Just wanted to mention nasopharyngeal polyps. My young cat was having intermittent respiratory problems that persisted after courses of antibiotics and steroids. A very excellent tech at the practice finally suggested a probe (cat has to be sedated) for polyps and they were there. Same tech, different vet, suggested probing another young cat for this that was presenting with the same symptoms. Vet ignored tech, but that cat was ultimately diagnosed with polyps as well. I think they’re more common than is generally thought. You might want to ask your new vet about the possibility. You are such a caring owner. Sorry that it’s so hard. The article posted on asthma is amazing-I hope between that and your new vet that you will find the answers that you need to help your kitten.
[QUOTE=Simkie;7828347]
And available online for cheap, so you don’t even need to deal with the vet who didn’t think of this and worm her 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00061MVMI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
(I used this stuff to worm our wandering barn cat.)[/QUOTE]
That’s not Panacur. That’s pyrantel pamoate, which is also known by the name of Strongid.
Not the same thing, sorry. Won’t treat the exact same spectrum of worms…
[QUOTE=Pancakes;7828727]
That’s not Panacur. That’s pyrantel pamoate, which is also known by the name of Strongid.
Not the same thing, sorry. Won’t treat the exact same spectrum of worms…[/QUOTE]
Ah, oops. Picked wrong link.
Still cheap and OTC 
Wanted to say – Royal Canin makes a hypoallergenic food, and my picky cat LOVES it. When she was so ill last year, it was the only food she would eat (I got the 3-bag variety packs of dry at PetCo, and she devoured it). She’s currently on the RC Kidney prescription diet, and loves it. Your kitty might eat that better than some other brands – I had a lot of really good brands, like Wilderness, suggested to me, but the only thing Mick would touch was the RC.
I think the hypoallergenic food is prescription only, but you can order it online and my vet was more than happy to fax in the script. It’s a pretty simple process, just takes a few days to ship it in from Canada.
Food - you can try Fancy Feast “Classic” pate varieties - most cats love it, and it’s relatively inexpensive and grain-free and no “vegetables” that many grain-free, premium brands stick in as cheap filler.
Pilling - you can try wrapping the pill in some “dough” from a Pill Pocket (most pet stores carry them). One pocket is quite large, so I just break off a piece to wrap around the pill - they come in Chicken and Salmon flavor. If your kitty eats around the little dough pill ball and leaves it in the bowl, try some Fortiflora probiotic powder sprinkled on it. My cat thinks Fortiflora is kitty crack, and he’ll eat just about anything with some of that sprinkled on it. Vets charge ridiculous prices for it, though - like 2-3 times what you can get it for on Amazon. Fortiflora has animal digest in it, which is the stuff that coats dry food to make it more palatable - some people don’t like to feed anything w/animal digest, but I figure the small amount my cat gets with the Fortiflora isn’t hurting anything, and it ensures he eats his meds 2x/day. Good luck!
[QUOTE=Liberty;7829458]
Food - you can try Fancy Feast “Classic” pate varieties - most cats love it, and it’s relatively inexpensive and grain-free and no “vegetables” that many grain-free, premium brands stick in as cheap filler[/QUOTE]
I’ve been looking at Fancy Feast a lot lately, since we’re wooing barn cats with wet food and I don’t want to feed them total trash.
I am SHOCKED at how expensive it is! I think the lowest I’ve seen it is 50 cents a can. A buck a day, to feed THAT? Seriously?!
I can feed this for a buck a day, and I’ll take the much higher quality ingredients.
Am I missing something here??
(I would not feed Fancy Feast to an animal on a novel protein trial, regardless, since they all contain “meat by-products” and who knows what protein source you’ve got in there…)
-
Your cat was never dewormed. Panacur (fenbendazole) is cheap and easy. You can try to diagnose a lungworm infection by Baermann fecal, but you may miss certain species of lungworms. A vet in your area should know what is most likely. Sometimes you only diagnose them on a BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage) or TTW (transtracheal wash), but who cares… Panacur isn’t going to hurt your cat and it’s dirt cheap. It’s stupid easy so why not.
