If your cat has a persistent or chronic cough, they may be suffering from cat asthma attacks. Asthma is the most common cause of coughing in cats. In many cats the signs are pretty mild, but it can cause life-threatening breathing problems. This article outlines the symptoms to look out for when diagnosing feline asthma, and the treatment options available for cats with asthma.

What Is Asthma?

Human asthma is caused by inflammation of the airways without an infectious cause. It’s likely the airways of asthmatic cats are also permanently inflamed. These changes are present whether or not an asthmatic cat is showing signs of disease.

The inflammation can cause swelling of the lining of the airways, and excessive secretions may be produced. The ongoing inflammation causes narrowing or blockage of the airways.

You may be wondering; can cats have asthma? Well, the answer is yes! The airways of an asthmatic cat are hyper-reactive. This means spasm of the airways occurs in response to a stimulus that shouldn’t normally cause a reaction.

The ‘triggers’ causing airway spasm can be irritants like tobacco smoke or inhaled particles causing an allergic reaction, like pollens, house dust or even cat litter. The combination of airway spasm, excess secretions and inflammation causes significant narrowing of the airways and difficulty breathing. Cats with a narrowed airway have reduced airflow to their lungs.

How Can I Tell if My Cat Has Asthma?

 

Most cats with asthma show signs of coughing (dry and non-productive), wheezing and laboured breathing. Some cats may have a long history of mild cough whereas a small number of cats may have severe asthmatic attacks with a sudden onset of wheezing and shortness of breath.

Breathing is often particularly laboured as the cat tries to breathe out because the already narrowed airways become further collapsed. This means that air can be drawn into the lungs easily but becomes trapped there. Severely affected cats may breathe through their mouth. Open mouth breathing (panting) isn’t normal in cats, and you should call your vet immediately if you notice this.

Other cat asthma symptoms that you may notice include, breathing with an extended neck (an “air hungry” stance) or a resting breathing rate of more than 30 breaths per minute.

How Is It Diagnosed?

Your vet may suspect that your cat has feline asthma because of a typical history and clinical signs. However, a diagnosis of asthma needs lots of diagnostic investigations – mainly to rule out other causes of respiratory problems.

When listening to your cat’s chest your vet may hear wheezes and crackles. Some affected cats cough when their throat is pinched but in others, a physical exam won’t detect any noticeable signs. Chest x-rays can be useful in the diagnosis and assessment of an asthmatic cat. However, although lung damage may be visible on the x-ray, some cats with asthma can have normal chest x-rays and so further tests may be needed.

Collection of samples from the respiratory tract also plays an important role in the investigation of airway disease. A bronchoscope (a flexible tube which can be threaded into the airways of an anaesthetised cat) can be used to see what’s going on inside the cat’s airways, also known as a bronchoalveolar lavage.

However, cat’s airways are very small, and it can be difficult to get a bronchoscope far into the airways. But your vet will still be able to collect samples for analysis by passing a catheter deep into the airways. Asthma in humans is usually diagnosed by pulmonary function tests (measuring how much air can be moved through the airways). The practical difficulties of this technique preclude its use for cats in clinical practice.

How Do You Treat Asthma in Cats?

If the ‘trigger’ for asthma attacks can be identified in the early stages, try and avoid exposing your cat to this substance. In practice this is can be tricky. Reducing exposure to irritants, like cigarette smoke, dusty cat litters and aerosol sprays may help reduce your cat’s signs. Since obesity has been associated with asthma a weight control programme should be started if your cat is overweight.

Cats with mild signs may need no treatment. Those with moderate or severe disease require medication to reduce the severity and/or frequency of attacks. Feline asthma can’t be cured, so long-term medication is likely to be needed. If your cat has a severe asthma attack your vet may need to take it into the hospital so it can be given supplemental oxygen and injections of drugs.

The first step in controlling signs is to reduce inflammation in the airways. Anti-inflammatory doses of steroids are usually used. Additional therapy is often necessary to achieve control and to limit the side-effects of long-term steroid use. Drugs called bronchodilators which open (dilate) the airways, like theophylline, are also beneficial.

Although a number of novel treatments have been developed for use in human asthmatics, unfortunately none of these have been thoroughly evaluated in cats and shouldn't be used until more conventional treatments have been properly explored and shown to be insufficient in an individual cat.

A recent trend in the management of cat’s asthma has been the introduction of cat asthma inhaler treatments (steroids and bronchodilators) for cats. Inhaled medication is usually given to cats through a facemask connected to a paediatric ‘spacer’ device. Although there is a training period in the use of these devices most cats come to tolerate them well. The advantages of this form of delivery are:

• The drug can be delivered to the correct site (airways) potentially reducing the dose received by the rest of the body. This is a particularly important consideration in the long-term use of steroids.
• It can be difficult to give tablets to cats long-term, and many cats find the use of a face mask more acceptable.

If you are given a spacer to give drugs to your cat your vet will show you how to use it. The dose should be released into the spacer before placing the mask over your cat’s face – many cats become alarmed by the noise of the dose delivery. The cat is then allowed to take several breaths through the mask for around 10 seconds.

Cats with severe asthma may need a low dose of steroids by mouth in addition to inhalational therapy. Bacterial infection isn’t common in asthma and antibiotics aren’t usually necessary, given your cat has a healthy immune system.

Asthma is a life-long disease which will probably get worse with time. Most severely affected cats will need lifelong monitoring and intermittent (if not continuous) treatment. However, with appropriate management most cats with asthma can have a good quality of life.

Without treatment for feline asthma, cats can unfortunately die and may have a reduced life expectancy due to this respiratory disease. It’s important to work closely with your vet and have them diagnose asthma in order manage this unpleasant condition.

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