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

[Emeraldgreen]

Hi Laura, thanks for your kind words about Tiger.
Well, I gave him half a pill of pred last night instead of his usual full 5mg dose along with 2mg of Chlor Tripolon and he slept all night in the room with the air filter. But by 7:00a.m. this morning when I went to check on him he was wheezing as he has been for the past few weeks so I gave him his full dose of pred and the wheezing quieted down but he doesn't have much energy to move more than a few feet and then lie down again. He's hungry alot as usual but the vets think that is due to the high dose of pred he is on.
My asthmatic cat Jimmy seems to be benefiting from the filter though and wouldn't come out of the room last night which is not the norm for him. He is usually the first to race out of there to tear around the rest of the house but last night when we opened the door and called and called him, he just lay in his bed staring at us and wouldn't budge. I think the fresh air felt good. He is in very good spirits today as well, more so than usual so I'm glad we got the filter.
I just wish it would make a change in Tiger but it is looking like I will have to take him to the other vet a few hours away who has the smaller endoscopy equipment. If he finds something, I'll ask him to do the surgery. I'll be putting all my hope in this vet as I don't think we can afford a 6th one after him so if anyone has time to pray for Tiger, we'd sure appreciate it. Thanks again for caring and for helping with your many suggestions.

[Medusa]

Big time prayers headed Tiger's way and yours, too. To not be able to breathe is the worst!

[Emeraldgreen]

Thank you so much Mary and thank you Candace too! I think I might be taking a float plane to get to the vet. I'm hoping that it's not going to freak Tiger out too much but it's cheaper and fast than taking the ferries and using our truck with all the gas it needs. I'll make sure to cover his cage with a blanket to keep him calm.
I might wait until Tuesday to see what if any results come back from the fungal panel and/or the fecal test.
I'll definitely keep you posted. Thanks.

[Catty1]

Hoping the best for Tiger!

[Emeraldgreen]

Thanks Candace!
Well, the fungal panel results came back today from the vet and everything was negative so I'm glad I followed my instincts and stopped giving him the anti-fungal meds two days into his treatment. It was making him worse and now it turns out he didn't need it anyway. I have heard that a fungal infection can show up as negative but the odds are that the results are correct. The panel covered things like aspergilllus, blasto, crypto-coccous and things.
So, on with the plan to see the new vet on Thursday morning. Picked up an asthma inhaler today and will see if he'll 'let me' use it on him. I'm sure I could force it but I'm trying to be extra gentle with him because I can only imagine what it must feel like trying to get enough air and you can't and then your 'mom' is coming at you with this crazy aparatus covering your face. I wish he could understand that I'm trying to help him. He's such a sweetie, I hope we make it through this.

[jennielynn1970]

Poor Tiger... I hope you can find what is wrong and get him to start feeling better. Poor boy.

Thoughts and prayers for Tiger and your family.

[kimlovescats]

Bless your poor baby and you for having to listen to and watch him struggle for air! I watched his first video and it broke my heart. He sounds like he has something hung in his throat and it is choking him! Surely all of the endoscopies would have shown that though. Gosh, I know you must be so very frustrated!!!

BIG HUGS and prayers that a vet is soon able to get this figured out!

Kim

[mars]

So sorry to hear about your little guy.

My sister's cat recently died from something that sounds fairly like what you describe. He developed a kind of gasping breathing, not because something was in his airways, but because his chest cavity had filled with fluid and his lungs could not fill with air. He was treated initially for hairballs, and then allergy. By the time they figured out it was congestive heart failure, it was too late to put him on any kind of treatment.

I am not trying to freak you out, and I apologize for sounding this distressing note, but if this is what your cat suffers from, and you catch it soon enough, perhaps it can be treated.

Best wishes to you.

