Guide to Asthma In Cats

In case you didn’t know, even your cat can have asthma.

When a friend of mine first heard this, she laughed and fell off her chair… wondering why cats should have asthma.

When I asked her why she laughed so hard, she said it sounded so funny to hear- especially thinking of how, in her words, they would cough and gasp for breath the way humans who have asthma do.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I didn’t enjoy her laughter at all. For me, it is not funny at all and these poor cats with asthma equally go through a very difficult time with asthma, as much as humans do.

Now… before you agree with me or disagree, spare some time to really have a closer look at how asthma in cats is.

Asthma in cats occur when cats develop certain disorders in their respiratory systems. This type of respiratory disorders in these cats is caused by asthma – similar to that of humans.

So, just as humans have a problem with their breathing, cats also experience constriction of the air passages in their cat lungs.

Just like humans who experience asthma attacks, cats suffering from asthma suffer several moments of critical difficulty in breathing and, wait for it, several periods of severe coughing.

When this occurs on a consistent basis you are sure you have a cat with asthma. To be more certain, watch out for the following 2 main symptoms-

- When your cat experiences difficulty in breathing.
- When your cat experiences coughing.

What next to do? Contact your veterinarian at once… before your cat dies of this terrible breath-constricting disease!

Knowing This Much About Feline Asthma Can Save Your Pet’s Life

Asthma is not only a disease that plagues humans. Even our lovely pets share this terrible disease with us. I guess they want to show solidarity with us by feeling the way we feel.

Feline asthma, as the name implies, is cat asthma. Specifically, feline asthma is a chronic inflammatory respiratory condition that affects cats.

This condition is caused by the constriction of the air passages in the lungs of cats. This leads to extreme difficulty in breathing for cats and severe periods of coughing and wheezing.

Feline asthma is mostly an allergic disease affecting cats, just the same way that it affects humans.

To solve this feline asthma, there is the need to first identify the allergen that is responsible for the asthma, in the first place. When identified, you should either get rid of the allergy or keep your cat as far away from it as possible.

Some of the allergens that cause, trigger or worsen this feline asthma include smoke, dust, pollutants, contaminants, etc.

To prevent feline asthma, there is the need to take care of where your cat sleeps and rid this place of the allergens that trigger the condition. Keep it clean of dust, pollen, smoke and other pollutants and contaminants. Just like in the case of human asthma, with your cat your key phrase should be –prevention is better than cure!

Another way of preventing feline asthma is to increase the humidity of your home.

Most importantly, when your cat experiences these serious of difficulty in breathing, wheezing and dry coughing, consult your veterinarian immediately so that you will get detailed advice on handling the situation.

Your veterinarian will give medications that will help to treat this feline asthma and also medications that will help to prevent it from reoccurring. Even though feline asthma can’t be cured, it can be treated and safely handled. It is not a hopeless situation when your cat starts having asthma attacks.

Unlike humans who use inhalers to get their asthma medications directly into the lungs for instant relief, cats don’t enjoy that luxury. But there is now the “pediatric spacer” which helps cats get instant relief from asthma.

The inhaler is attached to this pediatric spacer which is attached to a kind of small face mask. Then when the inhaler sprays into spacer, it keeps the asthma medication aerosolized- making it possible for the cat to get instant relief when it breaths through the face mask.