Coughing , Possible Asthma , Doxycycline Pill? Videos included

[ChelseaKaupp]

@ChelseaKaupp Have you shown these videos to your vet? It's really hard to say whats going on for certain, especially since its not responding to antibiotics. There is always a chance that whatever she has isn't susceptible to Doxycycline and she needs a different antibiotic. I had Shazam on Augmentin when he was a kitten and it didn't knock out his infection and he had to be switched to ciprofloxacin, but it just depends on susceptibility patterns in the area you are from. If you are feeling dismissed by your vet, you need to find a different one. Get her records and look around in your area for someone who doesn't dismiss details like what you've provided. I had a vet dismiss me when I thought Shazam had a UTI. She told me he was too young to have one and that he was just peeing in my sink ad tub because he was stressed over a move that had happened like 5 months prior. I insisted she test him and she told me she would do it to "make me feel better" and came back with his Urine pH at a 7.8 with visible crystals. He could have died if I hadn't insisted. There is nothing that infuriates me like a vet or doctor of any sort dismissing something that their patient or a family member brings up. you are the one that spends every day with her and you know whats going on with her. If you get the records they have of her, go somewhere where they will take it seriously.

now, if she's doing it only after eating and drinking, and she likes to gobble it all up super quick, I do recomend an elevated bowl. You can even just put her bowl on a thick book, don't need anything expensive. I used to have to do that for Shazam when he was a kitten because he would regurgitate almost every time he ate because he was a little demon at that age lol. You have a new baby in the house (congrats btw!) so money may be a bit tight, but you can get one of those slow feeder bowls that slows her down also.
Keep taking videos of her and bring it to the vet to show what she's doing.
Best wishes and Following for updates

Hey! We certainly did show these videos to the vet - even though they are two different coughs/sneezes, she just said they were both asthma.
Up until recently that vet has been great, but the last 2 visits were not so. We took Umami in for the lung xrays and when they showed a tiny grey spot on one lung the vet said it was too small to know if it's asthma or an infection so they took bloods. Bloods came back inconclusive, so they took even more blood to send off to a lab. Those results came back as infection free so we started asthma medication. Once it became clear that the asthma medicine was only worsening her cough, the vet said that despite all the bloods they took, it could still be an infection. Which was upsetting as Umami was quite traumatised by having those bloods taken - poor girl has been obsessively sucking her tail ever since (over a month ago now).

Ive already sussed out a new vet - a cat specific clinic. So hopefully they are more specialised. Once I can get my hands on her records, we'll book in for an appointment. Like you, I get frustrated with being dismissed. I've been off on sick/maternity leave for 5 months and have rarely been able to leave the apartment. Not fun for me, but means Umami has had 24/7 monitoring, and I'm able to pick up on things

Umami is our first baby, and while we dont have an overflow of cash at the minute, she certainly isn't any less of a priority, so we'll definitely look into some things we can do to slow down her eating! Thank you so much for your support and suggestions. I really do appreciate it

 

[Cinderstar95]

Hey! We certainly did show these videos to the vet - even though they are two different coughs/sneezes, she just said they were both asthma.
Up until recently that vet has been great, but the last 2 visits were not so. We took Umami in for the lung xrays and when they showed a tiny grey spot on one lung the vet said it was too small to know if it's asthma or an infection so they took bloods. Bloods came back inconclusive, so they took even more blood to send off to a lab. Those results came back as infection free so we started asthma medication. Once it became clear that the asthma medicine was only worsening her cough, the vet said that despite all the bloods they took, it could still be an infection. Which was upsetting as Umami was quite traumatised by having those bloods taken - poor girl has been obsessively sucking her tail ever since (over a month ago now).

Ive already sussed out a new vet - a cat specific clinic. So hopefully they are more specialised. Once I can get my hands on her records, we'll book in for an appointment. Like you, I get frustrated with being dismissed. I've been off on sick/maternity leave for 5 months and have rarely been able to leave the apartment. Not fun for me, but means Umami has had 24/7 monitoring, and I'm able to pick up on things

Umami is our first baby, and while we dont have an overflow of cash at the minute, she certainly isn't any less of a priority, so we'll definitely look into some things we can do to slow down her eating! Thank you so much for your support and suggestions. I really do appreciate it

I'm glad to hear that you've found a cat only clinic. I take my pair to a cat only clinic in Indiana and I couldn't imagine taking them anywhere else now for general care. When all you see are cats, you notice things that general vets don't. Unfortunately a gray spot on the xray is super inconclusive and could be a ton of things. They joke in class that xrays are "Pharmacy positive" when they are so obvious that even pharmacists can tell somethings going on, so I just certainly don't have any info on how to read them.
And I didn't mean to imply that she's any less of a priority, just that human babies are sooo expensive.
theres also the saying that if you hear hoofbeats in central park, you don't think zebras - meaning that It makes sense that they go to asthma first before other things because its most common. But if it doesn't work and compliance with medication is fine, its time to move on. I am assuming that you've been giving her medication appropriately (you seem like the type to youknow... care about your baby) and if your vet can't do that, then its time to move onto more specialized people. Ill keep following and if you have any medication questions feel free to tag me! Ill do what I can to answer.
Best wishes

