wheezing and allery symptoms

[catswoman]

My 8 year old Maine Coon cat has recently started sounded very wheezy and she seems to sneeze a lot. As a matter of fact she reminds me of me when I have my allergy problems. She seems in fine health, still is playful and loving as always. Anyone have any suggestions for me...I would prefer not to have to give her pills or anything like that...any holistic advice out there?

Paula

[AmericanBullMom]

What food is she on? Indoor or outdoor cat? How old is she?

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by catswoman

My 8 year old Maine Coon cat has recently started sounded very wheezy and she seems to sneeze a lot. As a matter of fact she reminds me of me when I have my allergy problems.

Hi Paula, welcome to pets.ca! Cats can and do get allergies similar to people, and that includes asthma. Has anything changed in your cat's environment recently? New litter, different laundry detergent, furniture moved around, etc?

Originally Posted by catswoman

Anyone have any suggestions for me...I would prefer not to have to give her pills or anything like that...any holistic advice out there?

The first step is to take her to the vet for a thorough check-up and maybe some x-rays. There are other conditions like heartworm that have similar symptoms (well, maybe not the sneezing part), so it's important to rule those out. If it does turn out to be allergies/asthma, the vet will probably want to give her a steroid shot or a course of oral prednisone. Just to warn you that this is not without risk, and that it only suppresses symptoms, it doesn't deal with the source of the problem. Of course if she's having trouble breathing than it might be the best emergency option for now. For ongoing care, you can actually get an inhaler for cats, which has the least side-effects. Holistically, if you can figure out and eliminate whatever it is that's triggering the asthma, that would be ideal. Not always possible though.

Some links for you to check out (assuming that it does end up being asthma, but only a vet can tell you for sure):
http://www.fritzthebrave.com/index.html
http://www.bestfriends.org/members/health/felasthma.htm
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/feline_asthma.html

[Dr Lee]

great links sugarcatmom!

I follow Dr Padrid's protocol for asthmatic cats with wonderful control combined with high range of safety.