If you have the holiday card list, you have my address. If you're
absolutely sure you don't need the mask, and it isn't too expensive to
send, I'd love to try it out. I suspect very much that Nikki won't
accept it. She is *not* a laidback kind of cat. ;o)

I know it's hard to medicate our furkids -- especially when they are
brave about it. Chatterley (RB) would ask me if I was feeling lucky when
it was time to squirt ointment into her eyes. Mr. Clark, however, is far
more brave, both for eye and ear ointment. He rather quickly recognized
the tube, and would watch me pick it up, not move when I positioned the
nozzle in his ear, and only give an obviously automatic flinch when I
squirted.

He's a very tolerant cat, which is good since he's a very large and
powerful cat. With him, and with Clifford (RB), there's a great deal of
bonding and trust. I don't know if it's just that they felt that I
wasn't going to hurt them, or was actually trying to help, but I
appreciate their attitudes.

I will admit that Chatterley had reason to be suspicious of all
treatments after my ex-wife, for reasons she cannot explain to this day,
chased Chatterley with a flea spray, giving a demented laugh all the way
up the stairs and under the bed.

To return to asthma, the great breakthrough leading to the enormous
strides made in treating it in all species is realizing that it is a
disease of inflammation in which the inflammation leads to constricted
breathing passages, as opposed to a disease that is basically about
breathing difficulty. Control the inflammation, and, ideally, there are
never breathing problems.

Drugs such as corticosteroids, cromolyns, and leukotriene inhibitors are
anti-inflammatory, and have no immediate effect on breathing.  There are
some long-lasting drugs to help breathing (e.g.,  salmeterol (Serevent))
that have no place in an acute attack, but still are not
anti-inflammatory.  Things that do help in acute attacks are
short-acting beta-agonists like albuterol, sometimes anticholinergics
like ipratropium (Atrovent), epinephrine in emergencies, and possibly
caffeine-related drugs like aminophylline and theophylline. The last
two, I suspect, are toxic in cats.

The reality is that unless you can remove the cause of the inflammation,
which could be an allergy, changes in air temperature, exercise, or just
things we don't understand, you can't stop or reduce the
anti-inflammatory drugs. The good news is that the anti-inflammatories
prevent the need for the quick-acting bronchodilators.  Bronchodilators
are probably a little more scary, as they can cause rapid heartbeat, dry
mouth, and other immediate symptoms.