Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
situation. It can only be diagnosed definitively by an X ray. A complete
blood count could also be a helpful test, because some cats with asthma
have higher levels of a specific type of white blood cell called an
eosinophil
.
Treating Asthma
There are various drugs veterinarians prescribe to treat asthma, includ-
ing cortisone, antihistamines, bronchodilators, antibiotics, oxygen and
even some asthma drugs made for humans. Most of the time the cause
of asthma is not found, but it is often linked to allergies. A condition
linked to allergies is managed rather than cured, and the cat can have
recurrent problems.
Do not treat your cat for asthma unless she has had a chest X ray.
The clinical signs that are typical of asthma can also be present with
heart disease or when fluid is present in the chest cavity, and these seri-
ous conditions require very different treatments.
Observant owners can tune in to their cats and detect asthma, when
it recurs, at an early stage. The early clinical signs are a nonproductive
(no phlegm comes up) cough or gag. Some cats need to be on long-
term medication to control their problems, and medication can be
injectable, oral and/or delivered by an inhaler.
Inhalers are being more widely used to treat cats with chronic asth-
ma. Special chambers with one-way valves and a mask are used to deliv-
er the medication into the cat's airways, because, as you can imagine, it
is impossible to make a cat breathe in when an inhaler is depressed.
Human inhalers containing cortisone are used first, and if the response
is inadequate, inhalers with bronchodilators are added. Benefits of
inhaler treatment are that medication is immediately delivered directly
to the location of the problem—the lining of the airways—and side
effects of long-term cortisone use are eliminated, since medication is
not entering the bloodstream.
IT'S NOT ALWAYS HAIRBALLS
When cats cough and gag, owners can be quick to blame the prob-
lem on hairballs. Although initially an asthmatic cat may appear to
be coughing up a hairball, nothing will come up and the problem
will progress. Do not ignore this important clinical sign of asthma.
