? Is this acro stridor and snoring?

MélanieW

MélanieW

Member Since 2017

Can any of the pros in acro help me out with this? Do you think this is the snoring/stridor associated with acro. He is sleeping in both videos, but he will also make the first sound when lying on the ground just resting. When he is up or sitting up, I can't hear the sound most of the time. I do hear the sounds from time to time when I pet him and hug him.

I saw an emergency vet twice in the past two weeks. His breathing was really fast. Blood work normal. They did xrays and an echo: cardiomegaly on xray and what might be the beginning of HCM on echo. The vet did not recommend treating at this time. They could not exclude asthma and we started salbutamol. His respiratory rate still goes up from time to time but will usually come back down once he lays down to relax and sleep. He's a big boy so the vet told me not to expect lowish normal numbers. I'm mostly worried about the SOUNDS. He is SO noisy.
 
I watched the short video and parts of the longer one. Some cats snore, and they don't have Acro. In Leo's last 2 years he snored like a sailor. There was nothing mild about it. That particular issue from his throat and mouth growths contributed significantly to his departure. He couldn't eat properly.:(

I doubt your cat has stridor from Acromegaly. The first thing is, Noah was never diagnosed with Acro. And I suspect that since Noah went OTJ, he probably does not have Acro anyhow. Possible, but unlikely.

Not all Acro cats get stridor.

There is one clear observation from your videos. Noah looks DARNED comfortable and is enjoying himself.:)
 
Oh I haven't been back in a while, but Noah is probably acro. I need to update my spreadsheet. He went back on the juice about two years ago and his dose is pretty high now. Haven't gotten the tests done, but with the enlarged organs on the x-rays, I think this is what he has sadly. My vet is not hearing the sound when we are there (Noah is sitting up from the stress and won't lie down and he only makes the sounds when lying on his sides or back or when he's sleeping). I'm going back for an appointment soon and I'm trying to gather info to see what this could be. The noises are so LOUD now.

I'm sorry to read about you cat Leo. :(
 
The only definitive diagnosis is the blood test, to measure IGF-1. Your vet would take the sample, then send it in.
An old article, still accurate, describes some of the other symptoms which can be noticed.
http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/feline-acromegaly-keys-diagnosis

Leo had
prognathia
bony forehead growth
enlarged paws
organomegaly
throat/mouth growths - stridor
and also thickened claws, but those can occur in pancreatic-diabetic cats as well.
None of that went away after the SRT. The growth symptoms do not return to normal after radiation.

Thanks for the condolences for Leo. He was the best kitteh ever. I wish he could have had a longer life.
 
Hi Melanie, sorry to hear Noah is back on the juice. What is his dose now? I agree with Jeff that getting the IGF-1 test is helpful so you know what you are dealing with.

As for snoring, my civvie snored, Neko didn’t. She had a slightly heavier breathing sound on exhale, only towards the end of her time with me. Otherwise she made no sounds. The video parts I watched just sounds like snoring.
 
Thank you all for your comments. The acro testing is definitely on my list, but right now I'm just trying to figure out why he is breathing fast and so loud. I guess my videos showed him sleeping but he does it too while he is awake in certain positions.

I'm really freaking out. Rushed him to the vet twice in the last two weeks and after $3000, we don't have a definite diagnosis. Xrays showed cardiomegaly, but the echo said only beginning of thickening of the left ventricle wall and that we should do another echo in 6-8 months. Lungs were normal, but they could not exclude asthma. The bronchodilatators seem to help slow down his breathing rate, but the sound has me very worried. Nothing abnormal in the bloodword.

I know people here have a lot of experience so just wanted to see if someone had dealt with abnormal breathing like that in the past.
 
JeffJ said:
The only definitive diagnosis is the blood test, to measure IGF-1. Your vet would take the sample, then send it in.
An old article, still accurate, describes some of the other symptoms which can be noticed.
http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/feline-acromegaly-keys-diagnosis

Leo had
prognathia
bony forehead growth
enlarged paws
organomegaly
throat/mouth growths - stridor
and also thickened claws, but those can occur in pancreatic-diabetic cats as well.
None of that went away after the SRT. The growth symptoms do not return to normal after radiation.