[Angelkitty]

I have a 12 year old Maine Coon cat who started making deep rumbly sounds while purring about 6 weeks ago. I took him to the vet and they prescribed 2 weeks of Clavamox drops. He got worse and had begun wheezing and struggling for air. I brought him back and they did xrays, put him under anesthesia and looked at his larynx but couldn't see a mass or anything. They thought it might be his teeth so I had them cleaned and two teeth removed. He got worse. Then I took him to a different vet who had endoscopy equipment and they put him under anesthesia and looked at his esophogus, larynx, trachea and couldn't find anything. They prescribed a 10 day treatment of antibiotics (zithromyocin) for a bacterial infection in case that was it. After 10 more days he was even worse. I brought him back and they put him under again and examined his soft palette carefully and did more xrays and found nothing. They ran a fungal blood panel and sent it off to the lab and we are awaiting results. They sent blood off for a heartworm test too which came back negative. He has been on a high dose of prednisone for about a month now because without it he cannot breathe. I give him a 5mg tab in the a.m. and a 5mg tab at night.
Even though the fungal panel results are not back yet we are desperate and he is running out of time so the vet prescribed an anti-fungal medication called Fluconazole (about 180.00 for 15 days). I started him on it a few days ago. He is also now on Furosamide to alleviate any edema around his heart I think? It seemed to help yesterday but today he is doing terribly.
I know that the prednisone can make a mass shrink and hard to find if there is one but it's a catch 22 because I think he'll die without it. Of all 4 doctors from the 2 hospitals that have seen him, none have them have seen any evidence of a mass and all have looked.
Does anyone out there have any ideas of what else my cat could be dealing with? I'm open to any and all ideas at this point. Thanks.

Hi, I am here reading and I thought I would tell you that my kitty "Lorraine" has the same problem. Here is a like that I think can be helpful in understanding the possible problem.

http://www.holisticvetpetcare.com/co...ilure-lung.htm

As you have, I tried everything for Lorraine with very minimal results. At our local health food store the woman who owns it is an avid pet lover and is very much against vaccinations for pets because of the long term effects. I told her how everything else the vet has done has NOT worked and she said to start Lorraine on a diet of wet cat food that is completely "Grain free" and give Lorraine as much green raw vegetables as she will eat. The funny thing when she said this to me was that every time I would put Lorraine out on my bedroom deck, Lorraine would reach to eat the leaves on the trees. She explained that Lorraine knew her body was lacking chlorophyll. It just so happened that I grew a herb garden this year so I started putting lots of cut up parsley in here food. To my amazement she eats every bit of it!!! I also give her fresh basil, broccoli and green beans (RAW) in her grain free cat food.

I must tell you that this isn't an over night fix but slowly she has shown improvement and I can say she has shown more improvement then she did with all the vet's treatment. This link also hit me with the fact that pets teeth decay have a lot to do with their heart and lung health. The first thing the vet said when I brought Lorraine in was how awful her teeth are.

I hope this helps. I am also going to try the sauna method I read online. Putting the pet in a carrier and leaving a pan of boiling water in front of the cage with a towel over the cage and pan of water for 20 minutes. I wonder if some herbs in the water would help as well. It's worth trying at least once.

Good luck ....

[Catlady711]

Hi, I am here reading and I thought I would tell you that my kitty "Lorraine" has the same problem. Here is a like that I think can be helpful in understanding the possible problem.

http://www.holisticvetpetcare.com/co...ilure-lung.htm

As you have, I tried everything for Lorraine with very minimal results. At our local health food store the woman who owns it is an avid pet lover and is very much against vaccinations for pets because of the long term effects. I told her how everything else the vet has done has NOT worked and she said to start Lorraine on a diet of wet cat food that is completely "Grain free" and give Lorraine as much green raw vegetables as she will eat. The funny thing when she said this to me was that every time I would put Lorraine out on my bedroom deck, Lorraine would reach to eat the leaves on the trees. She explained that Lorraine knew her body was lacking chlorophyll. It just so happened that I grew a herb garden this year so I started putting lots of cut up parsley in here food. To my amazement she eats every bit of it!!! I also give her fresh basil, broccoli and green beans (RAW) in her grain free cat food.

I must tell you that this isn't an over night fix but slowly she has shown improvement and I can say she has shown more improvement then she did with all the vet's treatment. This link also hit me with the fact that pets teeth decay have a lot to do with their heart and lung health. The first thing the vet said when I brought Lorraine in was how awful her teeth are.

I hope this helps. I am also going to try the sauna method I read online. Putting the pet in a carrier and leaving a pan of boiling water in front of the cage with a towel over the cage and pan of water for 20 minutes. I wonder if some herbs in the water would help as well. It's worth trying at least once.

Good luck ....

Welcome to PetTalk.

Just wanted to let you know that this thread is over a year old, and Tiger has since passed away.

[Catty1]

Thanks, Catlady.

