Last 3 Kittens and Miri has Asthma

Been a long week! Sorry so late in this update
Caught the last three kittens last Sunday night!!

Keeping these three bigger babies quarantined for now in an extra large dog crate. Sure are a handful to tame down for "Inside Land," but progressing surprising well. I wrap them in a towel and pet them and scratch their ears, making lovey talk. They are now just mild hissy babies, versus LET ME OUT OF HERE!!! lol...

Had to treat them for fleas and worms. Thanks to Jane in England... was able to give them worm meds and flea applications on Tuesday. Since Frontline costs 40.00 for three doses, I tried the generic "Tri-Force," for only 20.00. Works slowly. Still a lethargic flea on one of them yesterday!

Here is a photo of my big scaredy kittens:

Our Three J's... or 3 Cat-skateerz.

White kitty in the back is Jordi with one yellow eye and blue left eye. (or Geordi for Lt. LaForge on Star Trek). Probably partially deaf.

White kitty Jazpurr in front is the biggest baby.

Fiesty little black bear kitty is Justin (Justin Case he settles down! He is a furry little fighter!).

Yesterday, their tamer brothers and sister came to visit with supervision from outside the crate. The boys calmed down and recognized their littermates. Still a bit of mild hissing and large "personal space" going on. Jordi got bold and started playing with a rope hanging from the crate top, while the other two just laid down and closed their eyes to let smaller Sammy and Toby know they were "cool" with them hanging around.

v6666666666666tayyyyyy Sa78mmy i t8888888h is typing! - okay Sammy, off the keyboard now, gotta talk about your sister.

Sweet Miri has Asthma.



She is in my lap right now, wheezing. Mildly, thank God.

She was having some milder symptoms several times this past week, but they sounded like hacking from a fur ball. And since she has a sensitive tummy, just watched her closely. But she never threw anything up.

Then Thursday, she was hacking fairly bad and I put my ear to her chest and heard the trachea clicking, a sign that Sandy Red Tigger (1990-2006) made when he had trouble breathing. Still thought something was stuck in her throat, since she just ate something. Sandy never hacked when he had an asthma attack.

Then last night after vigorously playing with Toby, she had a full blown wheezing attack. Sandy took Albuterol Sulfate as an adult, the same as me. Normally you use a tube and a small mask to administer, but didn't have it. I took a risk and opened her mouth to spray some in. The sound scared her, but she breathed in some of the med and began breathing better, but not too much for her little body. I'm going to monitor this weekend and search for herbal remedies online. Hopefully won't have to use emergency vet.

Hopefully will be able to make an appointment with the Cat Hospital where Dr. Jones can run tests to check for allergies, a collapsing trachea or heart worms. I hope to God it isn't a symptom of heart worms. I'm going to ask ML if we can have an auction for her. She is only 4-5 months old and soo young to be having so much trouble breathing.

And all the boys should be tested for FLV and Leukemia and get their shots before neutering. As long as they all test negative, then I can use my free voucher to get them neutered at the the low cost clinic. Miri will need to be tested as well and may need monitoring when spayed. May not be able to use the free voucher for her, because the low-cost clinic doesn't have the equipment, plus have to wait and find out if this is asthma or something else.

From an article on feline asthma: http://cats.about.com/od/respiratorydisease/a/felineasthma.htm
A full-blown asthma attack may at first resemble a cat trying to cough up a hairball, or possibly choking on food. However, the body posture is somewhat different. With asthma, the cat's body will be hunched lower to the ground and his neck and head will be extended out and down in an effort to clear the airway of mucous. The "gagging" may also be accompanied by a typical coughing sound, and possibly sneezing. The cat may or may not expel foamy mucous... These serious attacks may not happen frequently, which makes it easy to write them off as just a hairball.

Actually, they can be life-threatening, and a cat in a full-blown attack should be taken to a veterinarian immediately. Even a cat showing one or two of the early symptoms should be examined. Once diagnosed, there are things you can do to help your cat during one of these attacks.

Other diseases share many of the same symptoms as feline asthma, including Heartworm Associated Respiratory Disease, a serious disease in itself. Your veterinarian will use several diagnostic tests to eliminate those conditions.

Most common diagnostic tools are:

• Blood Tests. These are the quickest and easiest, and will detect infection, which often accompanies asthmatic bronchitis. They will detect macrophages, esoinophils, neutrophils, and mast cells, which are types of blood cells that help constitute the immune system. And blood work is also useful in eliminating other diseases with the same symptoms.
• Chest XRay. Also called a thoracic, xray, will disclose abnormalities, such as areas of chronic irritation, as caused by infection, a flattened diaphragm, or unusual fluid accumulation. Evidence of heart disease may also be seen. This would not necessarily eliminate asthma, as the two sometimes go hand-in-hand. Your veterinarian may want to send the xray to a specialist for consultation.
• Bronchoalveolar Lavage. This is an extremely useful procedure and in itself, perfectly safe. BAL, as it is called, is performed by inserting an endotracheal tube into the trachea under general anasthesia, then fluids present in the airways of the lungs are extracted through this tube for examination. Aside from asthma, the BAL may diagnose other conditions of the lungs. In a study done in Barcelona of 26 cats, two were found to have Toxoplasma gondii cysts, two showed evidence of carcinoma, and 18 were determined to be related to asthma or infectious bronchitis. The down side of BAL is that it requires a general anesthesia, counter-indicated in a cat with severe respiratory distress

Please keep Miri in your purrz and prayerz, especially this weekend. Will update if I have to take her to the emergency vet.

Katie Kat