breathing problems

Question
Hello. My ll year old Siamese is having severe breathing problems. She has wheezing attacks more than 15 times a day. There are no other symptoms. We have been working with a feline specialist and have tested her for everything under the sun.  All signs point to asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) but she is not responding to any meds (steroids and bronchio-dilators). She started wheezing two months ago and has gotten progressively worse.
I read that Siamese are more likely to develop asthma.
I was wondering if you have seen this happen, and if so, did the asthmatic symptoms progress very quickly? How were they treated and was it with any success?

Answer
Hi Alyssa.  I have one cat who has acute asthma attacks, but she responds to prednisone and theophylline, fortunately.  If other causes of severe breathing problems, such as congestive heart failure and tumors in the chest and abdominal area have been ruled out, something you may want to talk to your vet about is the use of cyclosporine.  This is an immunosuppressant originally used as an anti-rejection drug in organ transplant patients.  It has been successful in managing a lot of asthma symptoms in patients who don't respond to other treatments.  The down side is that it is quite expensive compared to other treatments.  If you go to www.petmeds.com and search for Atopica, it will give you an idea of the general price range of the medication (it varies by weight).

It may be also be worth trying an inhaled steroid.  AeroKat makes an aerosol inhaler so cats can get relief from asthma the way most humans do.  See www.aerokat.com

Hope you're able to find something that works for her soon!