? Anyone have a kitty who is asthmatic as well as diabetic?

[Vinnie Van Gogh's Mom]

My kitty has asthma and developed diabetes because of the steroids. He is off steroids now and is being given terbutaline for any asthma attacks while we transition to the inhaler. If you have a diabetic kitty with asthma (or know someone who does), what medications and/or protocols are you having success with?

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

We've had quite a few asthmatic kitties here and most do fine on the AeroKat inhaler so it's good that you're working on getting Vinnie used to it!

 

[Vinnie Van Gogh's Mom]

We've had quite a few asthmatic kitties here and most do fine on the AeroKat inhaler so it's good that you're working on getting Vinnie used to it!

Thanks for the response! Do your kitties do the twice a day inhaler? And/or the rescue inhaler? Vinnie's asthma doesn't seem that bad (he's been off steroids for over two months and only had two minor asthma attacks) so I'm wondering if just doing the rescue inhaler when he has attacks would be an option instead of doing the flovent twice a day every day.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

@Juls and Billy may be helpful since Billy had asthma. She should be online a little later tonight

 

[Juls and Billy]

My Billy had terrible asthma from when he was really young. For the first half of his life, he was getting a steroid shot every single month. When we changed vets, our vet got him down to 2-3 steroid shots a year by having us give 1/2 a tablet of Zyrtec once a day and an albuterol rescue inhaler. Then, at 14 years old, he became diabetic. He's in remission now, but no more steroid shots. He gets his Zyrtec daily, has his rescue inhaler, which he uses once or twice a day when he's having trouble, and he has a steroid inhaler called Flovent, which we only use when he is having enough trouble that he needs more. Basically, the Flovent has taken the place of the steroid shots. For example the spring and fall, he needs his Flovent. Inhaled steroids do not tend to raise blood sugar like oral or injected steroids do.

So far, he's been in remission and off steroid shots for over a year, and is doing well. In fact, he's doing great.

One other thing that helped Billy is that we discovered he has food allergies. We used 5 Strands DNA testing to see what foods and additives he was intolerant of. Then we ended up changing to a limited ingredient raw diet, because he was allergic to so much. Since his food change, he has not needed his steroid inhaler at all.

 

[Vinnie Van Gogh's Mom]

My Billy had terrible asthma from when he was really young. For the first half of his life, he was getting a steroid shot every single month. When we changed vets, our vet got him down to 2-3 steroid shots a year by having us give 1/2 a tablet of Zyrtec once a day and an albuterol rescue inhaler. Then, at 14 years old, he became diabetic. He's in remission now, but no more steroid shots. He gets his Zyrtec daily, has his rescue inhaler, which he uses once or twice a day when he's having trouble, and he has a steroid inhaler called Flovent, which we only use when he is having enough trouble that he needs more. Basically, the Flovent has taken the place of the steroid shots. For example the spring and fall, he needs his Flovent. Inhaled steroids do not tend to raise blood sugar like oral or injected steroids do.

So far, he's been in remission and off steroid shots for over a year, and is doing well. In fact, he's doing great.

One other thing that helped Billy is that we discovered he has food allergies. We used 5 Strands DNA testing to see what foods and additives he was intolerant of. Then we ended up changing to a limited ingredient raw diet, because he was allergic to so much. Since his food change, he has not needed his steroid inhaler at all.

Thank you so, so much for sharing! I am going to talk to the vet about maybe trying Zyrtec with the rescue inhaler instead of rushing right to daily flovent. I am suspicious that he may have a seafood allergy as he has only had two asthma attacks since we stopped the steroid shots and we had changed his food at the same time to fancy feast pates (turkey, beef and chicken). One of the two asthma attacks he had since was when I gave him a tuna churu treat. Literally right after he licked it, he had an attack. Other than that he hasn't had seafood. I am going to look into the DNA testing asap. Thank you again!