Angie 1/7 asthma medication? vet visit tomorrow

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GraceAndAngie

GraceAndAngie

Member Since 2013
Hi LLL (lovely lantus land),

After saying how well Angie was doing just yesterday, she's had her worst ever asthma attack last night and has been wheezing again today. ohmygod_smile I shouldn't have said anything! Last night she was labouring to breath- I could see her sides going up and down. She doesn't really cough or foam at the mouth - it seems like those are common symptoms from what I read.

We're booked in for the vet first thing tomorrow morning. I don't know what the vet is going to suggest. I've read that inhaled asthma medication has less chance of side effects than injected or oral. I remember that NSAIDs were something to avoid as well as steroids. Is there anything that I should particularly avoid for asthma for diabetes or ckd reasons or anything that I should ask about?

Our last condo was here.

Thanks very much,
Grace
 
Hi Grace,
I have no knowledge of asthma in kitties, but wanted to send you good breathing vines for Angie. I know I have read about others who do asthma treatments so hopefully they will chime in as the day goes on.

Angie is a cutie pie. My DH used to say that I picked out a "charbroiled" kitten (our GA torti, Gizzy)- he still calls a torti that :lol:
Have a wonderful day... night? :-D
 
Hi Grace. I'm sorry Angie is suffering from Asthma.
I don't know much about asthma, but maybe Melissa and Tarragon can help you.
I would bump up this post throughout the day, if it goes too low on the page, and hopefully you'll get some good advice.

Sending good vet visit vines, and hoping for a medicine that will help her to breath much better.
 
I should have added that Angie's not currently on any medication. Her wheezing was initially diagnosed as an upper respiratory tract infection and she was put on doxycycline. Then it was diagnosed as an allergic response and I was told just to watch her while we fiddled with food.

Hi Jane - thanks for the visit. I had to do a Google search to work out what a charbroiled kitty might be! But now I'm laughing with you.

OK, it's way past my bedtime.
Good night!
 
Hi Grace! I am so sorry that Angie is having breathing issues. I know how scary those are.

Tarragon is a hard core asthmatic. He was diagnosed at 5 years old with it and got steroid shots every 6 weeks or so for the next 5 years. We had read that it could cause diabetes but my (former) vet assured us that we didn't need to worry about it. Tarragon got diabetes (big surprise) and we had to halt the steroid shots immediately. We use the generic form of the Aerokat inhaler with Flovent 250, 2 puffs twice a day. The Flovent (fluxotide is the generic name) is a steroid but doesn't affect the BGs. Since Tarragon is such a hard core asthmatic, the inhaler does not completely keep it away so he also gets 5 mg of prednisolone a day. I have had to adjust his insulin accordingly to make up for the daily steroids.

A couple of things for your vet appt:

Do NOT let them give her a steroid injection. Once that is in the blood stream you can't take it back. That is why, if steroids have to be used, the pill is better since you can stop it if anything happens.

The inhaled steroids are great. However, if Angie's airways are already inflammed, you will need to get the inflammation down for the Flovent to be able to get in. If Tarragon is in a "spell" where he is having an attack, we give him a puff of Albuterol first. Albuterol is a rescue inhaler that will help open up the airway so the steroid can get in. Many times you will need to be on a short amount of oral prednisolone at first to get it under control and reduce the inflammation. It will only be for about 5 - 10 days and it will really kick the inflammation and let the inhaled steroids get in and shouldn't mess with her BGs that much.

Be sure they give you prednisolone and not predisone if that is the route they go. In humans, prednisone is broken down in the liver to make predisolone. Cats' livers can not break it down so predisone will not get into the prednisolone stage and won't really help. Prednisolone is hard to find right now. Hopefully that won't be an issue for you. If it is, let me know. I have ordered a ton of it online with a prescription since we go through so much.

It seems very expensive but really isn't. The Aerokat inhaler was around $60 at the vet. The Flovent can be ordered from http://www.4cornerspharmacy.com/ for around $50 per inhaler. The trick is getting the kitty to get used to using the inhaler but treats really help with that.


Please let me know if you have any other questions. I know how scary asthma is.

:YMHUG:
 
Melissa gave you tons of awesome information, so I'm just sending tons of prayers and vetty vines along for you and sweet little Angie!!
 
Hi guys .. no asthma experience here either, but so glad Melissa stopped by .. sounds like you'll be in good hands if you need help!
 
Grace, I'm sorry to hear that Angie is having breathing issues as well, but I'm glad that Melissa stopped in with a wealth of info for you. I'm sending many many prayers for a good vetty visit to help your little sweetie get better. :YMHUG:
 
Oh Grace, I'm sorry Angie had an attack :sad: I'm glad Melissa could give you some good info :-D Sending good vetty vines to you! Hugs! :YMHUG:
 
I'm sending many healing vines for Angie.