I PM'd her yesterday as well, and gave her a couple of links to look up if she wanted.

[Emeraldgreen]

I must say, I was sure surprised when I saw this thread with a new post! Thank you very much Angelkitty for your suggestions but as mentioned by Catlady and Catty1, Tiger has since passed away (August 1st, 2008).
It turned out in the end that he was battling Squamous Cell Carcinoma and had a tumour removed. It was actually removed 4 times but grew back very aggressively each time. I did have a whole year with him which Iam very grateful for.
I do appreciate your post and I'm going to use some of your suggestions for my dog Finnigan! He is a real nut for vegetables and doesn't like meat very much. I'm now wondering if he might be 'low' in chlorophyll. I will add some parsley and other veggies to his diet and how he does. Thanks.

p.s. I hope that your cat Lorraine will continue to improve and do well. Take care.

p.p.s. I found this picture of Tiger recently and I didn't want to start a new thread just to post it so maybe I'll just include it with this one. I had mentioned in my very last thread about Tiger that my favourite memory of him was of him racing from apple tree to apple tree at our old house. I couldn't believe my eyes when I found a picture of him in mid-air after bolting from from one of the trees. I'll include it here if anyone wants to see it. I hope he is having as much fun at Rainbow Bridge as he was the day this pic was taken back in 2004.

[Moesha]

I'm so glad to see more pictures and posts about Tiger. I sure miss that little big guy!

[tkocianic]

Hi everybody,

Looking for some good advice.

I have a kitty, 13 years old and otherwise in good health, who is having trouble breathing through her nose (vet thinks it's polyps). She can mouth breathe, but sounds raspy. I don't think she is really eating or drinking and I think maybe she is having trouble because she can't eat/drink and breathe at the same time.

Vet has given injections of a steroid and a long acting antibiotic and she is on Sub-Q fluids for dehydration and B12 to stimulate appetite. This has been a seasonal issue for her for years, but now it is more severe, constant, and the steroids don't seem to be working (it used to be that she got her shots every 3-6months when she sounded snuffley and was 100% fine and had no breathing troubles in between).

Anyone know of a specialist in Ohio. My vet says the only surgical option is to open her skull, but it sounds from this old post like there might be some other way to remove the polyps.

Does anybody have any bright ideas at all of anything else we can do?

[Medusa]

Hi everybody,

Looking for some good advice.

I have a kitty, 13 years old and otherwise in good health, who is having trouble breathing through her nose (vet thinks it's polyps). She can mouth breathe, but sounds raspy. I don't think she is really eating or drinking and I think maybe she is having trouble because she can't eat/drink and breathe at the same time.

Vet has given injections of a steroid and a long acting antibiotic and she is on Sub-Q fluids for dehydration and B12 to stimulate appetite. This has been a seasonal issue for her for years, but now it is more severe, constant, and the steroids don't seem to be working (it used to be that she got her shots every 3-6months when she sounded snuffley and was 100% fine and had no breathing troubles in between).

Anyone know of a specialist in Ohio. My vet says the only surgical option is to open her skull, but it sounds from this old post like there might be some other way to remove the polyps.

Does anybody have any bright ideas at all of anything else we can do?

I'm not sure why this is posted here. I'd suggest moving it by starting your own thread so that more people see it. That said...

My cat Yoda has had a polyp removed twice. Both started in her ear; the first one grew down into her throat and the other grew down into her ear canal. The first one my vet was able to laser out. For the second one, he had to open her up a bit. The problem w/polyps is that unless you get the "head", ie., the root, it will grow back and even then, there's no guarantee that another one won't develop. Yoda has had 5 five years between polyps so I opt for surgery.

In what part of Ohio are you located? I live in Ohio as well and my vet is the absolute best. I told him that I forbid him to retire. Many vets have neither the experience nor the surgical instruments to do such surgery but my vet does. So if it isn't too far for you to go, you can PM me and I'll be happy to pass on his name, address and phone number and answer any questions you may have. I'd at least see him for a second opinion. Whatever the case, that polyp MUST come out b/c it will only continue to grow and, God forbid, if it grows upward into her brain, then there won't be too much you can do for her. Time is of the essence b/c they grow quickly.

I hope I didn't frighten you but I want to stress how important it is for you to move as quickly as possible on this. I do hope you'll PM me. And above all, keep the faythe.