How I Give My Cat Asthma Inhaler Treatments
Key takeaways:
Raven Moore Amerman’s 12-year-old cat, Salty, was diagnosed with asthma in 2023.
Raven now gives Salty an asthma inhaler treatment twice a day.
The inhaler typically costs more than $300, but a GoodRx coupon helped Raven save money.
Ten years ago, Raven Moore Amerman adopted a sweet, shy cat named Salty.
At the time, Raven was working at a veterinary clinic and volunteering at the clinic’s animal shelter. One day, Salty, a black cat with white markings, showed up. He was 2 years old and had been living for months as a stray.
“I saw him over several days and fell in love with him,” Raven recalls. “I put him on hold and brought my husband down to meet him. He was such a lover. He would just crawl into your lap and snuggle.”
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Fast-forward a decade and Salty is now 12 years old thanks to Raven and her husband taking good care of him — in sickness and in health.
“Hubby and I don’t have kids, so our pets are the love of our lives,” says Raven, who’s now 59 and lives in Boulder, Colorado.
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In fall 2023, Salty started making a certain strange sound more and more frequently. Raven reasoned he was shaken up over losing his brother cat. But then Salty’s health took a turn.
The sound he was making suggested he might be about to vomit, but often nothing would come out, Raven says. She took him to the vet for X-rays. And it turned out that he was having trouble breathing because he had asthma.
The news surprised Raven.
“I knew cats got asthma, but even in my years of veterinary medicine, I’ve never really dealt much with asthmatic cats,” she says. “When I got the diagnosis, my first thought was, ‘Oh, my God, how the hell am I going to give an inhaler to a cat?’”
Salty’s veterinarian prescribed him fluticasone, an inhaler that’s used to treat asthma. To help administer it, Raven bought an AeroKat feline aerosol chamber. To use the device, you pump the medication into the chamber and then attach a small mask to the cat’s face. It makes inhaled medications easier for cats to take and owners to administer.
If Raven simply puffed the inhaler in front of Salty’s mouth, he would probably bounce away and not inhale much of the medication. The AeroKat makes sure he receives his full dose.
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Pricey medications — and a GoodRx coupon
When Salty was diagnosed with asthma, Raven knew she would do whatever it took to care for him. But she was stunned by the cost of his treatment. A single inhaler costs more than $300 out-of-pocket, and Salty needs a new one every month and a half.
That’s a lot of money for anyone, says Raven, who now works as an administrative assistant at a local health system and describes herself as “low income.”
To help with the cost of Salty’s medication, one of Raven’s colleagues suggested she check GoodRx for a coupon. It turned out that there was one for fluticasone that would save Raven more than $200 on the inhaler. After printing out the coupon, she showed it to the pharmacy at the hospital where she works.
“I was, like, ‘OK, I’m just gonna see if they’ll let me use it,’” she recalls. “And sure enough, they’re, like, ‘Oh, yeah, no problem. We'll take it.’”
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Raven now spends about $140 per inhaler and says the coupons make treating Salty’s asthma manageable.
“I was amazed, and I was so excited,” Raven says. “That is so much money.”
Motivating her cat with treats
Raven eased into introducing Salty to his inhaler, which she administers twice a day, 12 hours apart. She watched online videos to learn exactly how to administer the medication. And she let the AeroKat sit around the house for a few days so Salty could see it and get used to it.
“Then, you start holding it up in front of them and give them a treat,” Raven says of introducing the AeroKat slowly. “Salty is very food-motivated.”
After that, Raven moved on to holding the AeroKat in front of Salty’s mouth for 2 seconds, which she followed with a treat. Over the next few weeks, she held it up to his mouth for longer and longer periods of time. These days, Raven puffs the inhaler and holds the mask in front of Salty’s face for 20 seconds.
“I want to make sure he gets all the medication,” she says, adding that Salty is now used to it and doesn’t whine or try to run away.
When it’s time for his inhaler, Raven holds Salty next to her. She sits with her back against the arm of the couch and positions him so that he can’t back up.
“I’ve got my left arm around him loosely,” she says. “Then, I’ve got the chamber in my right hand, and I’m rubbing his chin and scratching his ears to distract him while I’m counting 20 seconds.”
Immediately after she removes the device, she offers Salty a pile of treats. “He’s dealing with it really well,” she says. “He is such a patient, mellow guy.”
Salty still makes his asthma noise occasionally, especially when the weather changes. But overall, Raven says, he’s doing well.
She urges anyone who has a cat that’s been newly diagnosed with asthma to take a few deep breaths and realize it’s a manageable condition.
“When you get the news, it might feel kind of overwhelming. You might be, like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t do this,’” she says. “But there are so many resources out there to help. Reach out to your vet and ask for more instruction. Or maybe your vet can recommend a place to find videos.”
Raven also says it’s important to understand that it will take time for your pet to adjust to their new medication and rushing the process will only stress them out more. She recommends easing into it and allowing them to get used to the inhaler instead.
“That’s better for your relationship with your pet,” Raven says. “If you force them to do stuff, your pet’s going to start to avoid you, and that’s no fun for anybody. Go slow, get them used to it, and it’ll work out. It may take a little longer than you’d like, but you’ll get there.”
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