 

[ChelseaKaupp]

I'm glad to hear that you've found a cat only clinic. I take my pair to a cat only clinic in Indiana and I couldn't imagine taking them anywhere else now for general care. When all you see are cats, you notice things that general vets don't. Unfortunately a gray spot on the xray is super inconclusive and could be a ton of things. They joke in class that xrays are "Pharmacy positive" when they are so obvious that even pharmacists can tell somethings going on, so I just certainly don't have any info on how to read them.
And I didn't mean to imply that she's any less of a priority, just that human babies are sooo expensive.
theres also the saying that if you hear hoofbeats in central park, you don't think zebras - meaning that It makes sense that they go to asthma first before other things because its most common. But if it doesn't work and compliance with medication is fine, its time to move on. I am assuming that you've been giving her medication appropriately (you seem like the type to youknow... care about your baby) and if your vet can't do that, then its time to move onto more specialized people. Ill keep following and if you have any medication questions feel free to tag me! Ill do what I can to answer.
Best wishes

Certainly didn't think you were implying that Umami is any less of a priority! Sorry if it came across that way Human babies certainly are not cheap! We're going through nappies at a ridiculous rate!! At least the baby's health care is free in this country. Phew

We have been finishing all medicine courses for her, including the asthma prednisolone that wasn't working. She stayed on that for a month to ensure she was properly weaned off.

I definitely like the idea of a cat only clinic. Exactly as you say, they're able to pick up on more if all they're seeing is cats.
A fresh set of eyes will be welcome, as our current vet even admitted to me that she finds Umami's case very frustrating.

Will keep you all updated how we get on. Umami is still on her doxy until the 9th of May so we'll keep going with that. For now the cute little rat bag is doing good, and terrorizing the baby and I at 4am

 

[kauna]

I'm sorry I have been away for a bit just saw that @Yoda mom tagged me in the thread. I am sorry that you are going through all of this with Umami. I think it is great that you have taken the videos to the vet. That was how my girl was diagnosed. I at first thought it was an upper respiratory infection but just happened to catch her with one of her wheezing/coughing fits and showed my vet and we decided to take some baseline xrays just to be sure. The xrays were anything but baseline. I scheduled her to have a transtracheal wash to evaluate the fluid that they swab from her trachea (they are looking for eosinophils, a sign of asthma) Once, the swab came back we did a few more blood tests one to check for heart worm and another to check for lung worm, both were negative. For Aggie, the vet prescribed a rescue inhaler, an everyday inhaler and a liquid bronchodilator (terbutaline) that I get from a compounding pharmacy in liquid form that is flavored like tuna. I don't like giving cats oral steroids like prednisone due to the risks of diabetes in long term use. The inhalers that we use for everyday is called Flovent HFA we use the 44mcg dose. The rescue inhaler is called Proair HFA (albuterol sulfate) 90 mcg. This has definitely helped us. I have been keeping a log of her attacks and when I use the rescue inhaler. I posted when this was first going on in a thread called kitty asthma, in it is a video of one of Aggie's attacks. The link attached to this thread is a tutorial on how to give a cat an inhaler.

Please don't hesitate to ask questions, I will be happy to share any info I can. Feline asthma is rare, roughly 4% of cats are diagnosed with it.

 

[kauna]

Here are some pictures of the inhalers and the aerocat chamber. The mask on it fits nicely over nose and mouth. I usually give a puff and count the flap move to 10 to make sure she got the medication. For the rescue inhaler I do the same but depending on her attack I sometimes give a second dose.

 

[Yoda mom]

@ChelseaKaupp hello! Hope all is well!
Please keep us updated when you get a chance

 

[ChelseaKaupp]

I'm sorry I have been away for a bit just saw that @Yoda mom tagged me in the thread. I am sorry that you are going through all of this with Umami. I think it is great that you have taken the videos to the vet. That was how my girl was diagnosed. I at first thought it was an upper respiratory infection but just happened to catch her with one of her wheezing/coughing fits and showed my vet and we decided to take some baseline xrays just to be sure. The xrays were anything but baseline. I scheduled her to have a transtracheal wash to evaluate the fluid that they swab from her trachea (they are looking for eosinophils, a sign of asthma) Once, the swab came back we did a few more blood tests one to check for heart worm and another to check for lung worm, both were negative. For Aggie, the vet prescribed a rescue inhaler, an everyday inhaler and a liquid bronchodilator (terbutaline) that I get from a compounding pharmacy in liquid form that is flavored like tuna. I don't like giving cats oral steroids like prednisone due to the risks of diabetes in long term use. The inhalers that we use for everyday is called Flovent HFA we use the 44mcg dose. The rescue inhaler is called Proair HFA (albuterol sulfate) 90 mcg. This has definitely helped us. I have been keeping a log of her attacks and when I use the rescue inhaler. I posted when this was first going on in a thread called kitty asthma, in it is a video of one of Aggie's attacks. The link attached to this thread is a tutorial on how to give a cat an inhaler.

