Thursday, November 3, 2016

Thankful Thursday

Hi everyone, we are joining Brian today in the Thankful Thursday blog hop.

Some of you on Facebook may remember me mentioning that I had some good news to share with you about Lita.  So, here it is!

Dare I say we have found a combination of medications that actually helps Lita's asthma significantly?!

If you are new here, Milita has struggled very much with severe asthma for the past several months.  In March, she began to have many asthma attacks.  Her x-rays revealed fluid in her chest, and her lungs looked so bad that our vet thought Lita might have heart failure.  I rushed her to a cardiologist, thanks to many donations for an emergency ultrasound of her heart.  Thankfully, she did NOT have heart failure, but her asthma continued to be a very serious issue.

In the past few months, we feared Lita may have contracted pneumonia.  She was having asthma attacks nearly everyday, and I was often scared to leave her home alone if I needed to run errands or go to my own doctor's appointments.

After trying Lita on Zithromax for a month with no improvement in her coughing, I suggested that we try Doxycycline for her because it seemed to help her coughing back in March when the cardiologist gave her a two-week supply.




After being on Doxycycline for three weeks, I noticed that Lita's coughing and asthma attacks were calming down.  She started having days where she did NOT have any asthma attacks!

Then THIS happened:
LITA DIDN'T HAVE AN ASTHMA ATTACK FOR NEARLY A WEEK!!!!!

I see this as nothing short of a minor miracle seeing as how poorly she was doing before.

So........the vet and I have talked, and we are going to try what the cardiologist said might help her back in March.  That is, to keep Lita on a chronic, low dose of Doxycycline for good.

She is on:
Prednisolone 2.5mg.
Doxycycline - a low dose, twice a day.
Flovent - 125 twice a day.

This seems to be working.  

So, if you have a chronically ill cat, don't give up!  It might take a lot of trial-and-error, like it did for us, but you may just find that one medication or combination of things that helps your kitty.

We are very thankful that this regimen seems to be helping Lita and hope it continues to do so.

By the way, Carmine and Lita both went to the vet yesterday.  I will have updates on both of them coming very soon.



17 comments:

  1. OMC, that is AWESOME news! You have worked so hard being Milita's advocate with the vets, and I'm SO happy that it is paying off.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh yea, that is great news. Poor Lita sure has been through a lot with those asthma problems. Hugs to Lita and Carmine from all of us and thanks for hopping along today!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So glad to hear that Lita feels better. It's terrible to see them suffering from this disease. Granny's doggie had asthma too, she got it after a cocktail-vaccination :( Healing Pawkisses for a wonderful day :) <3

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is wonderful! Absolutely WONDERFUL news, for sure. I'm so very, very happy Lita is feelin' better 'cause she must be feelin' better if she isn't havin' those attacks anymore. Purrs, Seville.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yay! We're thankful Lita is doing better with the breathing :) We hope her leg is next.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Catabulous news!!! Hope this positive news streak continues! catchatwithcarenandcody

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, it's all trial and error, which we've done with Chucky's intestinal issues. Great news that you've found a process that is working for Melita!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. We've been following her ups and downs on FB, so glad to read good news!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am happy to read this wonderful news. She is lucky that you keep trying and never give up. I hope her leg is doing better too.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That is very good news for Lita to be doing well. I hope she continues to do so.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Such good news abut Lita ! Purrayers for all of you 1

    ReplyDelete
  12. That's great that you found a working combo to help dear Lita.

    ReplyDelete
  13. We're so glad Lita is doing better! This is great news.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is simply meowvelous news! Lita we keep you in our purrs and prayers with our daily family purr circle. Rumpy's asthma has been bad this year but not as bad as yours. He is not having attacks but he has lots of mucus and we know it impacts his energy. He is happy and that is the most impawtent and we know you are loved and happy as is Carmine
    Purrs
    Timmy, Dad and Family

    ReplyDelete
  15. That is wonderful to hear about Lita!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Excellent news! We are so happy for Lita, and you! :)

    ReplyDelete