Feline asthma

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Cat asthma is a common allergic respiratory disease in cats, which affects at least one percent of all adult cats worldwide. It is a chronic progressive disease that has no cure. Common symptoms include wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and potentially life-threatening bronchoconstriction. There are allegations that the disease is becoming more common due to increased exposure to industrial pollutants.

Video Feline asthma

Signs and symptoms

Cat asthma occurs with inflammation in the small alleys of the cat's lungs, as long as the lung attack gets thickened and narrows it makes it difficult to breathe. Mucus may be released by the lungs to the airways causing coughing and wheezing. Some cats have asthma attacks that are not so severe and only survive a little cough. The obvious signs that a cat has a respiratory attack are: coughing, wheezing, blue lips and gums, squatting with shoulders bent and neck lengthening, mouths open quickly breathing or panting, clogging foamy mucus and overall weakness.

Maps Feline asthma

Diagnosis

Owners often notice their cats cough several times per day. The coughing cough sounds different from a human cough, usually sounds more like a cat passing through a hair ball. Veterinarians will classify the severity of cat's asthma based on medical signs. There are a number of diseases that are closely related to cat's asthma to be removed before asthma can be diagnosed. Pulmonary worms, liver worms, upper and lower respiratory tract infections, lung cancer, cardiomyopathy, and plasmacytic lymphocytic stomatitis, all symptoms of mimic asthma. Medical signs, lung radiography, and positive response to steroids help make the diagnosis.

While radiographs may be helpful for diagnosis, airway sampling through transtracheal leaching or bronchoalveolar lavage is often necessary. More recently, computed tomography has been found to be more available and accurate in distinguishing tracheobronkitis in cats from bronchopneumonia.

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Treatment

Although cat asthma can not be cured, continuous care allows many domestic cats to live a normal life. Cat's asthma is generally managed through the use of bronchodilators for mild cases, or glucocorticosteroids with bronchodilators for moderate to severe cases.

Previously, the practice of standard veterinarians recommended injected and oral drugs to control the disease. These medications may have systemic side effects including diabetes and pancreatitis. In 2000, Dr. Philip Padrid pioneered inhaled medicines using a children's room and a mask using Flovent (r) (fluticasone) and salbutamol. Inhaled treatment reduces or eliminates systemic effects. In 2003 a room called AeroKat Feline Aerosol Chamber was designed specifically for cats, significantly improving efficiency and reducing costs for caregivers. Drugs can also be given using baby spacer baby device. Inhaled steroids usually require 10-14 days to achieve an effective dose.

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Prevention

Cat's asthma and other respiratory diseases can be prevented by cat owners by removing allergens as much as possible. Allergens that can be found in the cat's habit environment include: pollen, mold, dust from cat litter, perfume, room freshener, carpet cleaner, hair spray, aerosol cleaner, cigarette smoke, and some foods. Avoid using cat litter that creates a lot of dust, scented cat feces or dirt additives. Of course eliminating all of this can be very difficult and unnecessary, especially since cats are only affected by one or two. It will be very difficult to find allergens that cause asthma symptoms in certain cats and require a lot of good work on owners and veterinarians. But just like other diseases, the severity of asthma attacks can be driven by more than just allergens, common factors include: obesity, stress, parasites and pre-existing heart conditions. Dry air encourages asthma attacks thus maintaining a good humidifier especially during the winter.

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Risky

Studies show that cats between two to eight years old have the greatest risk of developing respiratory diseases. As well as the descendants of Siam and Himalayas as well as breed breeds appear to be most susceptible to asthma. Several studies have also shown that more female cats appear to be affected by asthma than male cats.

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Note

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References

• Astma Feline with Fritz the Brave: protocols, photos, videos and veterinarian-approved information
• Dr. Serina J. Hillerson, DVM, March 01, Fancy Cats .
• Dr Susan Little, DVM "Feline Asthma - Updated Information, winnfelinehealth.org.
• College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University "Feline Asthma".
• AeroKat (tm) Aerosol Room Feline Trudell Medical International
• Symptoms of Cat's Asthma, Wheezing, Treatment, and Breeds. (n.d.). Pet Health Center | Animal and Information Treatment from WebMD. Retrieved April 4, 2013, from http://pets.webmd.com/cats/asthma-symptoms-cats
• Feline Asthma & amp; Other Respiratory Disorders. (n.d.). Feline Asthma & amp; Other Respiratory Disorders. Retrieved April 4, 2013, from http://www.felineasthma.org/medications/index.htm
• Feline's asthma treatment is being reviewed. (2002). DVM, 33 (7), 1-20S. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/217698296
• Gagliardi, K. (2012, Oct 01). Cat's asthma: What you need to know. The Daily Camera. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1123860737

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See also

Asthma

Winn Feline Foundation

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Tautan eksternal

• Felipedia
• Asma Feline dari The Pet Health Library

Source of the article : Wikipedia