Chest problems include infections, pneumonia, heart disease, lung disease, tumors, and fluid around the lungs (pleural effusion). These conditions need to be treated by a veterinarian. If you think your cat has chest congestion, do not try home remedies; delaying your cat’s visit to the vet may only make her condition worse. Pneumonia is a serious lung infection. Toxins from bacteria and viruses cause inflammation in the lungs and may also cause discharge to collect in the lungs. When this occurs, the oxygen exchange in your cat’s lungs slows down, forcing your cat to work harder to breathe. Intense antibiotics are generally prescribed to treat pneumonia. If your cat is very sick, she may also need supportive care, such as intravenous fluids or an oxygen tent. A diseased heart is inefficient at pumping blood around the body. Shifts in blood pressure in the lungs allow fluid to leak out of the blood vessels and into lung tissue. Just like with pneumonia, this reduces the ability of the lungs to exchange oxygen, which may cause your cat to become breathless. If heart disease is to blame for your cat’s difficulty breathing, your veterinarian will try to determine the type of heart disease and prescribe the right medications. Cats often require oxygen therapy to help stabilize them before any type of medicine or other treatments can be administered. Lung diseases include conditions such as asthma, where the airways constrict and create resistance to air moving in and out of the lungs. This condition is similar to bronchitis, another lung disease, where the airways are very stiff, the walls become thickened and oxygen exchange is blocked. Asthma may affect allergen-sensitive cats breathing in allergens.   For asthma, many cats are prescribed corticosteroids, either by a depot inject or in oral tablet form. Steroids are powerful anti-inflammatory medications that work to reduce inflammation in your cat’s airways. However, salbutamol inhalers are also available for asthmatic cats – if the cat tolerates the face mask. Bronchitis is also treated either with steroids, or a bronchodilator, which is a drug that stimulates the stiff airways to open up. Lungworms are parasites that can interfere with your cat’s breathing and may go undetected for long periods of time. Severe lungworm infections can cause nasal discharge, coughing, weight loss, and pneumonia. Lungworms can be treated with anti-parasite drugs such as ivermectin or fenbendazole. Lung tumors or tumors in the chest that are compressing the lungs can decrease the amount of working lung tissue. When lung tissue availability is decreased, your cat may become breathless or develop labored breathing. Tumors take up space in the chest and compress the lungs or major blood vessels. Solitary tumors may be surgically removed, but on the whole the outlook for a cat with lung tumors is poor. Talk to your vet about options. Pleural effusion is the gathering of fluids around the lungs. This can happen if your cat has kidney disease, an infection, or if your cat has a tumor in her chest that is leaking fluid.   This fluid can put pressure on your cat’s lungs, which in turn cause them to collapse. Because of this, they cannot expand fully, making your cat feel short of breath. If your cat is having great difficulty breathing, the veterinarian may drain the fluid off using a special thoracic needle. Removing the fluid allows the lungs to re-inflate and gives temporary relief. However, the fluid will return unless the underlying problem is treated.
اذهب بقطتك للطبيب البيطري للتشخيص والعلاج. يجب أن تعلم أن صعوبات التنفس قد يكون سببها الالتهاب الرئوي. كُن على دراية بأن أمراض القلب تعد من الأسباب المحتملة. كُن على علم بأن أمراض الرئة من الممكن أن تكون السبب في صعوبة التنفس. حدد إذا ما كانت ديدان الرئة هي المتسببة في مشاكل التنفس لدى قطتك. كُن على دراية بأن الأورام ربما تؤدي إلى صعوبات في التنفس. يجب أن تعرف أن الانصباب الرئوي الجانبي من الممكن أن يسبب صُعوبات في التنفس.