? Advice for Asthmatic/Diabetic Kitty

Status
Not open for further replies.
MamasBoBoMan

MamasBoBoMan

Member Since 2017
Seeking advice, my has had severe asthma for about 6 years now...he is 8.5 yrs old. He was taking steroid meds/nebulizer for years & when we moved we switched vets who recommended taking him off steroids to avoid diabetes. At that time we switched him to Atopica for cats( 0.25 ml per day/ apparently taste horrible because he spits up and drools almost every time so we give him tuna to mask the taste.. which seems to help. He also has inhaler( Aerokat) which he takes as needed. He has been doing great with no serious episodes for over a month until recent. He was diagnosed with diabetes almost 3 weeks ago. Since then we give him his meds as normal but also provide insulin after checking BG. His food has changed from MD glucose management to YA/Friskies pate. Since last Saturday( curve day), my husband / father in law were doing floor work in our house & cleary stirred it up....we had episode that night ( mouth breathing... gave 2nd dose of Atopica.. didn't work so gave inhaler.... didn't work & gave last emergency injection.... didn't work. Took him to ER at 1am ( 45 mins away) & he was Stable so vet said I had done all she would do expect oxygen but didn't see where he needed it then. So sent us home with terbutaline( give 1.25mg as needed for EM= half a pill)...5 pills only provided. I am concerned because he hasn't been 100% since then.... not sure what to do. I hope someone has experience and can help me.
 
Hi Chelsea,

I've no experience with asthma so can't contribute anything helpful. However, there are sometimes members who post on the Lantus & Levemir forum (a very busy board) who don't often visit Feline Health. I've posted a request over on that board asking for anyone with experience of dealing with both asthma and FD to come and visit this thread and hopefully offer some helpful suggestions for Bo.


Mogs
.
 
Hi Chelsea,

That must have been a horrible experience, I'm sorry. My cat Maggie has had asthma all her life, 18 years. Most of that time she took prednisone and used the Aerocat with Flovent at the same time. I'm not familiar with Atopica or terbutaline. What dose of pred was he on? Bo's got diabetes now, so no worries now that pred will cause diabetes, right? ;) I jest, but seriously, if pred was working to control the asthma in extreme cases (stirred up dust) then it seems that would be preferable to trips to the ER. In my experience, which is very limited, pred raises the BG some, but that just means using a higher dose of insulin. And if you can monitor the BG, I think diabetes is very manageable.
 
Hi there, Chelsea. Sorry to hear of your troubles and Bo's rough patch! My cat, Akila, has had asthma for about 10 years, although perhaps not as severe as Bo's. We've been on Flohale with the aerokat and I am down to 1x every other day which seems to control it well. We got off oral steroids early on since the Flohale worked, but had been on steroids (methylpred, instead of pred) and Atopica recently to try to control an autoimmune disease (pemphigus) she also has (skin-related, as FurBabiesMama said, that's all I thought it was for). The Atopica made her lose her appetite (tough to do - she's a champion eater) and never helped the pemphigus at all so we stopped that. But after trying to decrease the steroid by using Atopica and because of her newly diagnosed diabetes, her pemphigus got a lot worse (sort of like Bo's asthma) and we are upping the steroid, prioritizing the pemphigus over the diabetes. It's frustrating and, as you can see, I'm brand new, so I don't have any answers, but in case something in Akila's history stimulates a thought for you, I thought I'd relate it. I just dropped back to a steroid dose every other day, so I'm hoping to find out if the steroid/insulin/diabetes relationship is so tight that I will literally see higher values on steroid days vs. non and if that will ultimately mean I'll do slightly higher doses on steroid days.

