Hello All,
About two months ago, I noticed my cat Juliette was suddenly breathing more rapid and heavier than usual. She was not open-mouth breathing/panting, no coughing, no sneezing-- just faster than normal (40-50 breaths per minute, bpm) and with more abdominal movement. The vet said she could hear some increased lung sounds, xrays looked fine for the most part with maybe some slight "bronchial patterns", and we also ran a few tests to rule out any cardiac issues. The vet suspected either an upper respiratory infection (although thought it was unusual there was no coughing or congestion) or asthma. We were prescribed the antibioitic Clavamox and oral steroid prednisolone. After about a week, my cat was back to normal (18-20 bpm). We finished the antibiotic, and the vet recommended to slowly titrate the dose of prednisolone down before taking my cat off it completely.
Everything was going well for a 2-3 weeks until the faster/heavier breathing returned again. We again tried Clavamox as well as returned to the initial higher dose of prednisolone. My cat's breathing improved to a more normal rate (24-30 bpm), but not what I would consider her specific normal (more towards 20 bpm). The vet thought breathing was okay, and said let's try to nudge the prednisolone down just a tiny bit. Three days later-- we are back to faster/heavier breathing again (about 40 bpm).
Has anyone ever experienced something like this with their kitty or have suggestions of different diagnoses to explore? My vet said it may be asthma and we may have to try using an inhaler. Of course, I want to do whatever will help my kitty feel better but it seems strange my cat doesn't seem to have the wheezing and attacks that other asthma kitties have. It also seems strange that this seemed to just suddenly start out of the blue. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
About two months ago, I noticed my cat Juliette was suddenly breathing more rapid and heavier than usual. She was not open-mouth breathing/panting, no coughing, no sneezing-- just faster than normal (40-50 breaths per minute, bpm) and with more abdominal movement. The vet said she could hear some increased lung sounds, xrays looked fine for the most part with maybe some slight "bronchial patterns", and we also ran a few tests to rule out any cardiac issues. The vet suspected either an upper respiratory infection (although thought it was unusual there was no coughing or congestion) or asthma. We were prescribed the antibioitic Clavamox and oral steroid prednisolone. After about a week, my cat was back to normal (18-20 bpm). We finished the antibiotic, and the vet recommended to slowly titrate the dose of prednisolone down before taking my cat off it completely.
Everything was going well for a 2-3 weeks until the faster/heavier breathing returned again. We again tried Clavamox as well as returned to the initial higher dose of prednisolone. My cat's breathing improved to a more normal rate (24-30 bpm), but not what I would consider her specific normal (more towards 20 bpm). The vet thought breathing was okay, and said let's try to nudge the prednisolone down just a tiny bit. Three days later-- we are back to faster/heavier breathing again (about 40 bpm).
Has anyone ever experienced something like this with their kitty or have suggestions of different diagnoses to explore? My vet said it may be asthma and we may have to try using an inhaler. Of course, I want to do whatever will help my kitty feel better but it seems strange my cat doesn't seem to have the wheezing and attacks that other asthma kitties have. It also seems strange that this seemed to just suddenly start out of the blue. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
