Do cats grow out of asthma?

[WhatchaCallKitty]

I can definitely say to an extent, yes.

My cat, when she was a kitten , had severe attacks on a regular basis (daily), especially after exercise (but also anytime).

However, she is now 14 months, and the last attack was a minor one about a month ago, and before that, I don't remember as it was quite a while (if memory serves me correctly).

With this said, she still noticeably has trouble breathing after exercise.

Anyone have experience with a cat(s) with asthma? Any suggestions?(aside from steroids)

Google says the average life expectancy of cats with asthma is less than 5 years.

 

[FeralHearts]

H there W WhatchaCallKitty ! I have a kitty with Asthma. He's not grown out of it. :-( That would be nice though. He was diagnosed 4 years ago. He just turned 7 and he's kicking up a storm like the wild thing he is. In other words - don't panic. Especially since it sounds like it's mild - which - is awesome.

I have an inhaler for him and although it is a steroid, it does not have the same negative side effects that steroid pills have on cats. I also don't give it to him daily. When he has flare-ups he will get it for a few weeks. (Steriods take several days to a week to get into the system.) Should it progressively get worse it might end up to be daily.

Has your Vet checked kitty for heart issues?

Charlie, along with his Asthma, has HCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy). His HCM is mild and has so far not progressed (knock on wood) but it was the main reason he was having issues breathing after play. The Asthma didn't help mind you.

BTW Asthma can also be triggered by a food allergy - or another allergy. Charlie has a food allergy/sensitivity and his Asthma has slightly improved (fewer attacks) since the allergy source was removed from his diet. He still snores etc.

 

[She's a witch]

So according to my vet, there’s a chance to “grow up” from asthma if the cat had first symptoms as a kitten; there’s a type of child asthma in humans that children “grow out” from and they theorize that the same happens with cats. If the cat has first symptoms as an adult, the asthma is not reversible.

Edited to add: asthma is one of the most over diagnosed conditions so it’s even possible your cat didn’t have it in the first place if the diagnostic was not good enough.

 

[WillowMarie]

My Isabelle did not have it suffer from asthma as a kitten, and started getting symptomatic around age 3 or 4. She is now over 9 years old. She is now on a low dose of oral steroids all year, but needs an increase dose in the spring due to worsening asthma from seasonal allergies. She spent a year not being treated properly because my first vet prescribed prednisone, which works in other animals, but not always cats. I switched vets and by that time her symptoms subsided. The vet wanted to wait to see a video of the coughing to decide what test to run, etc. She wasn't symptomatic again until beginning of spring. The vet confirmed asthma, and put her on prednisilone, which is a different form of prednisone that cats can use.

While steroids can be hard on a cats body over time, my vet told me cats deal with steroids better longterm than other animals. My Isabelle has not had any health problems because of the steroids yet.

Someone else mentioned that they use the inhaled. Inhaled is a lot safer long term, although Isabelle did great with the face mask training until I sprayed the medicine. She has a strong sense of smell, and the smell caused me to have to start training almost from the beginning each time to get her used to the face mask, so she was never trained to take inhaled. But many cats can and are trained

Preventative that my vet shared was to keep dust to a minimum (I vaccuum once a week), do not use any scents (candles, air fresheners, scented laundry detergent, scented litter), and do not have any sources of smoke in the house (smoking, candles, etc.). Different cats have different triggers, so if you can pin point a trigger it will help to prevent your cat from being exposed.

Someone else mentioned if your kitty was checked for heart issues. My vet checked Isabelle for that because that can also cause coughing.

What reasons you are uncertain about using steroids?

 

[WhatchaCallKitty]

Thanks for the replies... Much great info!

Hopefully she doesn't have a heart condition.

Thankfully she had it as a child, and it's getting better, so it is a milder case.

F FeralHearts She's a witch W WillowMarie

Well, I've been hesitant to do steroids, because of their tendancy to induce dependency in humans (despite their benefits). However, it makes sense that cats handle them better, because they are mostly muscle, well, much moreso than humans (significantly higher muscle ratio).

Still, must contemplate , well, it's a milder case, so thankfully (hopefully), there is time. Thanks again for your insights.

 

[FeralHearts]

Thanks for the replies... Much great info!

Hopefully she doesn't have a heart condition.

Thankfully she had it as a child, and it's getting better, so it is a milder case.

F FeralHearts She's a witch W WillowMarie

Well, I've been hesitant to do steroids, because of their tendancy to induce dependency in humans (despite their benefits). However, it makes sense that cats handle them better, because they are mostly muscle, well, much moreso than humans (significantly higher muscle ratio).

Still, must contemplate , well, it's a milder case, so thankfully (hopefully), there is time. Thanks again for your insights.

W WhatchaCallKitty You're very welcome. If we can help at all we're glad to.

I hope she doesn't have a heart condition either, however, the sooner found, the sooner you can watch and take preventative measures from worsening where possible.

Mild is absolutely awesome.

While cats handle oral steroids better than humans, it still comes with a lot of risks for long term usage. UTI,s , creating a predisposition to diabetes mellitus, muscle weakness, it can be immunosuppressive - so infections, bacteria and fungal infections ect. So if she needs to go that root I would highly recommend trying the inhaler first. PITA as it can be to get them to do it - it's the least of the two evils.

My hope for you is that you never have to go to either of these options ever! That's going to be my wish for you.

W WillowMarie I got lucky with Charlie as he had / has no issues with it. (And that's kind of a miracle honestly as he's a difficult cat in general) Occasionally he gets all irky about it - but for the most part took to it well. I had to have one of my other cats on it for a couple of months as she was healing from an accidental poisoning - she was more "no-way" but I didn't really give her much of a choice in the matter lol. She accepted it - kind of. I'm sorry your kitty didn't have the luck with it but very glad they are doing well on the oral meds!!:-)

 

[Antonio65]

My cat in the avatar suffered from violent and sudden attacks of asthma when she was very young. She started at about 5 months of age, she stopped around 8 months of age, so it was a very short period of time, but very scaring!

One night, I remember, she started coughing so hard and endlessly, trying to get air, that her tongue turned to purple, then violet, then blue, and I was sure she was going to die.
On an occasion I was able to shoot a short video that I showed the vet on the next day and she prescribed some cortisone in drops to be given during these episodes. We had to have the med ready at hand on the kitchen counter, just in case.
Needless to say that I never witnessed any other episode after the prescription, and after the period of time I told you about, she was fine.