Cat Owners - Advice Needed

[SheRa]

meet Jinx (in an old but favorite picture!):
http://ashleyhenderson.com/images/lj/jinx/jinx_bubble1.jpg
she's a very happy 3yo kitty. she has a problem though - she hacks ALL THE TIME! it's like she has a bad hairball that just won't come out. it's been going on for a few months now.

we've tried petromalt. it's supposed to help them digest the hairball, but she hasn't stopped. some days are worse than others, but it just sounds so darn painful! i'm sure it doesn't help that she cleans herself ALL DAY!! we try to brush her a lot (we could do it more), but she just can't get enough grooming :)

so my question is, has anyone had any other effective methods of hairball control? or even just keeping her from trying to cough one up? or forcing it out? i really don't want to have to take her to a vet if there's something i can do at home to help her, but i also don't want to see her in pain.

TIA! jinx will love you forever if you can help us out :cool:

[luv2cook]

let me tell you this. My cat, Kirby, hacked for months. I thought it was hairballs, too. Then I went to get his teeth cleaned and the vet called me and said he couldn't breath when they put him down on his side - he had asthma!

Asthma sounds like hacking. I suggest you take him to the vet and let them do a chest x-ray. If he has asthma, they will see it. It's very treatable if that's what it is -- depending on how bad it is. My cat get's 5 mg of prednisone every day and an albuterol inhaler. I

If it IS asthma, ask your vet for a pill popper so you dn't have to choke your cat every day giving him a pill. The medication is cheap - you can get it at your pharmacy rather than paying the vet's price. The albuterol is $22 and it lasts for several months.

If your vet doesn't have a pill popper, call Pets Mart and see if they have one; if not, I'll get one from my vet and send it to you. those things are fantastic! Trust me I know. At one time my house was a kitty pharmacy!

[jeanrw]

My cat's experience was very much like luv2cook's Kirby's. My cat was hacking too and it was asthma! Asthma does sound just like hacking.

I would go to the vet pronto. Asthma can be easily and successfully treated. But untreated asthma can be serious. Good luck! Your kitty is beautiful! Hope she feels much better soon!

[tmsl]

My cat used to throw up a lot. We thought she was trying to get a hairball up and it turned out to be inflammatory bowel disease. She has to get a cortisone shot every 4-6 weeks to keep her from doing this. Definitely get your cat to a vet to be checked out.

Laura

[mcgeiger]

IMHO-vet visit needed. Many many things could cause this, and hairballs aren't likely to cause this chronic of a problem. Most likely expect radiographs and possibly blood work depending on what the vet sees on a physical exam...
good luck and if you have other questions, just ask!

[KristiB]

My cat get's 5 mg of prednisone every day and an albuterol inhaler.



How do you get a cat to use an inhaler?

I use albuterol on occasion and I have to hold my breath after inhaling.

I'm trying to visualize my cat doing the same :p

[KAnn]

What a sweetheart! Looks so much like my little 1 yr old Florence!

I would just definitely get to the vet...with all my cats I have never had a hairball problem or anything like what you are describing. Let us know!

[mbrogier]

I have a cat with Asthma, and your description sounds exactly like what he had. I didn't notice any hairball hacking at first. My first clue was a full blown asthma attack. :eek: I rushed him to the vet. They did x-rays and listened to his chest. He was given prednizone and a decongestant. At the time, we were in an apartment with very linty, cheap carpet, and I also had a parrot. I had to get rid of the parrot because when she matured, she was very aggressive. When we moved to a house with wood floors, Macavity no longer had symptoms. Not having the parrot seemed to help as well. He never hacks or has attacks. He did get to where he would lie on his back on the bed for his medicine and not fight me when he had to take it.

My female cat, Gris, does have hairballs. Her fur is very short, but it is dense and feels like rabbit fur. We actually call her Rabbit. I groom her a lot to get rid of the extra fur. She also has hairball formula food, and I give her Parmalt from time to time. She only hacks up a hairball about one a month or so, though. If she was doing it even a few times a week, I'd take her to the vet.

I'd get into the vet ASAP. Also if Jinx starts hacking, pick him up and hold him like you would if you were burping a baby. I did that to Macavity the few times he had an attack. It really helped him breathe. If I put my ear up to his chest, I could hear the wheezing in his lungs. (when the vet diagnosed him, she let me hear his lungs with the stethescope)

[luv2cook]

How do you get a cat to use an inhaler?

It's an infant inhaler. You just shake the Albuterol and put the plastic part over his nose and puff - then wait for 10 seconds -- unless he holds his breath. if he's not breathing, I hold it a bit longer.

My vet prefers me to use the inhaler more than the pred - doesn't want hmi to have more than 5 mg a day. sometimes they start you on 10 mg to calm the asthma down and then go to 5. Every situation, of course, is different.

Did your cat have URI when she was a kitten? Just curious. My vet said that somes cats who have had URI as kittens develop asthma. Kirby had URI

[mcgeiger]

There are also specially designed masks to use with animals for inhalers ;)

[stacy7272]

I had a dog that hacked for some time. At first we thought he was choking on something but after he kept doing it for days we took him to the vet and it turned out he had fluid on his heart. He was old though.

Good luck - I hope you can find the problem and that everything turns out well.

[SheRa]

thanks SO much for your help! you guys are the best!! we're going to talk to a friend this week who had gone to a REALLY bad vet in town before, and has a good one now. i want to make sure we take her somewhere good. we'll have to check their hours to see if it can be done after work, or if it will have to wait until the weekend.

i'll keep you all posted. thanks again, i'm really hopeful now that she'll be feeling better soon :)

[SheRa]

you guys are the best! we took her to the vet today, and she does indeed have asthma. she got a shot that should kick in sometime in the next 24 hours, and we're supposed to call back mid-week to let the doctor know if she's responded well to it.

[luv2cook]

that's great. Glad to know we could all help!

did they take an x-ray of her lungs?

[tamawrite]

Doncha love this board? Thanks for being a good cat-mommy and taking her to the vet. :)

[SheRa]

yes, they did a series of x-rays. the computer broke down while they were doing it, so she got a lot of quality time with the doctor :)

the best part is that we haven't heard her cough ONCE since her visit last week. we weren't home a LOT because my parents were visiting and we were showing them around NYC, but we've been home enough to have heard something.

so far, so good!!