I'm not sure if Melissa remembers you are in Australia so I hope you can find a local source for the meds she mentioned. I was giving Gus prednisolone the last month he was here and I had to have it compounded at a compounding pharmacy because no one had it locally in the pill form anymore. The drug companies are not going to make it any longer but compounding pharmacies can. You may have a different experience in Australia. If you do have to have it compounded, just be sure they do not add any type of sweetener to it (if you get a liquid) including maltodextrin and if they flavor it, the flavor should not have any sweetener in it.

While I would not suggest this for acute attacks or as the only med, I did have a kitty with asthma long ago. It was not bad and we caught it early. I put her on 1/2 of a Standard Process Allerplex capsule bid and it worked really, really well for her. It might be something that would work for Angie as a supplement but not as the main treatment. It does not require a prescription but I don't know the availability of Standard Process in Australia. I currently also have Tobey on it for his respiratory wheezes (he does not have asthma...he has the residual from a URI) and Gracie for her allergies. It does not raise the BG. Ella's Rusty is also on it.

Please let us know what the vet says.
 
Thanks Marje!

Just as an FYI. 4cornerspharmacy.com is out of Port Vila, Vanuatu which I believe is very close to Australia. It takes about 4 weeks for us to receive it here in the US but you should get it a lot quicker.
 
Hi Grace,
I'm sorry that Angie may have asthma. Melissa gave you tons of good information. Rusty doesn't have asthma (at least his tests did not reveal asthma, but sometimes I wonder). He has chronic congestion and a lot of "gunk" in his lungs and nasal passages. Marje suggested we try Standard Process Allerplex and it has helped his breathing and in loosening up the crud. He gets 1 capsule once a day, the powder mixed into a teaspoon of baby food. Allerplex is a human supplement and has been in existence since 1959. (The company, Standard Process, has been in existence since 1929; they use only the purest, safely sourced ingredients.) Here is a link to the Allerplex page on their website:
https://www.standardprocess.com/Sta...brary/Product-Detail-Sheets/allerplex0975.pdf
You can buy it on Amazon or through health professionals (I get it at my vet's).

Thanks for visiting us. I guess it is cold in Australia now, too, even though it is supposed to be summer!

Ella & Rusty
 
Sending good vetty vines for your appointment tomorrow with Angie. I hope a solution can be found to make her feel better.

When folks in the US were having problems getting prednilisone, I knew someone in Canada who has having no problem at all getting it for her cat.
 
Re: Angie 1/7 vet said it may not be asthma

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for all your help. You are all so incredible! I went to the vet feeling much more prepared to be an active participant in decisions made for her.

The vet isn't convinced that it's asthma. It may be an upper respiratory tract infection.

Our vet said that all the noise in her chest is in the upper respiratory tract. She said that Angie's teeth were potentially bad enough to be the cause of the inflammation with bacteria going down from them into her lungs. I had forgotten that she told me her teeth needed doing last time. I was more focused on helping her acute issues. She's booked in for a dental tomorrow and will be put on antibiotics as there is some infection at the back. I'm going to ask for tablets.

They are also going to flush her anal glands and put some anti-inflammatories in her anal glands while she's under. That was also recommended by Dr Pierson and the vet at our local hospital. Her anal glands were so badly impacted before we worked out the chicken allergy. They all thought it would be a good idea to do that to completely clean out any left over hard bits and help them to stay clear.

Those two things are going to cost me between $550 and $700. While she's under we could also do a throat aspirant and take bloods. Those two things would cost an additional $200. The vet said that they were optional at this stage but that if the teeth don't fix the issue she would like to do them then and Angie would need another general. The throat aspirant to see what bacteria is in there - that may help to differentiate between asthma or URTI but on the other hand it may not as sometimes asthmatics have infections because of the underlying issue. The bloods were just to update those done in August last year.

My mum and I are thinking of holding off. I'm hoping to go back to work soon so money later may not hurt as much as money now. But on the other hand a second general is worth avoiding. Doing a culture would help us to know which bacteria is present and which drugs it's sensitive to. But maybe she won't need it at all - she might get better once her teeth are done.

I don't know!

Big hugs and thanks again for your help and support.
Grace
 
Sending many, many good dental vines for Angie tomorrow. I hope all goes well. I know it must be hard to decide whether to spend the $ you don't have or have her undergo another anesthesia. I know it must be a hard decision but if you can swing it, it might be best to just get it over with.

We hope she has a quick recovery and they are able to figure out everything that is going on.
 
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