Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Lower airway disease in cats from Greece - symptoms and study
By Adamama-Moraitou, K K et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2004·Department of Clinical Studies·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Feline lower airway disease: a retrospective study of 22 naturally occurring cases from Greece.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 22 cats with breathing problems, mostly Siamese, were studied to understand their lower airway disease. The most common symptom was coughing, but some severely affected cats didn’t cough at all. While many showed changes on X-rays, about a quarter had normal results. Treatment with short-term corticosteroids and bronchodilators helped nine cats fully recover, while others needed ongoing medication due to relapses. Unfortunately, one cat died during a severe asthma attack.
People also search for: cat coughing treatment · Siamese cat breathing problems · feline asthma medication · cat lower airway disease symptoms
Abstract
In this retrospective study of 22 cats with lower airway disease of either intermittent (23%) or persistent nature (77%), the Siamese breed (55%) was significantly over-represented. Females (68%) were slightly but not significantly over-represented. No significant association was found between the clinical stage of disease and the physical findings, thoracic radiographic changes or the response to treatment. Cough, the most common presenting complaint, was the only symptom detected in the cats with intermittent disease, yet the two most severely affected animals did not show it. Thoracic auscultation did not reveal any abnormality in 41% of the cats. Haematology revealed eosinophilia in 46% of the cats. A bronchial pattern was the most common radiographic abnormality (73%), followed by alveolar (32%) and interstitial patterns (23%). Interestingly, thoracic radiographs were normal in 23% of the cats. The combination of short-term corticosteroids and bronchodilators resulted in complete and long-term remission of symptoms in nine cats, while the other 11 required ongoing medication because of relatively frequent relapses. One of the remaining two cats died during an asthmatic crisis, while the other was lost to follow up.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15265478/