Asthma advice needed ASAP (cross-post from old board)

Just saw this posted on old board... at http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/r ... ?8,1969033
=========================

Is there a vet? I need emergent help!Posted by: catfriend_cn (IP Logged)
Date: January 2, 2010 12:41AM

My cat has feline asthma from six months ago. She is getting worsed by time passes. She was serious sick since last month. I brought her to see vet several times.But there were no effective treatment methods to her.

(BTW:I posted a topic in the forum last month. [ http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/r ... sg-1966882 ] I got so many effective and enthusiastic help. thanks.)

But till, she is still at serious sick .

She is over 10 years old. And after use steroids, her highest blood glucose is 11.2mmol/L (201.6mg/dl).

She is injected :
1. Prednisolone AceTATe InjECTion [2ml/kg] 0.32ml H. one time a day,
2. Theophylline and Sodium Chloride Injection [6mg/kg] 0.2ml H. two times a day
3. Marbofloxacin 0.8ml/l one time a day.
4. use Feline Aerosol Chamber(Aerokat) two times a day. the medications for it :
Salbutamol Aerosol 100¦Ìg one time , after that used Fluticasone
Propionate Inhaled Aerosol 125¦Ìg one time

Till now ,she is used those medications for 5 days. But there is almost no effect on her.

I put her x-ray on my blog:
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5376a9500100gv3s.html

What can I do ? please , if you are a vet ,could you give me some advices? thanks!

I love my cat very much. I tried my best to help her , but now I really feel...

 

JL,

My Mini has mild asthma so I have a little experience, but not as much as those whose cats have serious asthma. Mini also has a rare airway collapse issue so his situation is different than most asthmatic cats. Still I saw you didn't have a response yet so I thought I would try to help.

Your single best resource for reference material is the Fritzthebrave.com site. I know you know about it from the previous thread, but it really helps to read these over and over. As you gain more knowledge, you will see things you missed before. Especially look at the Inhaled Medications page and Dr Padrid's protocol. Another good site is felineasthma.org.

I am glad to hear you are using the Aerokat and fluticasone (flovent) but it has only been 5 days. That's too soon to expect full results. Fritzthebrave says about flovent that, "The drug takes 7-10 days (sometimes more) to reach full effect" on this page. Dr Padrid says, "Because inhaled Flovent™ takes about 7-14 days before its maximum effect is seen, these cats will likely continue to be symptomatic for an additional week or so. Clients should be supported through this period and encouraged that their pet is going to begin to improve after the first week of therapy. "

Looking at your medicines, Marboflaxin (zeniquin) is an antibiotic, to fight any infection. Also I see you are using theophylline and some salbutamol (aka albuterol per Fritzthebrave).

It's not clear how often you are using salbutamol? Do you mean you are giving one puff, twice a day? That's probably not often enough in this early stage. Salbutamol is a broncodilator -- unlike the fluticasone which is a steroid. You can and should use your bronchodilator multiple times a day if your cat is having difficulty breathing. A bronchodilator helps open up the lungs for easier breathing. I quote the following items only so you can see that the salbutamol can be given multiple times during the day. Your vet should tell you how many puffs of salbutamol (shake the inhaler well between each puff!) and how often to give the puffs.

• Dr Padrid's protocol says for severe symptoms where the cat would be under doctor's care, "I begin with... inhaled albuterol every 30 minutes for up to 4 hours. This frequency of albuterol treatment generally does not cause side effects or might cause slight muscle tremor. These cats are also given 40% to 100% oxygen either by nasal cannula or oxygen cage." For moderate symptoms, he says to use the bronchodilaor as needed.
  
  Per Fritzthebrave, "The bronchodilator albuterol acts more rapidly than the oral or injected terbutaline and is more effective than the theophylline compounds. It can be easily and quickly administered by the caregiver during signs of respiratory distress. It is typically used on an as-needed basis for asthmatic cats already on daily steroids and displaying cough or wheezing. Albuterol is regarded as a safe drug. Side effects may include temporary musculoskeletal twitchiness, elevated heart rate, excitability, insomnia, anorexia, although extremely uncommon." See here.

If you are very far from the vet, you might consider making an oxygen cage for emergency use. See these instructions. What you'd need would only be to provide oxygen, not to deliver medicine or nebulization. You just make the hole to fit your oxygen tubing -- easy! Your vet can write you a script for oxygen; mine wrote for 2 liter delivery rate. You can rent a tank for use from any human oxygen store. I have one tank for my car and one in the house (again, Mini has a rare airway condition) and it has worked really well for us. When having some diarrhea washed off the other day, Mini got so stressed that he couldn't breathe, making him more stressed, and so on. We were able to pop him in his oxygen cage which helped him immediately and broke the vicious cycle.

Anyway, I hope the additional use of the bronchodilator salbutamol will help your cat until the steroids have their full effect.

good luck,
laur

 

I posted to this person on the old board in case they were overwhelmed with their problem and this move. No response. I havent seen any of the latest newbies/ bob and rusty /Kelly and Travis /catfriend_cn , post over here. I'm worried about them.

Jeanne

 

I'm worried because considering everything the cat is on, *some* improvement should be had. It makes me wonder if it is something other than asthma or chronic bronchitis.

 

Unless they are regiestered here under a new username, as some "old-bies" are.

Catfriend_cn says she lives in Beijing so there's a 13 hour time difference between East Coast US and there. It's 4:15pm EST here and 5:15am there. Catfriend_cn probably sleeping at this time and might not have read any of the posts to her thread. Maybe in a few hours she will repsond to the responses in her thread and make her way over here

 

I see Bob and Rusty made it over..

 

And yes Karen that is why I posted to catfriendly about heart problems. I hope Jen is right and she finds her way here. Time is of the essence with heart problems. I sure hope this isnt the case with her kitty.