My beautiful Persian!

[AllShookUp]

 

[lau200]

welcome to the forum

[Tiggy's Mum]

No need to give me anything for it and it's very light so am happy to send it to you, no need to cover p&p. What I do ask is that you give Nissa a tummy rub on my behalf 

If you PM me the addresss you want it sent to I'll pop it in the post in the next day or so.

P.S It's worth editing your last post to remove your email address, us Purrs peeps are OK but you get bot-spammers which trawl the web for email addresses to spam!

[lucyparker]

 I am simply overwhelmed with all the responses on this forum ... cat lovers of the world united! It is a great comfort to know there are so many caring cat people out there ... but could cat people be anything other than caring!?
First of all JaneyK, I've passed on your cuddles, thank you, and will look up the sites you suggest.
And to Bunglycat and Smartie ... glad the tablets are working for you. We are doing well on them too, but I think maybe in Nissa's case an inhaler is the way forward, from what I've read online. Scared of side-effects from the tablets in the long term, but good to know you haven't had any!
Tan, I can only say that Nissa has been on steroid tablets for a week now, and seems to be fine on them, although she has a markedly increased appetite and is eating us out of house and home! Only danger I can see so far is that she will become obese, which, coupled with her long fur, will make her the biggest cat in the UK perhaps!!!
Last, but not least ... Helen, Tiggy's mum ... your idea re: the human inhaler sounds magic! I am sure I could adapt it ... have been gathering bits and pieces to try and make one thanks to Angie's instructions, but the right size plastic bits are not easy to find. Your unwanted human inhaler would be a boon I think as a starting point, and I could make it work, and it would be more robust and long-lasting than a home-made device I think. I am more than happy to pay you anything you think appropriate for it, as long as it doesn't approach the £60 required for an Aerokat inhaler, which would take my entire jobseekers allowance for the week, aka our food budget! I'm happy to pay you postage and a bit extra via paypal or into your bank account, postal order, whatever. Your kindness is a credit to cat-lovers everywhere!

Once again, thanks to you all ... cats rule! I am hoping I come back to this earth as a cat with a loving owner like one of yourselves one day!
Nissa sends purrs and lots of fluffy rubbings to you all!
- Lucille.

[Tiggy's Mum]

  to Purrs Lucy

Nissa is gorgeous  Sorry to hear about her asthma, hope you can get it well managed 

Would a human spacer to adapt be of any use to you? It has the rubberised seal tight end to insert the inhaler and a chamber so all you would need to do is adapt the end where the cat breathes in perhaps with the yoghurt pot thingy or a lid from a babies bottle as they are cat nose shaped! Edit: It seems you can buy the face masks separately for £9.95 from here http://www.breatheazy.co.uk/cats.htm Not sure how well they would fit to a human chamber but I'm sure you could do some blue peter style adaptions!

The end where the human breathes in is slighty pressurised, by that I mean you have to suck in very slightly so maybe too much force required for a cat but you should easily be able to poke that plastic bit out with a sharp knife, in fact havinga feel it's quite hard plastic but a hand drill would do the trick quickly and easily I expect - see pic two, it's the circular bit.

If you think it would be any good I have more than one (for when my asthma is so bad I can't physically breathe in from a normal inhaler!) so would be happy to send one to you. It's in perfect working order/excellent condition as hardly used, the only flaw is that the lid has a few teeth marks from where my cat Riley tried to eat it 

Just phone pics but you get the idea...

 

[Tan]

Hi Lucy & Nissa
 

Nissa is so gorgeous    Sorry about her asthma hun. 

How is she otherwise? Does she cope quite well?

[bunglycat]

  to Purrs Nissa and Lucy.
Sorry to hear about your asthma - one of mine also has asthma (Smartie) .
He has had it for a few years now , never had to have oxygen mask though -he is on Prednisolne(sp) steroid tablets and he is fine on them , if he is a little more wheezy , i just give him an extra tablet for a few days and he is ok again.

