When I brought my five-year-old tabby home from the shelter she had
an asthma attack. (She was 2.) When I took her to the vet he gave her a
Depo Medrolshot. He explained that I should use as few shots as I could
--due to the  danger of diabetes. I did not really know what that meant
but took it literally--I did not take her for a shot until I heard her cough
or her
purring became "thick" with congestion. (They swallow a lot, too.)
It worked out to about once every two or three months.

After about a year, at about the time she was due for a shot,
she had some bumps on the back of her legs and what looked
like a blackhead on her nose. It was then that the vet diagnosed
her with eosophilic granuloma complex--an allergy
related skin condition. (She also pulls or licks her fur
out at times until she is bald in places.)

Once again, the Depo shot brought everything under control--
the asthma and congestion went away, the bumps disappeared,
and she seemed really healthy. One shot every 2-3 months
worked for her.

However--after I switched cleaning products, stopped wearing
perfume, and added canned food to her diet, her congestion
and other allergic symptoms improved. For the last two years
she had had TWO Depo shots a year. The vet said that is
great, and that I do the right thing by waiting until I see signs
of allergies. He said he considered frequent use of Depo once
every couple of weeks.

So: Depo is a great drug, but it helps to try to figure out what
your cat is allergic to, also. Some things are obvious: tobacco
smoke, incense, perfume, anything that tends to irritate normal
lungs and noses and skin might be worse for allergic or asthmatic
cats. It has been suggested that corn is a common diet allergen--
and it is a common ingredient in dry cat food. So look at the
ingredients of your dry--and above all, get your cat on a
premium wet food. What is premium? For starters, a food that
has "beef, chicken, fish," or some other sort of meat as the first
ingredient--not "meat byproducts" or "chicken byproducts."
I think water is also very important for allergic cats and they
get more with canned food. Also: people here suggested that
cats drink more if you put several water dishes all around, and
they were right. For one cat, have like three water dishes all
around--one by the food, one by a favorite hangoout, and one
by their bed. It really will make them drink more.

Nix the aftershave, perfume, and air fresheners and you might
see good results just from that!

Good luck, and I hope this is helpful to you in some way.

j...@webtv.net wrote:

The risk of long-term use is liver and kidney damage.  That being said,
the risk of Depo has to be weighed against the risk of leaving the
disease state untreated.  Depending on what you are treating, it often
makes more sense to treat with Depo than to not treat.

My cat has been on Depo off an on for 15 years for eosinophilic
granuloma complex.  When she was younger, she got Depo injections about
3-4 times a year.  Now, it is yearly at most, because the disease
doesn't present as often.

-L.