Has anyone’s cat had lungworm or asthma?

[cassiewoowoo]

I took dcat to the vets yesterday as she’s been having random coughing/sneezing fits (I can’t quite tell which) vet said no sign of infection, throat looked a little red, and a slightly more noisy lung than she would expect.

Dcat is a domestic shorthair and vet said asthma rarer there than in other breeds, but still a possibility. However she’s being treated for lungworm first to see if it’s that.

Has anyone’s cat had this before?
I’m terrified she has asthma, to diagnose she’d need a general anaesthetic which worries me enough (she had one before I got her, for spaying) but if she has asthma I’m worried about how much it’ll cost for lifelong meds I love her to bits and just want her to be ok.

Mia has asthma - as do I though in my case it is exercise-induced asthma. The cause could be my flat which has a moisture of 25% in all rooms (new building, triple glazing and very thick insulation) which is far too dry.

My vet confirmed Mia‘s asthma by examining her with a stethoscope when I mentioned her coughing occasionally and the lack of moisture in my flat.

Mia is not receiving any treatment at the moment. I do, however, always leave some windows open and make sure that she spends a lot of time on the rooftop terrace (she is an indoors cat). She coughs maybe once per week for a very short time. I am keeping on eye on it and would go to the vet again if there is an increase.

Shitcat is currently at the vet hospital where they are awaiting a poo sample to check for lungworm, he is being treated full on for asthma and and infection. He may have picked something up before he came to live here and has been losing weight.

Vet said that he may be given an inhaler when he comes home, that sounds like fun to administer. If it is asthma I am thinking it might be caused by something in the house, an allergen in cleaning products or perfume but rarely use anything toxic so am thinking stress related.

@cassiewoowoo just to add, it is rare, even unheard of for cats in the UK to get lungworm, I was discussing it yesterday with the vet, sometimes they look for it if they can't find anything else wrong.

I had a cat with lungworm years ago. He had a horrible retching cough but it did go away very quickly once he had the right wormer.

My cat has been diagnosed with asthma. He just had a cough. It was fully investigated (perhaps over investigated by the specialist vet as he was fully insured). My local vet had initially tried a test of treatment with a steroid injection which didn't do much. The specialist vet told me that this is actually not the treatment for asthma in cats but is oral steroids. Once started on these the cough settled immediately. These were then weaned off once the cat was used to the inhaler (this took time as you can imagine). Now he just needs it occasionally. It was a horrible process at the time but actually once the other causes of a cough were ruled out (infection/lung worm etc) he just needed a steroids then inhaler and he is absolutely fine now. Good luck!

I have been given:
Bricanyl
Prednisolone
Ronaxon

Heart scan was apparently OK. His breathing has become less difficult but mainly after the Bricanyl, once he has the others he is knocked out. If he gets hot he struggles again.

Previous cat was tested for heartworm, I had to fight the vet to do it but it was negative. All vets say it is rare in the UK. @Fluffypyjamas are you in the UK?

@DontCallMeShitley Yes, I'm in the West Midlands. The specialist vets I went to was the Willows in Solihull. They were excellent.

Thanks Fluffy.

@fivedogstofeed, what were the symptoms other than the cough?

@don'tcallmeshitley no other symptoms that I remember ( this was quite a few years ago ) - just a horrible cough to the point that he vomited. The first vet I saw actually suggested asthma, but poor cat was so ill we went back the next day and a different vet immediately said lungworm :(

I think it's pretty unusual, but dcat had been born to a feral mum who arrived in our garden so didn't ' have the greatest start in life. he was probably only a few months old when this happened.

Thank you fivedogs