bronchitis - advice please

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Alan

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My cat had heavy breathing combined with strange clicking noises, she was wet around the eyes. Took her to the vet. She was fine in other ways, a little fatigued perhaps. The vet did some x rays and diagnosed
Bronchitis. She has been on a two week course of cortisone seemed to be doing well. The vet put her on half pill every second day but it has come back. Her eyes are less wet but she makes slurry noises when she eats and grooms. I have looked on-line and suggestions abt reactions to litter, or room deodorisers

Any advise welcome
 
If her lungs are crackly sounding then you have a possible upper respiratory infection running concurrently. Also, bronchitis is usually paired with asthma. Did your vet mention what he saw on the x-rays that made him say bronchitis? Sometimes thickening of the bronchial tubes (tram lines) and trapped air (donuts) are evident on the x-rays. The pred your vet described makes me think that he believes it is at least partially asthma related, but if no antibiotics were described, then the URI is not going to go away anytime soon and could develop further.

The best asthma treatment out there is flovent. It is a inhaler that you give twice a day via a special aerosol chamber for cats and it prevents the inflammation from happening rather than treating it once it is already there. Oral and injected steroids can cause diabetes along with other issues, so it is not optimal to use this for long term treatment.

There is a great yahoo group called Feline Asthma Relief (FAR) and another about the use of inhaled meds for treatment, Feline Asthma Inhaled Meds (FAIM). Myself and a couple of others on here are members of both listservs.

Flovent state side is expensive, but pharmacies overseas sell it at a MUCH cheaper price. Most get the inhalers from the 4 Corners Pharmacy. The aerosol chamber can be purchased through Truddel and is called Aerokat.

I think the most important thing right now is to get antibiotics in her so she can get some relief. The pred will keep her other symptoms at bay until you can talk to your vet about inhaled meds instead.
 
Thanks for the posting. The vet showed us the x rays there were darkened areas around the tubes. The cortisone seemed to work and she was fine. The change came quite suddenly. Infact it was a day after a follow up visit to our vet. We phoned the vet this morning and she has given us some more cortisone. And told us to increase the dosage to 1 from a half pill per day if needed.

Our vet is away now for 2 weeks, her breathing is a little better this morning. But when she is back I will ask abt flovent.
 
The darkened areas around the tubes would be the donuts, or trapped air. If you are giving the steroid in pill form then it is probably prednisolone and not cortisone (usually this is given as a shot).

If she is still crackly, is there another vet in the practice that you can ask to get an antibiotic? A broad one like amoxicilin is a pretty common one for a possible URI. A $14 antibiotic as a precaution is much better than it possibly turning into pneumonia if it is in fact a URI.
 
Re: bronchitis - advice please worrying

We have had some worrying news. The vet has given her antibiotics by injection. She did a side view xray and the shaded areas have increased in mass.

She wants to do another xray on her back, we tried but it was to difficult so she is going to give her a sedative tomorrow.

She gave her a second dose of antibiotics, but she is concerned that it may be a tumour. Her temperature is normal and she still has her appetite.

We will hopefully know more tommorow
 
Yes your right. They have taken fluid from her lungs, whitish colour for testing. She is on metacam, just started.
It will be abt a week before we have the results
 
be careful with metacam. There are several people on this list that have had real bad side effects with metacam and their kitties. I don't remember what they are off the top of my head though... I'll see if I can search for you.
 
Found it - metacam is associated with kidney problem side effects. Keep a good watch on her drinking and peeing amounts while it is in her system.
 
Update. The culture tests have come back, we are still waiting on a few more but it seems no signs of bacteria. It ould be the antibiotics are working. What they do note is chronic inflammation of her lungs.
The vet is continuing with the antibiotics. The Metacam seems fine, her reasoning for its use is that corisone based
drugs reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics. And although it takes time to work it offers antiinflam properties.

They may look at some kind of longer term antiinflams once they are certain that the bacterial infection is not present.
 
A long term anti inflammatory would be the flovent ..... do not use pred daily unless you have no other choice - there is just too many side effects. You can start the flovent now if you can get your vet on board with it!

Just in case these links haven't been passed on to you yet....

A great site for feline asthma and inhaled meds: http://www.fritzthebrave.com/

The best place to order flovent (MUCH cheaper than here in the states and where most of us get it from): http://www.4cnrs-asthma-allergy.com/flovent.html

Glad to hear that the bacterial infection is being kept at bay for now!
 
Thanks we live in France. We have tried using becotide which is similar to flovent. Its very difficult to keep her in place while she breathes. We try treats.

The other drug they have given her is called Ibaflin - its hellish. She won't take it in her food and we give it to her orally. Its like a white syrup.

Whoever invented this stuff obviously doesn't have a cat It splatters everywhere and she gags and tons of saliva.
 
Have all the results at last. Our cat has Pseudonomas aeruginosa its affecting her breathing. Has anyone one had experience of this.

She has put her on Marbocyl. any advise tips welcome
 
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