VERY abnormal breathing! HELP!

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Member Since
12/30/2011

Purred: Fri Dec 30, '11 1:30am PST


	Hey I'm new to the forum. I need answers very soon... My cat is 16 years old. She has had cancer. A lump on her back that was surgically removed twice, and never came back thankfully! The last surgery was done a year ago. 6 months ago: My cat would make little whistling noises when she breathed through her nose.. It sounded like if her nose was blocked... I noticed this type of breathing 5% of the time all together. 4 months ago: This breathing became more regular, like 20% of the time. It seemed like she would do it whenever she would get excited and saw me. Though never when she was sleeping (or purring)... 2 months ago: It became more like 50% of the time. Until now, when she sleeps she's perfectly fine, when she purrs she's fine too and her behaviour is perfectly normal. When she eats, she meows a lot but eats the normal amount just fine and her appetite is as usual.. I take her to the vet, she has X-rays done, and her lungs came back normal, her heart was normal as well... 1) The vet said it could be asthma so we used the inhaler on her twice a day for 2 weeks but she kept worsening. 2) The vet then prescribed her antibiotics and she took them for 2 weeks, but she kept worsening. 3) The vet then prescribed her cortisone pills and she took them for 1 week but she still kept worsening! Now: She's breathing with this same loud whistling noise EVERY TIME she inhales or exhales.. It's 100% of the time now.. even when she sleeps!!! The only time she's not making the noise is when she purrs... I don't know what to do.. Her behaviour is still normal, only her breathing is really bad! I don't know what to do! I'm scared that she's been suffering all along... I don't know what to do! Please suggest something! Thanks in advance!! Edited by author Fri Dec 30, '11 1:47am PST

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Merlin - An Angel- Forever

*Poof*

Purred: Fri Dec 30, '11 5:52am PST


	Was it Flovent? Flovent takes weeks to build up in the body and work. 2 weeks isn't long enough to see any noticeable effect. What strenght of Flovent did you try? The 220 mcg (I think?) is the strongest and there's a lower dose one and a medium dose one. Did the vet do a tracheal wash? Sometimes that confirms asthma when x rays and other tests don't show anything. I suggest getting a second opinion from another vet. Bring copies of all your cat's records with you, including x rays. Snoring during sleeping is normal. It can sound like whistling. Is your cat's nose clean? Sometimes gunk (boogies) are just inside the nostrils and need to be removed with a tissue. And it may just be normal for some cats to be noisy breathers Here's a good web site with info about asthma in cats and how to treat: http://www.fritzthebrave.com/

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Member Since
12/30/2011

Purred: Fri Dec 30, '11 3:30pm PST


	Thanks for the post Merlin.. We gave her 250 mcg of Flovent for about a week and a half but the symptoms didn't get better. I can describe the sound as wheezing but very high pitched, like if her nose was blocked and the air is trying to get through a narrow space. I took her to the vet today, she injected her with another antibiotic. We should know if it worked in a week... If it doesn't, we're going to take other X-rays and send them to a specialist. If nothing reveals, we're going to perform a nose wash and check-up after putting her to sleep. I'm going to ask the vet if giving her Flovent again wouldn't cause any problems... if she DOES get better, we wouldn't know what helped her... Let's hope she survives all this in peace, I just don't want her to suffer (The vet did say her body weight shows that she's very healthy and the fact that she's eating normally is a good sign of good health). Keep suggestions coming, it helps a lot! When I took her to the vet, obviously she was very stressed... She didn't make the noise AT ALL for half an hour... Not in the car, not at the clinic!! So the vet didn't get to hear her breath the way she breaths weird. Is that any indication of something????? Edited by author Fri Dec 30, '11 3:36pm PST

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Sassy

Gorgeous- Armageddon

Purred: Sat Dec 31, '11 1:15am PST


	Can you get a video of her breathing so that the vet can see/hear what is going on? I've done that a couple of times when my cats were wheezing/yowling and it helped my vet make a diagnosis when my cats didn't do it during the exam.

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Blade- (2000-2010)

BE RESPONSIBLE,- SPAY AND NEUTER!

Purred: Sat Dec 31, '11 2:22pm PST


	It doesn't sound typical of asthma to me. I think I'd want someone to look up her nose with a camera endoscope thingy, to see if there's any kind of growth or polyps in her nasal passages - it could be something like nasal polyps or nasopharyngeal polyps...but then it's very strange how the noisy breathing stopped when she went to the vets... Edited by author Sat Dec 31, '11 2:27pm PST

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Member Since
12/30/2011

Purred: Sat Dec 31, '11 3:08pm PST


	we'd have to put her to sleep for that because she's VERY aggressive towards strangers... She urinates on herself with fear when the vets touch her In any case, I guess we'll do the nose check when we put her to sleep if the antibiotics don't work and if the Xrays still don't reveal anything to the specialist in a week! Thanks for the suggestions, it's really helping!

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Member Since
12/30/2011

Purred: Sat Dec 31, '11 3:09pm PST


	and for the video, I already did that and the vet said she never heard it before... I'll do another updated one the next time I see the vet.

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Merlin - An Angel- Forever

*Poof*

Purred: Sat Dec 31, '11 4:56pm PST


	Well, get a second opnion if you can. Is there a specialty hospital where you live? Can your vet do some networking and see if any vets know what your cat's problem might be? VIN.com is a popular vet-only web site with tons of information and a message board. Your vet could post the video there and ask for opnions from vets all over the world. Human's cat Leroy started making these funny panting/gasping/lip smacking noises. Human got it on video a few times and sent it to the vet. The vet had a few possible ideas what the problem might be and showed the videos to other vets for their opinion. The vets put their heads together and determined that what Leroy had was an irriated nasopgharngyl polyp.

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Smokie Boo- Irish- Russian Blue

Rescued cats- like me are the- best!

Purred: Sun Jan 1, '12 9:28am PST


	Definately need a second opinion!!! I had a cat that was very hard to handle....my vet always managed. There are ways of destressing the cat that can help.

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Member Since
12/30/2011

Purred: Sun Jan 1, '12 12:18pm PST


	Yes there is a speciality hospital in town.. the vet said we'll take the X-rays there if this shot doesn't work. UPDATE: Her weird breathing has gone down to about 60-70%. The noises are less raspy and less frequent. I think she's getting better. That last antibiotic shot is maybe what's helping her. If in 4 days she's much better, the vet said we'd give her another shot of the same antibiotic!! About the VIN.com site, I'll suggest the vet to visit the site!

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