What to expect from internal medicine appointment for wheezy cat

July 16, 2024 11:03 AM

Tallulah has chronic respiratory problems probably due to a virus - wheezing, asthma attacks, snotty nose. Her vet has run through her treatment ideas and referred us to get a consult with a specialist. She's a senior, so I'm open to doing basic stuff that could improve her quality of life, not interested in expensive / invasive treatments that don't further that goal. Does anyone have an idea what likely next steps would be and what costs could be like? If you have an internal medicine vet you like around Portland, OR, I'm also interested in recommendations.

T's regular vet offered to do chest x-rays, but was clear that she was reaching the edge of her knowledge and an internal medicine vet was probably the way to go. T's bloodwork is normal. Her eyes are cloudy and have dark spots, and she's prone to eye infections probably because of the underlying respiratory condition. I adopted T as a senior five years ago, and she had these symptoms then, they get better or worse but never really go away. She is otherwise healthy, cuddly, gets the zooms a few times a week, good appetite.

Things we have tried that didn't work:
prednisolone
Cerenia
Zyrtec
lysine
antibiotics for other issues didn't clear this up

Neosynephrine sometimes but not always provides relief for astham-attack-like acute breathing problems.

posted by momus_window to Pets & Animals (7 answers total)

Has she been on antivirals? They're annoyingly expensive (like $75 every time we need them for our chronic-herpes sufferer) but they work like a charm. Chronic herpes in particular is super common in cats and can cause both eye and respiratory issues.
posted by restless_nomad at 11:38 AM on July 16

If she's in a flare up where there is eye goop or nose discharge, they could do a PCR panel on the goop. I did that when one of my cats presented with a very bad eye infection even though I assumed it was feline herpes - turns out he was negative for that but did have feline chlamydia! Antibiotics did clear it up but it was a long 3-week course, so antibiotics for other issues might not always clear up an unrelated problem.
posted by misskaz at 11:45 AM on July 16

Has she been prescribed an asthma medication administered by a nebulizer (likely Albuterol dosed with an AeroCat)? It was very helpful for one of our cats and he quickly adapted to the breathing treatment followed by a treat and cuddles. I think I got a generic through a Canadian pharmacy that was pretty cost effective.
posted by XtineHutch at 12:11 PM on July 16

Given the answers so far, should I try a cat-only vet before I go for an internal medicine specialist? It doesn't sound like current vet can do diagnostics beyond what we've already done. Now I know cat antivirals exist, that sounds great, but current vet didn't offer that.

We talked about the option of an inhaler for her asthma, but haven't tried it because of the difficulty of administering inhalers to cats and because it's likely she has feline herpes and treating that underlying cause should also help with the eye infections.
posted by momus_window at 1:06 PM on July 16

If you've got a cat-only vet, then yeah, that'd be my next stop. Managing herpes should be well within their capacity
posted by restless_nomad at 1:36 PM on July 16

My boy with bad allergies enjoys being in the bathroom when I shower, the steam seems to help a little. The vet suggested locking him in for a bit with all the hot taps running if he is coughing a lot. Note that his is more a dry cough than a wet cough so this might not be good for your cat.
posted by meepmeow at 11:16 AM on July 20

I forgot that my vet also suggested turmeric rather than prednisolone, he said he gives it to his cat with bad allergies and it works great. I prefer to still with prednisolone though.
posted by meepmeow at 3:35 PM on July 20