- Eliminate or minimize exposure to cigarette smoke and other types of smoke (e.g., burning candles, wood-burning stoves)
- Use dustless cat litter
- Minimize exposure to aerosols/sprays and powders
- Regularly replace air filters at home and consider use of HEPA filters
Just a Hairball? Or a Sign of Something Worse?
By Kelley Weir
Your cat’s dry, hacking cough could mean a hairball—but it could also be a sign of allergic asthma. The condition affects 1 to 5 percent of pet cats, and knowing the signs and treatment options could give your cat a chance to breathe more easily.
Human sufferers of allergy-induced asthma know exactly what an asthma attack feels like and can recognize the symptoms in themselves. Most cat owners, however, probably don’t even realize that their cat is susceptible to allergies or asthma and do not know the symptoms—after all, cats are known for causing allergies not suffering from them.
There is currently no cure for feline allergic asthma, and treatment often involves high doses of steroids given for the remainder of a cat’s life. Steroids, although effective in controlling symptoms, do not treat the underlying issue.
In a series of asthma studies funded by Morris Animal Foundation, Dr. Carol Norris Reinero and her team at the University of Missouri made several promising discoveries that could help owners manage their cat’s asthma without lifelong corticosteroid therapy. One therapy with potential is allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT). ASIT uses allergy shots to deliver small, controlled doses of allergens, allowing the animal to gradually build a tolerance to the allergen over time so that it no longer has an allergic reaction.
Unlike steroids, which act as a Band-Aid to decrease inflammation of the airways long after inflammation has been triggered, ASIT has the potential to cure asthma by altering how the immune system interacts with and reacts to an allergen. In other words, when exposed to an allergen the immune system will no longer perceive it as a threat and will not mount a strong and damaging immune reaction against it.
“Our goal with our first series of studies was to improve the safety and efficacy of ASIT,” Dr. Reinero says. “We initially compared two different routes of allergen administration—topical delivery as nasal drops versus injections under the skin—and found that both were viable treatment options. The injections had a slight advantage in better controlling clinical signs.”
The team then looked to improve allergy-shot treatment. The next studies helped answer the questions of whether it was critical to select the exact allergens to which a cat was sensitized for ASIT or if there was any beneficial cross-protection if an unrelated allergen was used.
“We found that while unrelated allergens could decrease airway inflammation, only the closely related allergens appeared to re-train the immune system to not mount a harmful immune response against the allergen,” Dr. Reinero says.
These findings indicate that it is ideal to identify the exact allergens triggering asthma to ensure the best treatment. However, to control serious asthma signs and attacks, most cats would need to continue steroid treatment while they are being tested for specific allergens. Because steroids suppress the immune system, however, it is important to understand whether they affect testing for allergens or affect ASIT effectiveness when given concurrently with allergy shots.
Recently, Dr. Reinero and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Chee-Hoon Chang, from the University of Missouri, used Foundation funding to find the answers. They have documented that administration of steroids interferes with accurate identification of allergens using skin testing but not blood testing. They are now finishing a clinical trial to determine if concurrent ASIT and corticosteroid therapy alters ASIT efficacy.
The initial findings of these studies are promising and support the concept that ASIT reduces airway inflammation in cats with induced asthma and could one day be used to cure this disease. Much work remains to be done before these techniques can be implemented in veterinary clinics, but the data offer hope for treating cats with allergic asthma.
Caring for Cats with Asthma
It is important that cats with asthma are seen regularly by veterinarians so that they can be placed on appropriate medications. If specific allergy testing is performed, this can help guide strategies to reduce exposure to allergens (e.g., cats allergic to house dust mites should have their bedding washed in hot water weekly and special hypoallergenic pillowcases can be used). Minimizing irritants in the air is always helpful to a cat with asthma, so here are a few suggestions to help your cat breathe more easily.
Posted by MAFon September 29, 2011.
Categories: Asthma , Cat health
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