokat over his face. Probably not ideal but he was not tolerating the actual “puff” in his face.

Best luck with your kitty!

 

[heyitsfae]

BlackCatOp That's really good advice on acclimating him to the mask. I stole your idea and we've started doing that too and he's NOT happy about it. I'm hoping that he warms up to it with time (or just admits defeat and stops fighting it ).

 

[lisahe]

The cost was my biggest factor too. My choice was between no meds or online meds as the other was not financially obtainable either.

As far as the aerokat, I started with my cat Chester really slowly and he is great now at accepting his breathing treatments. First, I only used the mask without the spacer attached. I did this for nearly 2 weeks several times a day - increasing the time I held the mask over his face. Then I attached the spacer to the mask and also practiced with it for several days. Since he was use to the mask, he didn’t object to the spacer being attached too much. What Chester didn’t like was when I depressed the inhaler while the aerokat was held to his face. Thus, I depress first and then place the aerokat over his face. Probably not ideal but he was not tolerating the actual “puff” in his face.

Best luck with your kitty!

One of our cats has been on an inhaler since the beginning of the year and this is great advice about acclimating. We did similar things and they really helped. One of our vet techs also recommended petting Ireland with the AeroKat -- that's especially helpful. I still do that between puffs.

Also, huge thanks, BlackCatOp , for the tip on Plastiq! I have an order in at PharmStore but am a little nervous about receiving the order in time since everything's so much slower right now -- I'm contemplating ordering a backup inhaler from Inhouse. (I don't want to have to do the $300-400 inhaler!) I don't like sending checks, though, (and am even trying to not use them at all!) so am very glad for that option!

We've used GSK Flixotide manufactured in Turkey and Australia. I've considered ordering the generic (which I looked into fairly carefully and feel confident about) but the GSK usually ends up being the same price or even cheaper so I've always gone for that.

I hope it goes well heyitsfae ! Ireland doesn't exactly love her inhaler (as some cats apparently do) but she tolerates being puffed, which is half the battle. I think part of the reason she tolerates it is that she knows she'll be fed after she's puffed. This means she goes into the bathroom to remind me when it's time for her inhaler.