Asthma

[Magsie]

have a little female cat called Podo who is 6 now and is very much a house cat. Podo was abandoned when she was a tiny little kitten and had flu and was very weak and frail. She came to live with us and developed into an amusing cat who's attitude makes her think she may be from some very sophisticated feline line rather than the actual line she is from which to me looks like alley cat ! But such is her personality that we bow to her belief and she gets treated like royalty.

This year Podo developed asthma. At first I didn't realise what it was, after several trips to the vet, the first one consisted of the vet "accusing us of poisoning Podo " !! he was irritated and said we must have something like chemicals that she got access to !! Anyway to cut a long story short we changed vets and it was then that we found that she has asthma. She was given steroid injections and pills but it proved impossible to administer the pills as trying to give them meant you could loose a lot of blood !

So we sat tight and hoped the injections did the trick which they seemed to do. We changed the litter tray to no dust kind of wood chip ( very expensive but she didn't care ! she's worth it ) Just the other night she suddenly had another attack , this has happened periodically over the past few months. She had been fine and then suddenly she started to find it hard to breathe and was struggling. I racked my brains as to why she suddenly became ill when half an hour ago she was perfectly fine. Finally it dawned on me .......... Earlier in the year we got a supply of logs for the winter. We had them stored in the shed and they were very damp. At various times we would bring in the logs to dry off by the fire in the sitting room. We had just brought in the wet logs and half an hour later Podo was in trouble with her breathing. So we removed the logs from the room waited for a while and Podo made a remarkable recovery. It must have been the mould and the mildew on the wet logs that was triggering her attacks all along. Every time we brought in a supply of wet logs she had an attack. I didn't see the connection until just now and she appears to be fine and is back reigning supreme!

[rjesak]

My Oscar has asthma. I wish it were as controlled as it sounds like Podo's is but we've been struggling with it for over a year now and he's still in pretty bad shape. The steroid injections do help in large doses but the steroids themselves have side effects...

In any case, air purifiers all over the house, changing to no-dust litter, and changing to wet food only has helped some. We certainly can't use our woodburning stove during the winters though! Mostly we keep him as controlled as possible with an albuterol inhaler and an aerokat. You could consider these if you think maybe Podo might need them.

Good luck.

[Magsie]

Sorry to hear your Oscar has it so bad. It's awful to see a cat struggling to breathe you feel so helpless. It's great that you can use the asthma kit to help Oscar but I sure know how you must feel living with the worry of when the next attack will hit. Up until now I didnt even know cats could suffer from asthma !

Podo is lucky that's for sure if it's just the mould from the wet logs that is making her sick then I am so glad to have found the problem.

Hope Oscar stays well and all the rest of the gang you have ! I have 4 cats Minto who also it the man of the house, Danni his sister who is so so so sweet and Moxey her son ( was unplanned pregnancy ! ) who is big and a complete coward ! but loveable and Podo the little royal princess ( she thinks! )

[rjesak]

How purty she is!!

It is hard living with a cat with asthma - I worry all the time and I wake up at night if his breathing shifts. He's been stable for a while now but he's fooled us before...

I have a big scaredy-cat too. If I can find it, I'll post the picture of him hiding - it's two feet sticking out from under a bed because he's so short on brains he thinks that if he can't see you, you can't see him either!

[Jenkinsdjtg]

i hope Podo stays healthy
Best of wishes!

[Magsie]

how funny you should say that your scaredy-cat hides under he bed and all you can see is his paws sticking out, Moxey does that too He spends hours under there with his bum and tail sticking out cos like you say he thinks that if you cant see him he cant see you ...... dont know why he is so nervous because he is the only one born in the house , born on the sofa to Danni. He behaves as if we both carry hatchets behind our backs at times But he is loveable and such a baby even tho he is a huge cat

Hope Oscar stays well Podo has not hadlo any problems since we removed the wet logs she is in brilliant form.

[Magsie]

Thank you jenkinsdjtg she is in brilliant form at the moment ruling the roost !

[rjesak]

Originally Posted by Magsie

how funny you should say that your scaredy-cat hides under he bed and all you can see is his paws sticking out, Moxey does that too He spends hours under there with his bum and tail sticking out cos like you say he thinks that if you cant see him he cant see you ...... dont know why he is so nervous because he is the only one born in the house , born on the sofa to Danni. He behaves as if we both carry hatchets behind our backs at times But he is loveable and such a baby even tho he is a huge cat.

I just got back after a busy weekend and saw your post. It's funny because the hider, Zander, sounds just like Moxey. Not just in the hiding but Zander is this huge, big-eyed baby who is as loveable as can be but is always afraid that someone is going to suddenly decide to stomp his head! Sounds like Moxey and Zander could be brothers!