For the newcomers, I adopted a little gray tabby named Gracie, then about a
year old, from a shelter here in Raleigh in 2001. She had respiratory
distress, and when tested for heartworms, happily came up negative, but a
chest xray showed asthma. A little while later she had bumps on the backs of
her legs, and scratched a bunch. And sometimes got a swelling lesion on her
lower lip. This turned out to be an allergy-related condition called
Eosiniphilic granuloma--not life threatening like asthma but distressing and
uncomfortable for the cat.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/eosinophilic_granuloma.html

There are different treatments. I opted for Depo Medrol (anti-inflammatory
steroid shots) even though there can be serious complications such as
diabetes with overuse. Why? Because she has asthma AND EGC. And, initially,
the vet said, "you two are just getting to know one another, so why add
pilling into the mix?"

I want to stress that I also changed her food to high protein, low grain, as
grains are known to aggravate allergies in cats; I also stopped wearing
perfume, got Hepa filters for the bedrooms, bought a vacuum with a hepa
filter attached, changed to unscented litter and changed cleaning products,
being careful not to expose her to irritating inhalants like Tilex or Lysol
spray. And, I already keep dust and mold to a minimum since I am allergic to
both. (It's a conundrum, but what you do is clean with a cotton mask!).

Anyway, now, five years later, she gets by with only two Depo shots a year.
And, when I took her in on Friday, it was because she coughed a little, not
because she had lesions or had an asthma attack, which is usually when I
take her. (You want to wait as long as possible because the less Depo the
better, with regard to developing diabetes and other problems.) In addition,
the vet said she had just the tiniest bit of congestion in her lungs, from
what she could hear. So these conditions are controllable, and (keep your
fingers crossed) Depo might be used with few harmful side effects. At least
so far. Below are some photos of Gracie (age 7), and Boo (age 12), our
tuxedo girl. Boo has an overactive thyroid and a heart condition that we
control with pills twice daily. She is very feisty!

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cyberpurrs/

(The rubber snake is the one that Gracie conquers and presents to me several
times a day, accompanied by much howling and Great Satisfied Hunter
behavior.)