Catching a Breath

I don't know how parents do it when one of their children is sick.  The worry and sadness I have felt for Valentino these past few days has been horrible.  It started a few months ago when he developed a cough which was very painful to watch, and I'm sure very uncomfortable to experience.  So we went to the vet and he was diagnosed as having "allergy induced asthma".  I declined steroid injections for him, choosing instead to remove what I thought was the cause of his allergies (new litter).  For a while, his coughing improved, but did not cease completely.

These past few weeks, his coughing has become more frequent and more and more worrisome:

So back to the vet we went.  Chest X-rays and blood work revealed that my poor Tino has feline asthma.  We returned home with at prescription for Predisone, but after doing a lot of research online, I decided I did not want to subject him to a medication with several adverse side effects (hair loss, aggression, increase risk for diabetes, etc).  However, I came upon a relatively recent treatment for asthmatic cats.  An inhaler called the AeroKat.

It has a little mask to fit over the cat's face so they breath in the inhaler medicine.  Seems a little silly for some of you, I'm sure, but I'm willing to do whatever is best for my buddy.  The inhaler has less side effects, and goes directly to the source of the problem rather than a pill that travels throughout his system.  So I ordered one of these contraptions, along with some inhalers (a daily flovent and a rescue albuteral).  Its taking a while to arrive so until then, I'm doing some more research and ridding my home of potential allergens.  In doing this, I have found so many good websites dedicated to asthmatic cats and have watched numerous YouTube videos of cats receiving their medication via AeroKat.  It has helped ease my worries, some, to see the ease of its use. 

Once his medicine arrives, both Tino and I can breathe a little easier.