-
Further tests: Transtracheal wash or bronchoalveolar lavage. Both tests require anesthesia to some degree; BAL is deeper and they have to really be under but diagnostically you can get more cells and a better diagnosis that way. Both have the risk of making things worse temporarily, though, and both can be fairly $$.
wonderful suggestions above
you need a new vet if they did not do the most basic of deworming. Even ascarids can cause a problem and there have been cases of non-egg producing ascarids being overlooked
a BAL for culture and lungworm exam. Lungworm more reliably from lung lavage. I have diagnosed it from a cat that had a gloppy residue on its trachea tube.
Unfortunately in addition to the meat by products Fancy Feast looks to contain chicken in all of its formulations (beef, fish, etc.) so at least while I’m trying to limit her exposure to chicken I will probably have to go with something else. Thanks for the suggestion!
Random: is there a reason why most limited ingredient foods contain things like green peas or vegetables of some kind? Cats don’t need any sort of vegetables in their regular diet, do they? (Questioning everything I know about animals at this point…)
While I’m asking dumb questions, I had heard it’s bad to feed cats too much fish yet so many cat foods are salmon or an ocean fish blend. Am I just behind the times?
[QUOTE=french fry;7829863]
Random: is there a reason why most limited ingredient foods contain things like green peas or vegetables of some kind? Cats don’t need any sort of vegetables in their regular diet, do they? (Questioning everything I know about animals at this point…)
While I’m asking dumb questions, I had heard it’s bad to feed cats too much fish yet so many cat foods are salmon or an ocean fish blend. Am I just behind the times?[/QUOTE]
Because vegetables are cheap, and people often think that cats need to eat like people. It drives me batty. So frustrating.
And no, you are not behind the times on the fish thing. I’ve also read that feeding cats a lot of fish can lead to bladder and urinary issues. I don’t know why there are so many fish formulas out there, but would guess it’s because they’re palatable and people think cats eat fish…
The Fancy Feast Classic line was what brought my diabetic cat’s diabetes under control without the need for insulin. This was years ago, and I’ve continued to feed it after trying the “premium” brands (at 2-3 times the price of FF) and not liking the results, plus I hate that nearly all of them have those stupid vegetables (i.e. cheap filler) in them.
I REALLY like the looks of that food you linked to, and I’m going to try to find some locally to try as I don’t want to buy a case of something my cats won’t eat. It looks like just what I need. Thanks!
[QUOTE=french fry;7829863]Unfortunately in addition to the meat by products Fancy Feast looks to contain chicken in all of its formulations (beef, fish, etc.) so at least while I’m trying to limit her exposure to chicken I will probably have to go with something else. Thanks for the suggestion!
Random: is there a reason why most limited ingredient foods contain things like green peas or vegetables of some kind? Cats don’t need any sort of vegetables in their regular diet, do they? (Questioning everything I know about animals at this point…)
While I’m asking dumb questions, I had heard it’s bad to feed cats too much fish yet so many cat foods are salmon or an ocean fish blend. Am I just behind the times?[/QUOTE]
I hadn’t noticed that about FF (the chicken thing), but probably because all my cats love chicken, so I haven’t been on the lookout for it on other flavors. The cat food Simkie linked to looks really good, so that might be the ticket.
Also, as Simkie said, those vegetables are just cheap filler, and it also drives me nuts to see them in nearly all “premium” cat food in my local pet food stores. Here’s an interesting link about veges in cat food, especially peas:
http://truthaboutpetfood.com/disappointing-trend-in-rising-pet-food-market/
As for the fish varieties, I’ve always read that fish-based cat food should be limited to a max of 2x/week.
I hear ads for this stuff everyday on my way for work. It’s some sort of natural amino acid/flax type supplement that seems to heal all things dog and cat. Might be worth a look.
In re-reading all of these responses, it is really hitting home for me that there has to be some underlying cause (or at least trigger) for our kitten’s acute attacks. Taking into account how sporadic and severe they are, it just doesn’t make any sense that they are totally random.
