- Joined
- May 28, 2018
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I'm going to write this in timeline format to hopefully make it easier to follow.
April 5: I adopted an 8 year old cat Stormy. He's super sweet (check out my avatar pic), gentle, loves chasing his jingle balls toys around the house, and eating sardines.
April 15-27: A few weeks after I got him, I observed some coughing fits in which he would crouch down and cough for up to 15-20 seconds. He also had eye discharge (clear, or white). He was coughing about once a day but was eating and acting fine otherwise.
April 28: Being an anxious new cat parent (he's my first cat), I took him to the vet to get him checked out. Based on my internet research, my bets were on asthma or feline upper respiratory infection. He got a complete blood count and x-ray, and nothing serious was in the results. The vet said that asthma is not always black and white to diagnose, but sometimes the x Ray will look a certain way (can't remember what) that will indicate asthma. His x-ray was inconclusive in that respect, but I remember her saying there was something darker on it (again, can't remember). His blood work came back good. We showed her a video of a cat coughing on YouTube which looked and sounded similar to how he was having coughing fits and she said the video really looked/sounded like an asthmatic cat. She prescribed him presidilone pills, to take 2x a day for 2 weeks, then drop down to 1x a day for 2 weeks, and then to every other day for 2 weeks and reevaluate from there if he needs an aerokat inhaler or not.
April 29-May 10: The prednisolone completely stopped the coughing, but in the coming weeks he became more lethargic and less energetic than before. He was still eating and using the litter box normally. I called the vet and told her this, and she said that because he's not coughing and not having litter box or appetite issues it could be a milder asthma so she said we could drop his dose about a week early to one pill a day. Almost immediately, there was a change in energy and he was back to chasing his favorite rolly toy around and following us into rooms.
May 11: I thought it would be worth it to bring up this, since it's a big change in my household. I got a cat named Klaus because I wanted a 2nd cat and wanted Stormy to have a pal for when I'm at work. We did a slow introduction, and aside from a few hisses and initially being worried that Klaus was too playful for Stormy, they have been doing really good and like being around one another.
mid-May: Maybe a week (or less) after we dropped his prednisolone dose, Stormy started sneezing basically non-stop. Again energy levels and appetite were fine, but he was sneezing basically every couple minutes. I called the vet about this and left message, which she returned and left me a message (yay, phone tag!
). I ended up not calling her back because she said to let her know if the sneezing was excessive which it was at first, but a couple of days later it stopped. But she said if it's not excessive to hang tight. She said it could be pollen too which I agree with because of the season.
Mid may-May 27: Our new cat Klaus was starting to sneeze, having discharge (clear or white), and a stuffy nose around this time too--hes had no coughing other than hairballs though. & after Stormy's sneezing fest that occurred for 2 days, he was doing much better. At this point I started believing that Stormy didn't have asthma and that it had been a URI all along, and then he gave it to Klaus. So my worries eased. During this time it had been two weeks since we originally lowered his dose so per Dr's orders we lowered it again to 1 pill every other day.
May 27-28: Cue being worried all over again. On Sunday, I noticed an odd sound when he inhaling/exhaling in a rested state. It sounded internal. It wasn't really raspy, but it either sounded like it was coming from his stomach or lungs. I wasn't worried at that point, he was just making an odd noise. But yesterday, it got worse. He was super lethargic and his throat sounded raspy when he breathed (check out my Instagram @stormyandklausnebelungs to see a video of his breathing). He also had no appetite, and it was his day to get his prednisolone. I'm pretty sure he was using the litter box based on the contents of it, but then again it could have been Klaus's pee or poop too. Coughing was minimal, and there wasn't coughing fits like before but he would crouch in the coughing position and look uncomfortable. His cough sounded more rattly-before it was a dry cough. He also hid in the closet and his cardboard box house almost all day. Because it was memorial day, I couldn't take him to the vet because they were closed. Oddly enough around 9:30pm he perked up again. He ate his food, had way more energy, and was back to his curious, following you everywhere self. His eyes looked so much brighter and more alert. He even sat on my husband's lap which is such a rare occurrence because while he loves being around his people, he's not a lap cat.
Today: this morning he seemed fine too. he slept at the foot of the bed last night like he always does and ate all his food this morning. the only thing I noticed is when he meows it's super raspy. Im debating on whether I want to call the vet now. I'm leaning yes, but it seems like the past few times I call all worried then he gets better the next day. I don't want to be a hypochondriac (but I totally am lol) or over paranoid, but I also don't want to prolong the pain if there is something else. at this point I have no idea if it's asthma, if he had a URI, or if it's something worse. I hate to take him in again both because he HATES it and will open mouth breathe if he's super stressed and because I cant afford hundreds of dollars. I can afford the aerokat if he's asthmatic, but I don't want to pay another $300 (or more) for blood work and x Ray.
Does anyone have any experience with cat asthma? He really worried me with how he acted yesterday, does that sound like asthma like behavior, or something else? is it possible that he could have had a URI and asthma at the same time? I know the answer is to reach out the vet which I will do, but until I get a chance to call I'm dealing with it by posting here.
