Cat Asthma

[saigehartman]

My Beans was diagnosed a few weeks ago with kitty asthma (who knew that was even a thing?) Wondering if any others have gone through this and what worked for them.

Doc put her on steroid pills, we are down to one every other day but I'm not sure if that is the best choice for her long term? I don't want her to end up with any kidney issues or anything. The steroid pills have already made her sick, she had to take an additional medicine for 3 weeks to get rid of her "cold" she picked up after starting the steroids.

Any and all recommendations and personal experiences welcome!

 

[duckpond]

My kitten, and my husband both have mild cases of Asthma. Luckily we have been able to keep it under control with house hold changes, for the kitten. Husband takes meds

I had to get rid of any scented products, laundry soap, household cleaners, no candles, essential oils , plugins , that kind of thing. Vacuum and dust well. all cat beds, and people beds are laundered weekly.

I found the best, dust, fragrance free litter i could find. I have 3 that i use. I think the litter has made the biggest difference with my kitten. But any scented things in the home can set him off.

Dr. Elseys respiratory relief silica crystal gel litter
Litter maid clumping walnut litter, i can only find this at walmart
and Abound, or pioneer brand grass litter.

As long as i stick to this routine my cat has no problems, and husband has very little

 

[saigehartman]

My kitten, and my husband both have mild cases of Asthma. Luckily we have been able to keep it under control with house hold changes, for the kitten. Husband takes meds

I had to get rid of any scented products, laundry soap, household cleaners, no candles, essential oils , plugins , that kind of thing. Vacuum and dust well. all cat beds, and people beds are laundered weekly.

I found the best, dust, fragrance free litter i could find. I have 3 that i use. I think the litter has made the biggest difference with my kitten. But any scented things in the home can set him off.

Dr. Elseys respiratory relief silica crystal gel litter
Litter maid clumping walnut litter, i can only find this at walmart
and Abound, or pioneer brand grass litter.

As long as i stick to this routine my cat has no problems, and husband has very little

THANK YOU! My problem with the litter is I have tried to switch my brand of litter before (I currently use the arm and hammer clump and seal multi cat) she will start peeing outside the box! Maybe I can give the walnut litter a try, it might be closer to the same consistency?

Luckily I do not have too many candles or plugins and use unscented laundry detergent (any other makes my skin itch) but do you scented fabric softener, I will try and switch that out to an unscented kind. I will up the vacuuming and washing her bed more.

Did your kitty ever have to be on meds? I have noticed a huge improvement in her asthma attacks since she started them (none at all since she started meds) but hate the thought of having to give her a pill for life that could potentially have not so great side effects.

 

[duckpond]

Try the Litter Maid walnut litter. None of my cats have any problems with it. they do not like some of the other natural litters, and hate the pellets. they like the grass based litters, but it took them a bit of time to get use to it. I think the walnut is closer to clay litter. The Dr. Elseys crystals are also very small and sand like, the only crystals my guys will use. I did notice at walmart this weekend that there is now a light weight clump and seal, unscented. so if she refuses the walnut it may be something to try. But i will never go back to clay now, the walnut is so much cleaner and no smell. I do need to tell you some scoops will not work for this litter, even though its fairly fine. it need a large hole scoop or its difficult to clean.

I gave up fabric softner for the most part. If i use it i use the unscented, and i do not use it on anything that the cats may lay on. just our clothes. and bath towels.

My cat did not need meds, he has a very mild case. our vet wanted to try the environment changes first, and this has worked. no hacking or wheezing as long as i stick to it.

i love this, with any litter

 

[Hugospal]

My Hugo has asthma. When I first adopted him it was worse. We lived out in the country and I'm guessing it was some kind of pollen or something outside causing it, because after we moved to the city he has only had a few attacks in recent years. Some attacks were so mild (just some coughing in the mornings) we didn't need to see the vet and they passed on their own, while others were more serious so we'd go and he'd be given a 2 week course of steroids. He never had to be on meds long term so hopefully your kitty doesn't either. Limiting the allergens is key and in our case, we just moved to a different area and that made a difference.