Narrowed Trachea

[Patti]

Waiting impatiently for those updates!

 

[John Popp]

OK, Dino is home and playing which is fabulous! Unfortunately, I'm going to give him the rest of the week off from his brother.

Today Dino was scoped, but there was no evidence of anything stuck in his trachea or esophagus. The trachea collapse also did not appear as bad on subsequent X-rays, it is of secondary concern and likely a direct result of the yet to be determined primary issue. The vet suggested the most likely cause is Feline Asthma, although they ran a battery of tests in which we will have the results back in a few days.

While we still don't know exactly that's wrong, the primary problem is airway inflammation. Dino will be on a steroid medication to resolve inflammation. He also has a kitty inhaler that is pretty easy to use for acute incidents and we will make some longer term plans when we have the test results in.

There's certainly a lot more details, and I'm happy to fill in any of the blanks as I can.

 

[WitchyWoman]

Thanks for the update John. Still keeping all digits crossed that this is not a chronic condition.

 

[John Popp]

With what we are armed with now, I feel a lot more capable of dealing with it. At onset, after the initial episode subsided, Trish went to work and they had whole house privileges. She gets home, Dino is hiding and honking after I'm sure Dooley wore him out. My guess is had they been separated at onset, we probably wouldn't have had such an acute episode.

 

[admin]

I'm glad they scoped him and you have a more definitive idea of what is wrong. It is allergy season in many places, so I'm thinking that may be the issue or something irritated his airway..

Paige
Owner, Savannah Cat Chat
Agato Savannahs
TICA Legislative Committee
SV Breed Section Committee
SV Rescue Coordinator

 

[John Popp]

I'm glad they scoped him and you have a more definitive idea of what is wrong. It is allergy season in many places, so I'm thinking that may be the issue or something irritated his airway..

I'm just happy that I had a really thorough specialist looking at things and didn't preclude anything despite what she believes the likely culprit to be. Then to distill it down to something simple, addressing the airway inflammation makes the treatment seem pretty easy despite not being sure on the source. Without the scope, it's all just conjecture as to what you are treating although my regular vet was marching down the right path.

Oh, and the best part of our discussions were the raw diet and her being coy. She asked me about how I grind it, what organs I add and any other supplements. She then asked me if I used any other supplements, and when I told her I used Mazuri she said she uses it too. Really? I didn't know I was being tested.

Anyway, just happy to have my sweet sweet boy home, feeling a bit better and with a path to wellness.

 

[admin]

She asked me about how I grind it, what organs I add and any other supplements

John, I would grind the rabbit much finer, since Dino is having inflammatory issues...

 

[John Popp]

John, I would grind the rabbit much finer, since Dino is having inflammatory issues...

For sure! I've already made the decision to start going boneless on the rabbit and using Mazuri for Slab Meat. I'll still add some organs and then figure out how much or what I want to grind at all. Also, Dino plucks out bone shards that are bigger than a 1/4" and I've also cut myself a few time on rabbit bones which isn't an issue I've had with any other meat.

 

[admin]

I grind my own rabbit and have never had that happen, but I use a small plate

Paige

 

[DumaLove]

When we first started grinding rabbit we used the same medium plate we had been using for chicken. We ended up with some pretty big bone pieces but our cats just left them. The next time we used the fine plate and it worked MUCH better.