Asthma. I have been made not only aware of, but intimate with feline asthma, something I never knew existed before.
Little Imp came into our courtyard, quite literally, to die. He was so sick and one of the things wrong was feline asthma.
Scruffy was on the streets too long. He was 10 months old when he was finally brought him in and he, too, had asthma.
It is rampant in the street cats here in this town. Unlike human asthma, the cause is a virus that is passed from cat to cat. Some are immune. Calzini and Missy Titi have never shown any symptoms whatsoever. ALL of the others have a some trace, be it an occasional cough, however mild.
Lupo nearly died when he was neutered. The doctor had to intubate him. The poor little guy lost his voice for weeks...I imagine he had a sore throat, but he stopped breathing altogether during the surgery. Lupo only has a very occasional cough and we completely forgot to mention it, so he had no pre-medications for asthma prior to surgery.
There are medications, and they are human ones. I have a supply of Diffumal and Medrol in the house and use it at my discretion for when any of them have attacks or difficulties. We also have an inhaler, with what is called a "spacer" which is used for human babies to administer the medicine. However, trying to use an inhaler on a cat as opposed to a baby is a ...well...haha..totally different animal!
So, as soon as we got Imp to the vet, we already knew he had a severe case. Impy was put on a combination of the Medrol and Diffumal right away. It helped and he was able to rest better and he began to eat well. He was still very small and weak, especially for his age. He had no desire to leave his cage, but he had soft places to rest and a view of the back window which looks over our balcony to the sky and hills. He seemed to just be happy enough watching Scruff and Tee come and go and having regular meals.
Scruffy seemed totally fine for a long time and then, quite suddenly, was "mouth breathing" one night. I was beside myself.
At that point, I started doing major research and read that fish can aggravate symptoms, so I will not buy any foods containing fish of any kind. I bought a Dyson air filter for the house, to keep particles, allergens, mold..whatever...out of the air. It's good for all of us. On the advice of the vet I started adding lysine (prescription strength) to their food everyday for quite a while.
Imp had another problem which I will talk about later, but eventually, he ventured out of his cage. He's a smart little guy...and somehow he knew to seek out the heat sources. He spent hours and hours on the radiator...I called it his "heat therapy."
He knew, also, that he had to pace himself, so in spite of all the others...(as we added more kittens to the clown car) he knew when to sit it out and rest. He also knew and still knows enough to sleep semi-sitting up. If he isn't in a sitting up position, he sleeps with his head extended, to facilitate his breathing. Imp has improved, unbelievably, to the point where I really don't worry about him anymore. He rarely coughs and hasn't needed medication in ages.
Since Lupo's incident in surgery, he has been totally fine. Notte has an occasional cough. I have, sadly, also heard a soft cough from Percy.
Scruffy is the worry now. Rather than getting better, Scruff got worse and worse. Lysine....did nothing. Diffumal seemed worthless as well. Medrol was the only thing that helped and that is a steroid which cannot be given all the time. He would be put on a cycle of Medrol and a week later be gasping for breath...lying on the floor looking desperate and scared, looking at me with big, sad eyes. So, we got the inhaler and spacer.
He hates it. It works! But he hates it. I have to ambush him and hold him down with all my strength while my husband puts the spacer over his face and tries to hold it there....when we manage it, it really helps. But, coordinating the ambush and being able to hold a little monster made of fight and flight and muscle is a mighty feat to pull off. He has some sixth sense or invisible radar that tells him what we are planning to do.
At this time I have him on intermittent Medrol and daily low dose Diffumal and as long as he doesn't run around like a banshee he seems to be alright. How do you tell a kitten not to play?
I should add neither of us smoke, I use little perfume, no room deodorizers or scents, only the occasional essential oil...I bought eucalyptus oil and the Italian version of "vapo-rub"...because that is also supposed to help and sometimes dab that around.
We switched to the more expensive corn litter because it has no dust (also good for us) and is 100% biodegradable. Flushable, too.
I have tried to make this house as feline asthma friendly as I possibly can. I keep hoping Scruffy will get better with just more time, like Imp did. He just had his second birthday....still playing, still breathing. Maybe he's learning a thing or two from Imp??
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