Feline Asthma

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Ace & Chelsea

Ace & Chelsea

Member Since 2021
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/respiratory-issue-with-ace.257195/

Hey guys!
So, Ace's vet appointment was today, and the x-ray revealed he has Feline Asthma :( Dr says steroids wont be an option since it will make his numbers go crazy and said we cannot start the inhaler/mask thing until Ace is regulated and then will need it done twice per day, every day.. my heart is breaking for him and am so overwhelmed with this journey ahead. Any advice for me moving forward with this new journey?

Ace was at the vet during the time for his insulin, they were an hour late giving it to him and im not sure what they gave him to eat but the fancy feast wet that i sent with him was not opened.
 
Hi Chelsea, I am so sorry to hear that Ace has asthma on top of the diabetes. There are lots of kitties on here with asthma so I am sure someone will be around to respond specifically to your question as I don't have any experience with it, but I do have experience with steroids. I'm actually surprised that your vets won't give him the inhaler until he is regulated because asthma is a life threatening condition, more so than hyperglycemia. From what I can see from your spreadsheet, he's already fairly unregulated, so adding the steroid would not make that situation much worse but it will help him breathe so much better! I would give the inhaler and then increase the dose of insulin to what he needs to keep his blood sugars under control as much as possible. Diabetes should be, I think, a secondary consideration to the asthma. I give my Ruby prednisolone twice a day for her small cell lymphoma, and I have increased her dose of insulin from a drop to now 3 units. The pred is working really well and she is thriving and happy. Ruby was very tightly regulated, nearly in remission when we started the steroids, so I believe your vet is incorrect in thinking that getting regulated is the only time you should give a steroid. A saying goes around here that once a diabetic, always a diabetic, so things won't change if you wait to give the steroids.
 
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Hi hi hi! @Ace & Chelsea Glad to see this post! LOVE that you're already here and I am sorry I missed your post earlier today about the asthma! I would start the asthma meds now. You don't need to worry about BG numbers skyrocketing from the inhaler steroids. I give Pearl Flovent daily, every 12 hours. No issues, ever. Same with the Albuterol rescue inhaler for attacks. I've helped several others on this board also see that the inhaler steroids don't spike the BG for their cats either.

The oral Pred will cause BG numbers to increase, but sometimes it's needed and you can work with that. Pearl got off insulin totally even with the Pred (she is back on now temporarily because she was put on a different steroid for IBD and it knocked her out of remission).

If you can start the inhaler meds, and even the Pred if you need, I can help you test and determine that the inhaler steroids don't really affect the BG. Attacks DO affect the blood sugar. When Pearl gets an attack (even a mini attack), it affects and spikes her BG for up to 15 hours. With Ace having so many attacks daily, I imagine that is really causing some instability with the blood sugar and will probably make getting him regulated with the insulin harder.The asthma meds will really help even him out.

I am here to help in any way I can! One thing to start doing - note on your spreadsheet when he's having the attacks. So if he has an attack, for example, at AM +8, just put it in that box "asthma attack here" or "asthma attacked started here". That will really help us out long term.
 
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Margaret (and Pearl) said:
@Ace & Chelsea I see where you noted his asthma attack at +7 today. The attack could affect his BG for awhile, so you might could see higher numbers later. I always like to pay attention to BG when Pearl has an attack to try to identify a pattern that I see regularly with the attacks. For her, the numbers can stay high for about 12 hours after an episode.
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Yes thank you sm! i made a note in Ace's book to notice the increase for the next 12-14 hours :)
 
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