novamay
Born Free
Just had a couple of stressful weeks with my kitty namesake Novamay.
She's 15 years old and when we came back from holiday a couple of weeks ago, we noticed just how thin she was - I think this had started a while ago but you know when you see someone every day you don't always notice...
We took her to the vets and he thought it was probably her kidneys - given her age! So he took some bloods and the results came back ok. He though it could be vit B12 deficincy, so we signed her up to monthly B12 shots. She had her first shot at her initial appointment and we took her home. She picked up a little, started eating bits of food, and so on, so we thought - great! that's solved it.
Later that week she started coughing and breathing funny - like she'd got a really big hairball and couldnt get it up... we sat with her and tried to calm her and after 10 mins it eased off and she was back to normal. She did it again yesterday morning and I thought she was dieing. she was chucking herself about and gasping for breath. I was in bits, thinking we were losing her. I phoned the vets and by the time I came off the phone she had recovered. So I made an appointment later that day. She had another fit in the car on the way to the vets, and they took her straight into the 'ER' and put her in the oxygen tent. I phoned back after a couple of hours and she was ready to come home. The vet thought it was initially her heart causing problems to her lungs but it wasn't - it was the other way round. She had an asthma attack. So she has to have fortnightly steriod injections to keep the asthma at bay and to stregthen the lungs. Must say that she does look better this morning than she has for some time. She's getting up on the window sils, and chatting to us now.
So if you have a cat and it looks like it has a really bad hairball that it can't get up, or starts with a cough, then it could be the same thing.
She's 15 years old and when we came back from holiday a couple of weeks ago, we noticed just how thin she was - I think this had started a while ago but you know when you see someone every day you don't always notice...
We took her to the vets and he thought it was probably her kidneys - given her age! So he took some bloods and the results came back ok. He though it could be vit B12 deficincy, so we signed her up to monthly B12 shots. She had her first shot at her initial appointment and we took her home. She picked up a little, started eating bits of food, and so on, so we thought - great! that's solved it.
Later that week she started coughing and breathing funny - like she'd got a really big hairball and couldnt get it up... we sat with her and tried to calm her and after 10 mins it eased off and she was back to normal. She did it again yesterday morning and I thought she was dieing. she was chucking herself about and gasping for breath. I was in bits, thinking we were losing her. I phoned the vets and by the time I came off the phone she had recovered. So I made an appointment later that day. She had another fit in the car on the way to the vets, and they took her straight into the 'ER' and put her in the oxygen tent. I phoned back after a couple of hours and she was ready to come home. The vet thought it was initially her heart causing problems to her lungs but it wasn't - it was the other way round. She had an asthma attack. So she has to have fortnightly steriod injections to keep the asthma at bay and to stregthen the lungs. Must say that she does look better this morning than she has for some time. She's getting up on the window sils, and chatting to us now.
So if you have a cat and it looks like it has a really bad hairball that it can't get up, or starts with a cough, then it could be the same thing.
