Hi everyone,
My cat displays symptoms of asthma, and over the past couple weeks it's gotten way more frequent, about a couple times a week) to maybe a couple times a day, however the duration of the symptoms isn't. The classic hairball/asthma debate where cat owners say the cats crouch like hacking a hairball but nothing comes up.
My cat breathes loudly sometimes (especially during resting/laying down, but not always), has these asthmatic-like attacks and then immediately goes back to playing with no signs of heavy breathing, doesnt open her mouth...She's almost a 4 year old cat and I adopted her back in the summer, in the notes there were no noticing of asthma!! I'd imagine when she was at the shelter or if she was in a home they'd catch that.
A couple months ago she stopped drinking a lot of water and as a result got really constipated, and the symptom I saw was her eating 25-50% of her food I give her, when she normally does 75%+. Changed the diet, got more rigorous with cleaning of her bowls so I clean them every day, and it hasn't been a problem. While they were testing her, they did notice she had slight bronchitis or asthma...Recent bloodwork however came back fine, doctors said looking at her bloodwork they'd suspect nothing wrong.
So this leads me to now, where the symptoms are becoming more frequent. I plan on bringing her in soon, but I don't know what to expect. If this seemingly mild case of asthma can be treated by a few drops of some sketchy remedy (Prana Pets holistic dog and cat medicine all natural remedies) then great. But it seems like this reduces the symptoms but doesn't stop them.
If its asthma, could it be some allergy in her food? Could it be dander/dust in my apartment? Is this something that I can be like "If I remove the allergen trigger then all will be well!" or is it something more ominous like "she will need to be on some asthma medication for all of her life".
I realize I can ask a vet all of this, but I don't have the kind of money to spend $1000+ on a vet trip as a grad student just getting by.
My cat displays symptoms of asthma, and over the past couple weeks it's gotten way more frequent, about a couple times a week) to maybe a couple times a day, however the duration of the symptoms isn't. The classic hairball/asthma debate where cat owners say the cats crouch like hacking a hairball but nothing comes up.
My cat breathes loudly sometimes (especially during resting/laying down, but not always), has these asthmatic-like attacks and then immediately goes back to playing with no signs of heavy breathing, doesnt open her mouth...She's almost a 4 year old cat and I adopted her back in the summer, in the notes there were no noticing of asthma!! I'd imagine when she was at the shelter or if she was in a home they'd catch that.
A couple months ago she stopped drinking a lot of water and as a result got really constipated, and the symptom I saw was her eating 25-50% of her food I give her, when she normally does 75%+. Changed the diet, got more rigorous with cleaning of her bowls so I clean them every day, and it hasn't been a problem. While they were testing her, they did notice she had slight bronchitis or asthma...Recent bloodwork however came back fine, doctors said looking at her bloodwork they'd suspect nothing wrong.
So this leads me to now, where the symptoms are becoming more frequent. I plan on bringing her in soon, but I don't know what to expect. If this seemingly mild case of asthma can be treated by a few drops of some sketchy remedy (Prana Pets holistic dog and cat medicine all natural remedies) then great. But it seems like this reduces the symptoms but doesn't stop them.
If its asthma, could it be some allergy in her food? Could it be dander/dust in my apartment? Is this something that I can be like "If I remove the allergen trigger then all will be well!" or is it something more ominous like "she will need to be on some asthma medication for all of her life".
I realize I can ask a vet all of this, but I don't have the kind of money to spend $1000+ on a vet trip as a grad student just getting by.
I finally found the two i like best, no dust, light weight and easy to use, plus the cats like them. The grass litter i had to play with a bit, i run two boxes with it, some of my cats like it deep, like 4 inches, other cats only want about 2 inches. so i give them both. They would not use most silica litters, but they love this one, very fine and sandy, soft on the feet i guess. I love these two litters, husband happy with it, so are the cats.