Please don't hesitate to ask questions, I will be happy to share any info I can. Feline asthma is rare, roughly 4% of cats are diagnosed with it.

Hey! Thank you so much for the information on asthma!
I was wondering - did you see immediate improvements on the medication, or did it take some time? Umami was taking the oral prednisolone for a 1 month course and her symptoms worsened on the full dose but then got better when we moved onto the half dose.

 

[ChelseaKaupp]

@ChelseaKaupp hello! Hope all is well!
Please keep us updated when you get a chance

Hello It's been a bit crazy for us here - Aila has colic so we've had some marathon 11 hour crying fits. It's tough work!
Umami seems very well though - she finally finished her 1 month course of doxy, and a few days back we sorted out her water and food bowls to be elevated. We haven't heard any coughs as of yet and her spirits seem high now she's off the meds. We're going to monitor her for the next wee while before getting her an appointment at the new vet we want to try. Thanks for checking in!

 

[Yoda mom]

@ChelseaKaupp awhhh hope Aila feels better soon ((((hugs))))
You are busy ! Thanks for keeping us updated

Positve vibes !
All paws crossed for both Aila amd Umami !
Big hugs to you and yours!

 

[kauna]

Hey! Thank you so much for the information on asthma!
I was wondering - did you see immediate improvements on the medication, or did it take some time? Umami was taking the oral prednisolone for a 1 month course and her symptoms worsened on the full dose but then got better when we moved onto the half dose.

I think for Aggie it took some time. She wasn’t on prednisone for her asthma. We went straight to an inhaler twice a day and liquid terbutaline twice daily. To be honest she wasn’t severely asthmatic either that I could tell anyhow. For her it was an attack here and there. She has had upper respiratory infections often as a young cat, and I thought her asthma was just that another URI.
Since her diagnosis I’ve kept a log of her attacks and when the rescue inhaler was used to try and see if there was a pattern. So far last year she’s had an attack in Feb, April, July and Nov. and this year only 2 in April. We’ve had to stop her daily inhaler medication as we were doing allergy testing and injections and the inhaler would interfere with the treatment. (She has horrible allergies that were causing bad skin infections; it turns out that she’s allergic to a lot of weeds, trees, pollen and dust.) I don’t know if since the injections it has helped her immune system? She’s definitely a complicated girl my Aggie.

 

[Yoda mom]

@ChelseaKaupp hello che king in for updates ((hugs)

 

[Xtrosweet]

Hi team!

Some of you may be aware of our beautiful little girl, Umami, who has had health issues the whole 9 months we've had her.

She was previously on a 10 day course of doxycline to treat mycoplasma, and a cough which may or may not have been related. Unfortunately the cough persisted after treatment so they started her on prednisolone for asthma (lung xrays showed a small grey spot in one lung, but it was hard to tell if it was infection or asthma). The cough persisted, and even worsened on the steroid so we're currently weaning her off it as recommended by the vet, and now we're back to a full month course of doxycline, for a suspected secondary infection, which we'll start tomorrow.

My question, for those of you who have given this medicine, is how best to administer the pill form to a cat? Her last course was liquid and I just mixed with her food. I know the pill form is quite harsh and can damage their throat. Any tips? Crushing and mixing with food, or better to just give as is and follow with water/food/treats? Luckily, I'm an old hand with giving cat's meds, so no issue getting it in her, just wondering the best way to do it without hurting her!

Thanks so much everyone
View attachment 92016

Soooo Beautiful!!!

 

[SophiePixie]

Sorry to jump on this old thread! Just wanted to reach out to see how Umami was doing and if you managed to get rid of her cough? We’re going through a similar thing with our boy Albus and sounds like he’s had a similar journey to Umami. Diagnosed with asthma from an x ray due to a ‘donut’ on the scan but inhaler didn’t help at all. Tested positive for mycoplasma (after me begging to run a PCR after researching) and was on doxycycline. Whilst on doxycycline his cough disappears but then returns once he stops his course. Tried a steroid infection which had no affect on the cough which points to something other than asthma? We’re baffled and don’t know where to turn next!