Thank you if you've made it this long, and here's a picture of Stormy as a prize for reading this long winded post
April 5: I adopted an 8 year old cat Stormy. He's super sweet (check out my avatar pic), gentle, loves chasing his jingle balls toys around the house, and eating sardines.
April 15-27: A few weeks after I got him, I observed some coughing fits in which he would crouch down and cough for up to 15-20 seconds. He also had eye discharge (clear, or white). He was coughing about once a day but was eating and acting fine otherwise.
April 28: Being an anxious new cat parent (he's my first cat), I took him to the vet to get him checked out. Based on my internet research, my bets were on asthma or feline upper respiratory infection. He got a complete blood count and x-ray, and nothing serious was in the results. The vet said that asthma is not always black and white to diagnose, but sometimes the x Ray will look a certain way (can't remember what) that will indicate asthma. His x-ray was inconclusive in that respect, but I remember her saying there was something darker on it (again, can't remember). His blood work came back good. We showed her a video of a cat coughing on YouTube which looked and sounded similar to how he was having coughing fits and she said the video really looked/sounded like an asthmatic cat. She prescribed him presidilone pills, to take 2x a day for 2 weeks, then drop down to 1x a day for 2 weeks, and then to every other day for 2 weeks and reevaluate from there if he needs an aerokat inhaler or not.
April 29-May 10: The prednisolone completely stopped the coughing, but in the coming weeks he became more lethargic and less energetic than before. He was still eating and using the litter box normally. I called the vet and told her this, and she said that because he's not coughing and not having litter box or appetite issues it could be a milder asthma so she said we could drop his dose about a week early to one pill a day. Almost immediately, there was a change in energy and he was back to chasing his favorite rolly toy around and following us into rooms.
May 11: I thought it would be worth it to bring up this, since it's a big change in my household. I got a cat named Klaus because I wanted a 2nd cat and wanted Stormy to have a pal for when I'm at work. We did a slow introduction, and aside from a few hisses and initially being worried that Klaus was too playful for Stormy, they have been doing really good and like being around one another.
mid-May: Maybe a week (or less) after we dropped his prednisolone dose, Stormy started sneezing basically non-stop. Again energy levels and appetite were fine, but he was sneezing basically every couple minutes. I called the vet about this and left message, which she returned and left me a message (yay, phone tag!
). I ended up not calling her back because she said to let her know if the sneezing was excessive which it was at first, but a couple of days later it stopped. But she said if it's not excessive to hang tight. She said it could be pollen too which I agree with because of the season. Mid may-May 27: Our new cat Klaus was starting to sneeze, having discharge (clear or white), and a stuffy nose around this time too--hes had no coughing other than hairballs though. & after Stormy's sneezing fest that occurred for 2 days, he was doing much better. At this point I started believing that Stormy didn't have asthma and that it had been a URI all along, and then he gave it to Klaus. So my worries eased. During this time it had been two weeks since we originally lowered his dose so per Dr's orders we lowered it again to 1 pill every other day.
May 27-28: Cue being worried all over again. On Sunday, I noticed an odd sound when he inhaling/exhaling in a rested state. It sounded internal. It wasn't really raspy, but it either sounded like it was coming from his stomach or lungs. I wasn't worried at that point, he was just making an odd noise. But yesterday, it got worse. He was super lethargic and his throat sounded raspy when he breathed (check out my Instagram @stormyandklausnebelungs to see a video of his breathing). He also had no appetite, and it was his day to get his prednisolone. I'm pretty sure he was using the litter box based on the contents of it, but then again it could have been Klaus's pee or poop too. Coughing was minimal, and there wasn't coughing fits like before but he would crouch in the coughing position and look uncomfortable. His cough sounded more rattly-before it was a dry cough. He also hid in the closet and his cardboard box house almost all day. Because it was memorial day, I couldn't take him to the vet because they were closed. Oddly enough around 9:30pm he perked up again. He ate his food, had way more energy, and was back to his curious, following you everywhere self. His eyes looked so much brighter and more alert. He even sat on my husband's lap which is such a rare occurrence because while he loves being around his people, he's not a lap cat.
Today: this morning he seemed fine too. he slept at the foot of the bed last night like he always does and ate all his food this morning. the only thing I noticed is when he meows it's super raspy. Im debating on whether I want to call the vet now. I'm leaning yes, but it seems like the past few times I call all worried then he gets better the next day. I don't want to be a hypochondriac (but I totally am lol) or over paranoid, but I also don't want to prolong the pain if there is something else. at this point I have no idea if it's asthma, if he had a URI, or if it's something worse. I hate to take him in again both because he HATES it and will open mouth breathe if he's super stressed and because I cant afford hundreds of dollars. I can afford the aerokat if he's asthmatic, but I don't want to pay another $300 (or more) for blood work and x Ray.
Does anyone have any experience with cat asthma? He really worried me with how he acted yesterday, does that sound like asthma like behavior, or something else? is it possible that he could have had a URI and asthma at the same time? I know the answer is to reach out the vet which I will do, but until I get a chance to call I'm dealing with it by posting here.
Thank you if you've made it this long, and here's a picture of Stormy as a prize for reading this long winded post
. 
