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- Aug 7, 2022
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Hello everyone. First off I'm new and would like to say how much I love this forum and am so thankful I found it. My cat Oreo who will be 17 in Oct was recently diagnosed with asthma from his chest xray and also a possible nasal or throat polyp or instruction due to the way he wheeze which the vets call stridor. Here is his background. He's always been healthy. This last year he lost a lot of weight even though he was eating. He would sometimes cough but I thought it was a hairball. He acted normal, still playing and chasing the younger cats around. He was 16 but acted like 7. He had a great checkup in Feb but in May he started to have noisy breathing at times but it would go away. I just thought he had a cold or was snoring when he slept. Things got progressively worse and I took him to vet. Xrays showed most likely a fungal infection so had urine test to see what fungus it was so could treat. 2 weeks later test negative. So vet thinks just respiratory infection and puts on antibiotic and prednisolone for the inflammation in his lungs. Next day, he is open mouth breathing, rush to emergency vet. They do new xrays and say most likely asthma but do mention how his noisy breathing (stridor) sounds more upper like from nose or throat. Recommend sedated oral exam. Also discover heart disease so immediately stop prednisolone. Bring him home after he is stable the next day. 2 days later take to vet for followup and he says latest xrays look a lot worse than 2 weeks prior. He also says it's most likely asthma, and prescribes Flovent and ProAir for emergency. He says he agrees with ER vet about it sounding upper but let's see if he improves on the asthma meds. He has not. Went for 2wk followup this past Thurs and saw different vet who specializes more in felines who said he needs a scope to check his nose, throat, and biopsy. She doesn't want to do sedated oral because may not see if something deep. I get it, but I also just spend $2000 in the last month on vets and can't even imagine how much scope will be. I am seeing a new vet for a final opinion and hoping maybe he can do a sedated exam because what if it is just a polyp that's RIGHT there! He can snip and Oreo can finally BREATHE! I am hoping its just a polyp because obviously he does have inflammation in his lungs from the xrays but I find it strange that he is not responding to the steroid inhaler or fast acting. He doesn't have the typical asthma signs. His difficulty is on inhale vs exhale, he hardly ever coughs, his breathing seems to be exacerbated by eating, drinking, purring and he never really has an attack. He just always wheezes. wheeze. I will see what happens on Friday. I know he's old, will be 17 in Oct and had a great life but I don't want to put him down because before all this he was supercat. He still even now can jump up on/off counter no problems or hesitation. But at the same time, as I watch him struggle to breathe and cry because I can't help him, I know I have to do what's best for him because he cannot continue like this. I just need to know for sure what is wrong because what if it can be treated. Anyone have a similar experience with their furbaby?
He also swallows a lot.
He also swallows a lot.