Things that we think might exacerbate an attack but will not cause one on its own:
-
Stress - she has been stressed numerous times WITHOUT having an attack; only occasionally has an attack been preceded by a stressful event
-
Dusty litter - she has been exposed to dusty litter at certain times with no issues and she has been on dust-free litter and still had an attack so that’s a toss up as well
Things that could hopefully be big-picture root causes or triggers:
-
Parasite (lungworm/heartworm) - please god let it be this simple! May as well just deworm her and test her for heartworm, that’s on the docket unless our new vet has a very valid argument against.
-
Mycoplasma - can’t hurt to throw her on some doxy unless vet disagrees.
-
Food allergy - I am loving this theory more and more. She is on crappy food that is both poultry-heavy and has a bunch of gluten and fillers. She has had some skin redness/itchiness in the past. As of tonight we are switching her to a limited ingredient novel protein source (venison) food to see if that makes any kind of difference.
If it is none of the above unfortunately it is probably a “perfect storm” of smaller triggers that occasionally flares up. This is where we’d probably have to go back to focusing solely on treatment/acute care since we already have a scent-free home with air filters, dust-free litter, gentle cleaning products, etc.
I so appreciate the ideas and subsequent clarity this thread has given me - I was really feeling like her condition is just a thing that happens with no external cause/trigger/whatever and while in the end we may not be able to perfectly control her environment in such a way that it minimizes or eliminates her episodes, it seems that there is a place to start and see if we can’t figure out something to help manage it.
It sounds like you have a really good game plan!
One more thing to discuss with the new vet, especially since pilling stresses out your kitty: transdermal preps of meds. It’s a cream that you just rub on the ear flap. It’s so incredibly easy. Not everything can be compounded in a transdermal cream, but a lot can and it is wonderful for a kitty that isn’t easy to pill.
I agree, you have a great game plan to take to your new vet! I can’t wait I hear about the appointment and fingers crossed for sorting this out!
I know you’re having trouble with pills, but Singulair daily has made a tremendous difference for my asthma cat. (I take it, too.)
I like your thoughts!
My ashma kitty just started on HA (hypoallergenic diet) due to my other cat having possible IBD and I must say his breathing is so much better!! He doesn’t sound like Darth Vater and I haven’t seen abdominal breathing in a week or so. He has also lost weight. (Side note: food also seems to be helping the IBD kitty as well)
I had never thought as diet as a part of it, but I see that aspect after having him on this diet.
Off to the new vet with a monster list of info/questions gleaned from this thread! I know all vets love to hear, “But the Internet told me…” right??
I will report back, thanks again all!
Okay, you astute COTHers! After consulting with the vet and having her proactively bring up just about everything mentioned on this thread, I have to say that I have basically never got a more accurate bunch of information/ideas from the internet. I am seriously amazed.
Long, long story short: our new vet + the internist she consulted with are very unconvinced that it’s actually asthma, for all the reasons mentioned on this thread. To summarize: her symptoms are too infrequent and severe. Our vet has never seen a cat with asthma this young period, let alone one with this strange presentation of symptoms.
For now our kitten is going to stay on the oral pred + theophylline but the vet is very dubious that it’s actually doing anything. We have her on a round of Panacur while they are reviewing the new x-rays we took today and consulting with another specialist.
In case anyone is playing along at home, heartworm is thought to be unlikely at this time. Polyps are actually a strong contender! They think a food allergy is unlikely to cause these symptoms but have encouraged me to keep her on the Natural Balance limited ingredient diet since she likes it; it can’t hurt.
Unfortunately, if it is plain ole asthma after all her prognosis is not great given her young diagnosis and the severity of her symptoms. In that case we will do what we can to make her life as long and happy as possible.
Do you use air fresheners? Specifically the automatic ones? I’ve known a couple of dogs that were very allergic to that, and every time the automatic one triggered, or the wall plug in ones (I hate those) were changed out, the coughing and wheezing started. I only know about that because of a human acquaintance had asthma triggered by air fresheners-she barely made it to work the day the van pool vehicle had been detailed, and they hosed the van down with cherry air freshener.