So TL;DR you may also wish to consider/discuss whether the steroids are worth the hassle of the diabetes. My primary and derm vet were both hopeful that no steroids would be part of a quick program to send her into remission for the FD, but given how severe her pemphigus was, we may not be able to pursue that at all, and that's something I am resigned to. I hope you find a good path too.
 
penni said:
Hi there, Chelsea. Sorry to hear of your troubles and Bo's rough patch! My cat, Akila, has had asthma for about 10 years, although perhaps not as severe as Bo's. We've been on Flohale with the aerokat and I am down to 1x every other day which seems to control it well. We got off oral steroids early on since the Flohale worked, but had been on steroids (methylpred, instead of pred) and Atopica recently to try to control an autoimmune disease (pemphigus) she also has (skin-related, as FurBabiesMama said, that's all I thought it was for). The Atopica made her lose her appetite (tough to do - she's a champion eater) and never helped the pemphigus at all so we stopped that. But after trying to decrease the steroid by using Atopica and because of her newly diagnosed diabetes, her pemphigus got a lot worse (sort of like Bo's asthma) and we are upping the steroid, prioritizing the pemphigus over the diabetes. It's frustrating and, as you can see, I'm brand new, so I don't have any answers, but in case something in Akila's history stimulates a thought for you, I thought I'd relate it. I just dropped back to a steroid dose every other day, so I'm hoping to find out if the steroid/insulin/diabetes relationship is so tight that I will literally see higher values on steroid days vs. non and if that will ultimately mean I'll do slightly higher doses on steroid days.

So TL;DR you may also wish to consider/discuss whether the steroids are worth the hassle of the diabetes. My primary and derm vet were both hopeful that no steroids would be part of a quick program to send her into remission for the FD, but given how severe her pemphigus was, we may not be able to pursue that at all, and that's something I am resigned to. I hope you find a good path too.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your responses! I am so sorry to hear of your babies health issues also. I know we hurt when we feel at loss for them....we just want what is best so it's hard when battling options like that. I'm not too sure where to start...obviously is primary issue was asthma & although he has done really well with the Atopica...I worry that with his new insulin his body may be fighting more than I know... which scares me. I also think I need to find a new vet, hard to find one with true experience with feline asthma.
 
MamasBoBoMan said:
Thank you so much for your responses! I am so sorry to hear of your babies health issues also. I know we hurt when we feel at loss for them....we just want what is best so it's hard when battling options like that. I'm not too sure where to start...obviously is primary issue was asthma & although he has done really well with the Atopica...I worry that with his new insulin his body may be fighting more than I know... which scares me. I also think I need to find a new vet, hard to find one with true experience with feline asthma.
Click to expand...
Yes, one thing that was recently suggested to me, as a mama to a cat with 4-5 different, serious health issues, is that I see a veterinarian internist - someone that would have experience coordinating numerous different courses of treatments from various specialists and knowing how drugs interact and respond to each other. May not have as much experience with asthma per se, but maybe someone like that would have experience treating a cat with asthma + FD or similar. I haven't pursued this myself yet, but it might still be something I do...
 
My Martini also has asthma. Recently we 'stirred it up' by getting a really really fresh Christmas tree. She had more attacks in the space of 3 weeks than in years.
The tree is gone and I'm praying the asthma is under control now. Have you tried Ventolin as a rescue inhaler? It's very good, opens the passage ways quickly if there is a bad attack. Do you puff the max dosage of Flovent twice a day? Take a look at fritzthebrave.com if you haven't already. Great site.
If you vacumme all the dust you can there's not much else that will help except time. Can you keep him away from the area a bit for a while?
Hope this helps a bit, I feel your pain..
 
Another thing I just thought of - do you have a HEPA air filter? I got one years ago, and I *think* (but can't really conclude) it's been helpful for Akila's asthma. My first one died so I had to buy one a couple years ago and this is the one I purchased, although I thought it was significantly cheaper when I bought it! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004VGIGVY/?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20 I put it in the room Akila spends the most time in and leave it on most of the time, just replaced the air filter recently (not too pricey, though I probably should have done it more than 1.5 years in! It was DIR-TEE!) which was quite easy. Might be something to try if you haven't already!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top