Hi, I hope you have read the FOLLOW-UP below this thread that I posted in reply to previous thread I posted in September concerning my cat - trying to determine the cause of the croupiness, wheezing, etc. I thought the answer was asthma, and it may still be, but there was fluid build-up in September and again yesterday, I took my cat to the vet and there was fluid build-up again.

I think there is a connection between the respiratory infection my cat got in September with the asthma symptoms and
the fluid build-up around the lungs.The first time he got fluid build-up it was after he caught a cold that lasted about 2 weeks.And the second time there was fluid build-up was also after a respiratory infection. My concern, and I've tried to explain this to the vet to no avail is that I think we might be using steroids to suppress the inflammation, croupiness, wheezing, etc, all the symptoms when, if the source of those symptoms was corrected the source may not be inflammation at all but infection.

I don't know if I'm reasoning this correctly, but from what I researched, a respiratory infection, if gone on long enough, can trigger asthma, and a lung infection, whether or not directly or indirectly the result of a respiratory infection,can be the result of microorganisms that, if not
killed by antibiotics, can create fluid build-up around the lungs.The other thing is, ever since he was a kitten, he was always a bit croupy, just in the chest, kind of a rumbling. It wasn't severe enough to require medication and if he caught a cold antibiotics got rid of it quickly....until in August he went out and slept on a window seat I had that's outside a bedroom window. I didn't realize it, but the cushion was wet from rain dripping in, and it was cool out, and after that he caught a bad cold, and after that these asthma symptoms started. I think that started a chest infection and possibly a lung infection which could have turned into asthma. I pointed this out to the vet ... again to no avail.

Would an analysis of the fluid show the presence of these microoganisms(if there are any) that could be causing the fluid build-up? What else does the analysis show? According to my vet, the analysis would be a waste of time but I don't think so.Each time the fluid was drained it was too late in the day, according to the vet, to have it sent to the lab in another city, so I need to know now what the analysis could show that would narrow down the causes of the fluid build-up.

In all other respects my cat is in good health/ He's currently on Flovent 250 mcg- 2 puffs twice a day, along with Prednisolone, 5mg on an as needed basis. Up until yesterday, he was doing very well on it. No croupiness at all, no wheezing. Good appetite. And even today,after the fluid was drained, everything is back to normal. If it was FIP or leukemia as the vet says(based solely on the fluid build-up) would Flovent be able to suppress all symptoms? What he is getting now is for asthma and there are no symptoms at all. The concern is the fluid build-up and I have to find an answer to that. I can't keep taking the vet's stop-gap measure of draining the fluid over and over without finding out what's causing it.

Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Thank you.

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