Hello
My cat is on lantus after diabetes relapse. She has asthma and recently coughed. Can theo dur (theophylline) pill or flixotide 125/flovent(flucticasone) inhaler or aerolin (salbutamol )inhaler affect bg? How do you control your diabetic cats' asthma?
Hi!!
My cat is asthmatic with FD. She is on Flovent 250mcg 1 puff twice daily, and receives Ventolin/Albuterol during attacks - both for regular management of the asthma. Neither of these have influenced her BG - inhaled steroids don't do that. So you should be good with these on board from the perspective of FD.
Can I ask why the Theophylline is prescribed? It's a Bronchiodilator, very effective with some cats, but not effective with a lot of cats. Instead of that, we do Cyphroheptadine for allergies and to help keep the bronchial inflammation down (Cyphroheptadine has that wonderful side effect for asthmatics).
No matter what, at some point you may not be able to avoid some high dose Pred with a quick taper if the asthma gets out of control, and that is OK. Kitty gotta breathe. Usually that happens when there is an asthma flare and things just get out of control beyond the control of the daily maintenance meds. The Pred helps calm that flare down and bring the asthma back into what is controllable on your maintenance meds (Flovent and Albuterol). The Pred as an oral steroid will affect the BG.
Pearl DOES get Pred every 4th day, trial and error she still needs it, but 2.5mg every 4th day isn't bad at all. You can see from her chart she is still well regulated. You just learn to factor the Pred in to their BG patterns is all.
I want to emphasize - the Flovent is to be given every single day, 12 hours apart. Just like the insulin. No breaks. It's a year-round maintenance medication. Whether or not your cat is having attacks, asthma is a chronic inflammation of the lungs that is always present. If I had not been doing this, my cat would be dead by now. Attacks come out of nowhere and can really bite you in the butt with the severity, but the maintenance meds really help limit those. It also really helps achieve constancy with the BG to be on a steady course of the Flovent/Albuterol.
And...oh yeah...back to the bronchiodilators. We never had success with Theophylline or Terbutaline (Terbutaline considered to be more effective) - they also had too many contraindications with other meds like Pred - and Pearl did need the Pred at times. I also do not have experience with knowing whether Theophylline or Terbutaline will affect BG - they should not in theory. I like using the Cyphroheptadine instead - it's not a bronchiodilator it's an antihistamine with inflammation-calming effects on asthmatic kitty lungs, and has had visibly helpful results for us. And plus no contraindications. The Cyphroheptadine won't affect BG.
And one last thing...an asthma attack will skyrocket BG temporarily. It's just the nature of the beast. It isn't the fault of the meds you give in the moment to stop the attack, it's the stress of the attack. I have tested this out so I am certain of it. If you give the maintenance meds on a regular basis, you will also be able to be certain of it.
I am happy to answer any questions you may have.