Thanks for the condolences for Leo. He was the best kitteh ever. I wish he could have had a longer life.
Click to expand...


Thank you for the link. I will bring that up with my vet tomorrow during our appointment. This is the sad part about having pets. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could keep them forever?
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Hi Melanie, sorry to hear Noah is back on the juice. What is his dose now? I agree with Jeff that getting the IGF-1 test is helpful so you know what you are dealing with.

As for snoring, my civvie snored, Neko didn’t. She had a slightly heavier breathing sound on exhale, only towards the end of her time with me. Otherwise she made no sounds. The video parts I watched just sounds like snoring.
Click to expand...

He is at 9 units. I'm going to the vet in Ottawa tomorrow since my local vets do not seem to know much about high dose conditions. His loud breathing is on inhale. I guess right now I just want to know what is wrong with his breathing. I'm spending a lot of money without definite answers and I just want to make sure that he is not suffering.
 
MélanieW said:

Can any of the pros in acro help me out with this? Do you think this is the snoring/stridor associated with acro. He is sleeping in both videos, but he will also make the first sound when lying on the ground just resting. When he is up or sitting up, I can't hear the sound most of the time. I do hear the sounds from time to time when I pet him and hug him.

I saw an emergency vet twice in the past two weeks. His breathing was really fast. Blood work normal. They did xrays and an echo: cardiomegaly on xray and what might be the beginning of HCM on echo. The vet did not recommend treating at this time. They could not exclude asthma and we started salbutamol. His respiratory rate still goes up from time to time but will usually come back down once he lays down to relax and sleep. He's a big boy so the vet told me not to expect lowish normal numbers. I'm mostly worried about the SOUNDS. He is SO noisy.
Click to expand...
Biscuits sounded pretty loud. His respirations were rapid. 53 a minute. He would posture to breathe easier when lying down. His organs were enlarged and he had a big round belly too.He was Acro
 
Thank you for the video of him awake. That does sound more like stridor. The higher dose and early HCM are also possible symptoms of acro,

Was the echo done by a cardiologist? I think a visit to an internal medicine vet is a good idea. They may be more likely to be able to treat multiple conditions. If he does have acromegaly, a newer treatment some people here have used is a drug called cabergoline. @Pamela & Amethyst and @Olive & Paula are both taking it. Amethyst also has asthma so maybe Pamela can speak to that. Cabergoline seems to reduce the output of growth hormone, reduce the insulin dose, and diminish the symptoms. We have also had three cats go OTJ on it.

What is Noah’s resting heart rate?

ETA: Neko had early stage HCM for three years before she needed to start taking any med for it. It can be managed.
 
@MélanieW .

Ollie had stridor 24/7. Soooo loud you could hear her from another room over the sound of the TV. It was a throaty gruntal sound on inhale and at times it actually looked like she was trying to suck in air. On exhale she sometimes had a wheeze or high pitch whistle and you could see her trying to get air out. Asthma was ruled out by xray. Didn't have the dx of acro at the time. Vet said she just snores. I knew something more was wrong. I never scared me, she never seemed in distress, I use to wake her up though just to have her stop for even a minute. I took a long video of it on my phone and took it to get to show him. I use to wake Ollie up when it got to loud or sounded like she was struggling but really wasn't. We knew she had hcm. When I started listing all her symptoms and each one can be explained on its own merit, but put them altogether and acro just flashed in bold letters. So I just kept pushing the vet gently of course to get the test done. So he amused me by doing it and was very surprised she had it.

Started cabergoline and the stridor has ceased on her current dose. She now has plain snoring on occasion.

I use the stridor as a benchmark as to when to raise the cabergoline dose.

I don't know if it can be treated if it isn't asthma or stridor. I don't know what it could be except one of them.
 
Our kitty does this too. It's been getting worse and has me worried. She does it while sleeping and in certain positions while awake. Always while lying down. Never while sitting or walking. Respirations sound rapid, labored just like in your videos. Xray showed constriction in her upper respiratory but vet couldn't conclude what it was. She won't make the sounds while at the vet. When they listen to her lungs they say she's fine. She's always had itchy skin, dandruff, itchy ears so I just presumed it was some sort of allergy/asthma but I'm not sure.
 
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