Please Help!! Cat Can't Breathe!!!

[moosmom]

I have a 14 year old cat, Mollie Rose, who had years of breathing problems, sneezing, watery eyes and congestion. I put her on Chlortrimeton every other day. It worked for a while but she became immune to it.

I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with kitty asthma. They put her on Zythromax and Prednisone. I told the vet I was concerned about the long term side effects, i.e.,liver problems, etc. She told me that at her age, it's more important to keep her comfortable and happy. I gave her the Prednisone and Zythromax and she's been fine.

I was going to have her sinuses x-rayed to see if she had any polyps but she was way too stressed out at the time. Since her problem has cleared up, I'll take the wait and see attitude.

Did your vet put her in a nebulizer to help clear up her breathing? Just curious.

Good luck with your kitty. Please keep us posted on her progress.

[Catty1]

That is something you could try - some Vicks-type stuff and a vaporizer.

CT scans will give a much clearer picture than x-rays, but they are expensive. Did they xray the lungs also?

If you can find something to just treat the symptoms, that might be the best, until a cause is found.

BTW - zithromax is an anti-viral.

[Emeraldgreen]

Thanks for you responses. None of the vets have used a nebulizer so far. I might try a vaporizer but it's not so much a stuffed up sound but more gasping and struggling to swallow and get air into his throat. He has no discharge from his eyes or nose and has never had a fever for this whole ordeal.
I've spoken to the vets about the possibility of laryngeal paralysis but they say it is very rare in cats and nothing was picked up during the endoscopy that would have shown that.
That's strange about the zithromax. I was sure he told me it was for a bacterial infection. If it wasn't, then we haven't tried to treat him for a bacterial infection yet though I thought we had. I'm starting to get dizzy with everything we've tried.
Does anyone know if symptoms worsen while treating for a fungal infection before they get better? Maybe he is worse because he is on day 3 of fungal meds?!?
All I know is I have to figure something out soon or I'm going to lose him.
Our house that we moved into a year a few months ago does have some moisture issues and we're trying to find someone to replace our leaking roof but all the roofers are too busy until late fall. I'm wondering if my cat can't breathe because of our house. It's raining today and he is dramatically worse today as well.
I'm even thinking of renting an RV or something to put him in so he's close by but not in our house. I just called a few places and they rent for 200.00 per day. Yikes.