Help - any experiences with severe cat respiratory issues?

[Feliz]

This is a last ditch attempt to help our wonderful Tosh - our vets are stumped and we’re rapidly running out of options.

He’s a 10yr cat we adopted from a rescue group as a kitten, his mother was a feral. He’s always been a very snuggly delight.

In mid April we noticed he was breathing very rapidly, though still seemed quite happy in himself. Promptly whisked him to the vets for xrays, ultrasounds & bloods. His xrays showed severe inflammation of his lungs, but no obvious tumours or anything else. He went onto 0.8ml daily prednisone, which kept it under control until about 3 weeks ago. Further xrays, bloods and a lung wash procedure 2 weeks hasn’t shown anything.

Since then he’s been on 2x daily prednisone (pills with an anti histamine) but he’s only continue to go downhill - way less cuddles than usual, quite shut down seeming at times. He’s never been a great eater, and has lost quite a bit of weight. We’ve tried all sorts of different foods (wet, dry, treats, chicken, mince, warm, cold etc) but he’s basically stopped eating since Sun. Just a few bikkies here and there.

My husband took him to the vets today and he’s had a shot of steroid (as giving him the pills was stressing him) and an anti-inflammatory. Instructions are to try him on an asthma inhaler/nebuliser so we’ll try that tomorrow.

There’s no obvious cause for the inflammation - we don’t use sprays, air fresheners, perfume or smoke. We’re on a little farm with no close neighbours and no-one is spraying anything on their paddocks (it’s winter here). Our other cat is absolutely fine. My husband and I are distraught, we adore our animals and he’s just such a special little soul.

Anything the wisdom of COTH can offer?

[Simkie]

I had a couple kittens with lung worms a few years back. I’m not sure it’s on the radar for most vets? Treatment is easy–we used a week of fenbendazole. Might be worth a try?

I’d also add pepcid and see if that helps his appetite.

[Eclectic_Horseman]

I had two young feral cats that I adopted after a couple of years in a shelter. They both passed away, one at 12 and one at 14. The first one, which had become very snuggly, had stomach symptoms (vomiting and diarrhea and loss of appetite) and the second, never friendly, one had upper respiratory symptoms. The vet said that feral cat colonies have a high prevalence of Infectious Peritonitis, which is a disease that can exist in cats that are symptom free for many years. It presents in different ways and is not treatable.

I’m so sorry.

[Kyrabee]

I had an elderly cat (nearly 17) that fairly suddenly developed respiratory issues. It was 2021 so…COVID. My usual vet gave me an appointment 4 weeks out and most vets were not taking new patients during this time . She was fine most of the time…a somewhat elevated respiratory rate but she would have these episodes where she would hunch up and breath open mouthed…struggling for 30 seconds to a minute then she came out of it and seemed fine. Needless to say, we ended up at the urgent care vet then the emergency vet about 10 days into this. Her bronchioles (the airways from the throat to the lungs) on chest x-ray were opaque. She was in oxygen for about 24hr and did stabilize with injectable steroids. I took her home with prednisone and an albuterol inhaler and she was better for a couple weeks then decompensated again with a respiratory rate of 60+ breaths per minute. She was also losing weight rapidly…I think mostly from how hard she was working to breath. After the $3K for the ER vet and another $6-700 for followup, I chose to euthanize. Her ‘episodes’ returned and she was now definitely panicking during them. I did use an at home service for euthanasia so she didn’t have to make another stressful trip.

We never did figure out what was going on. The repeat chest x-ray was unchanged…the vet said no worse but definitely no better. I did not get her ultrasounded. There were no obvious tumors. One thing was using a steroid inhaler and that actually made her worse. I could rescue her with albuterol but it didn’t last long. I hate it when I don’t have answers but with her age and our inability to control her breathing rate, I have no regrets for euthanizing her.

So sorry I couldn’t give you an answer as to what the specific disease process was but that is my experience with feline respiratory issues.

Susan

[TatteredDaydreamer]

We have a fairly young cat that has asthma. It was diagnosed because he would several times a day act like he was hacking up a hair ball, but it turned out that he was really just struggling to breathe. We get the inhaler from a Canadian pharmacy for much cheaper than in the US, and it’s been a lifesaver for him. He’s actually really good for the nebulizer and jumps up on the counter every night to take it. Worth looking into for sure.

[Hippolyta]

My aggressively affectionate, orangest of orange cats has had life -long upper respiratory issues. We assumed he had a chronic viral infection, he always had boogers, raspy breathing. We went through rounds of steroids, antibiotics for secondary infections, over and over. Vet knocked him out and looked for polyps, said he might have some we can’t see. It kept going. He developed asthma, probably due to changes from such long term inflammation. At one point he had pneumonia.

During all of this he would still ricochet of the walls and try to bury himself in my skull. He did not slow down, which made it hard to figure out how he was doing.

Eventually a new antibiotic actually cleared out the boogers, but even that didn’t seem to improve the respiration. I thought he wasn’t long for this world. This May we reached what I thought was going to be the end point. His breath got more labored, he was in the ER. I took him to a hospital for CT scan, they found two HUGE polyps that came from his middle ear up into his pharynx. They took them out the same day, bam, he’s cured!

He does still have asthma and newly discovered middle ear stuff, which was the reason he had the polyps.

I am now broke, but it is worth it. I feel awful that we didn’t find them earlier.

I wish you the best of luck. They are so special, it can be so hard.

[Feliz]

Thanks for everyone’s thoughts. He’s got a month’s worth of anti-inflammatories and is hanging in there, eating little bits at a time. And does seem a lot more interested in life than a few days ago. So will continue to keep all fingers crossed that he picks up a bit more

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

If he’s outside at all, you might have him tested for histoplasmosis. It often gets into the lungs and causes pneumonia.

[CleverUserName]

Is he indoor / outdoor or just outdoor?

I have an older cat who has always snored quite loudly (like, I can hear it from the other room). I got a humidifier over winter to combat my sneezing and winter colds, and he absolutely loves it. He will sit by it and sniff the air coming out. I’ve noticed his snores aren’t as loud.

My cat who passed away dropped a lot of weight very quickly, and the vet gave him emergency recovery food, which he loved. He visibly gained his weight back. I believe it was Hill’s Emergency Recovery, perhaps something like that would help?

I hope he continues to improve!

[hoopoe]

I certainly agree with others that even though nothing was picked up on the lung cytology, it probably would not harm him to treat for Lungworm

you may also want to consult a cardiology specialist

[Feliz]

Unfortunately I don’t have a great update. He rallied a little bit and had a fairly good day on Saturday, but completely stopped eating on Sunday and basically shut down. Monday morning we made the call.

The only slightly ok thing was that our clinic gave us the details of a vet who specializes in coming to your house. She came out on Monday evening so it was peaceful with him on a blanket on our laps. There were a lot of tears and I still can’t really believe he’s gone.

Thanks for everyone’s advice and support.

[CleverUserName]

I am so sorry. You did the right thing. I hope time allows you some comfort. Big hug.

[Eclectic_Horseman]

Ferals get a rough start, and it sounds like you gave him a lot of wonderful years. I’m sure you’ll miss him, but he’s at peace.

[glitterless]

I’m sorry that you lost your kitty. You tried your best and gave him a loving home for years. Big hugs to you

[Kyrabee]

I am so sorry. It sounds almost exactly what I went through with my dear Emmy. I wish we had figured out at least what the cause was but alas, we did not. Maybe she will meet him at the bridge.
{{{{Felix}}}

Emmy

[CanadianTrotter]

So sorry you lost your beloved Tosh.