[Janeyk]

Hi  to Purrs  Nissa and Lucy 

Lucy, Nissa is beautiful, sorry to hear that she's suffering asthma, I hope that you manage to sort something out for her.  Give her lots of cuddles from me 

PS if you want any advice you can ask in our Health and Behaviour section and there are child boards which may some useful info for you 

[lucyparker]

You're a star Angie ... thanks, got Jill's address. Will get this going asap and let you know how it goes ... gotta get the medicine first though, which the vet has offered to prescribe. 

[Angiew]

its not membrane, just tape round the two pots to keep them together. I'll pm you her address.

[lucyparker]

Angie! That is fantastic ... I thank you so much! Could you put me in touch with Jill, who made the mask, so I can ask some questions? Fine if you don't want to ... I will try it anyway, though I am a little bit confused about the "membrane" of white plastic between the two pots ... is there anywhere online that describes how to make this in detail? If not, there should be! Very grateful for your help.
Purr, purr ...
Lucy and Nissa. 

[Angiew]

jills inhaler for cat

the little bit of tubing between the chamber and mask is a clear lipstick tube I am told.

[Angiew]

Basically all you need is a plastic cone for a face mask, a chamber for the gas to be pumped into and a way of squirting it into the chamber - nothing fancy.
Oh and lots of tape to make it airtight (micropourous?)   

You can try with yoghurt pots or some of those post pots that come prefilled with yummy puddings from supermarkets. Two pots stuck together can make the chamber. It just needs to be plastic that can be cut pretty well as some is too brittle and will break.

Maybe a baby feeding bottle or a small pop bottle with the end cut off.
You'll have to see what you have to hand in the house.

I did have a photo of one that Jill made somewhere, I'll have a look.

You can also pick then up on ebay from time to time....

[lucyparker]

Thanks Angie,
I was wondering if there was a way to make a home-made inhaler ... did you make one? If so how did you do it. It has to be able to deliver puffs from a "human
" asthma puffer (Lucy and I are told Flovent is a good medicine).
Sorry to hear you lost your pepsi .. purrs!

[Angiew]

Hi, you can try a home made inhaler to see how you get on with it. It won't look very good but you can make something using a plastic bottle.

My pepsi (RIP) was not diagnosed with Asthma but on steroids for her breathing along with half a capsule of corvental-D which is a dog medicine for heart congestion/bronchodilator to aid breathing. I think she was on then for a couple of years before she died and then it was of old age - not breathing related.

[lucyparker]

  Hi! I am Nissa, a beautiful Persian who owns Lucy, my human, in Frome, Somerset, UK. I've been ill lately, causing myself and my human some distress, so I thought I'd join this forum to find out if anyone has advice on how to deal with feline asthma, which is what my doctor says I have!
It came on suddenly, with no apparent cause except some unidentified allergy. I started coughing and gasping for breath, so my human took me to the doctor and I had a couple of horrid nights in hospital, being poked, prodded and x-rayed. It wasn't too bad though cos they gave me injections and an oxygen mask so I could breathe again. Now I have to take a steroid tablet every day, and I've heard my human talking about possible side-effects. That's a bit scary, but I know I need to swallow those tablets to keep breathing, even though I make a bit of a fuss about taking them and try to spit them out.
Lucy has been out of work for awhile, and is struggling to pay my vet's bill which is on account. I know she loves me enough to do anything for me ... she says she'll sell her car to pay for it, but seeing as its an old heap I doubt it will fetch much! She wants to get me an inhaler which she read about on the internet, and which the vet says would be good (better than keeping me on steroids), but they cost £60 which she can't afford. So if you know where she can get one cheaper, let us know. Its a thing called an Aerokat.
Any advice anycat has about how to cope with asthma ... both for me and my human ... would be gratefully received. I want to be around to give Lucy my company and lots of purrs for many years to come. I spent the first three years of my life with another human, who wanted me to have lots of cute babies, and I produced four litters for her. Then she gave me away to Lucy, rightly guessing I was a bit worn out with all the babies, and I'm now spayed and have been living happily with Lucy for two years as a spoiled only cat.
Hope you have some good advice for us!
Meeeeaaaooow!
Nissa X