Why is my senior diabetic cat wheezing after using catnip spray?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! The most common cause for what you are describing is feline asthma. It is most prevalent in Siamese cats. Being overweight can exacerbate asthma. Other causes of asthma are parasites (specifically lung worm) and feline heart worm disease. The treatment of feline asthma is steroids, bronchodilators and antibiotics if an infection is suspected. They actually make inhalers for cats! I recommend an exam with your Vet for chest X-rays, blood work, fecal and feline heart worm test. I hope this helps and I wish Sluggo the best!

Coughing and wheezing in a younger cat most commonly occurs as a result of asthma, but could also be related to underlying allergies, masses in the chest, or heart disease (although cats with heart disease do not commonly cough). At this point, I do recommend taking your cat back to the vet for another exam and chest x-rays to try to help differentiate (this is not always completely conclusive) between these causes. I hope this helps!

She could definitely start having asthma at her age. I would recommend having a vet listen to her heart and lungs, and take a chest x-ray. They can send the x-rays to a be read by a radiologist if you'd like a second opinion. The treatment for asthma is usually steroids and inhaled broncodilators. You would need a prescription for those things. So unfortunately, there isn't much you can do totally alone, but it does sound like she needs some help.

Poor Spice! These breathing problems could be caused by heart disease, respiratory disease, or cancer among others. This is quite a serious symptom in senior cats, as there are a number of severe diseases that can cause this, and I would have Spice seen today for a physical exam, a geriatric blood panel, urinalysis, and x-rays. Once the cause of her breathing difficulties are found, the vet can discuss treatment options.

He could have multiple things going on here. Itching is a sign of allergies, so I would first check for fleas (they leave behind tint black pepper looking specks on the skin). The purple bumps may be an inflammatory reaction or actual masses, so have these tested through your vet. The wheezing is the most concerning symptom that he has, as this can be early signs of asthma, bronchitis, a mass (an enlarged thyroid) pressing on his airway, or an upper respiratory infection. I would encourage you to schedule an earlier appt for Tobby to address the wheezing as soon as possible. Cats with airway issues are consider unstable and should seek medical attention right away because the lungs are their stress organ, so that means that if they are not feeling well then the lungs can get worse very quickly. I hope that your pet Tobby feels better soon. Best of luck at the vet.

The weight gain is somewhat of a vague sign, but I am worried when I hear of a cat "wheezing", as it suggests feline asthma, which is a fairly common malady and often presents itself as you are describing. I would consider this to be a fairly urgent matter and would get her into the vet for a thorough physical exam and chest x-rays as soon as possible; asthma can cause serious breathing compromise if not diagnosed and treated.

I would take Jerry to your veterinarian as soon as you can. I'm concerned that his breathing may not be related to the diabetes or cat litter, but could be something wrong with his heart or lungs. It is not normal for cats at rest to breathe more than 40 times per minute. If that is the case then he needs to be evaluated.