Feline asthma causes recurrent bronchoconstriction and airway inflammation in cats, with welfare impacts from acute attacks and the chronic inflammatory state that underlies them.
Cats experiencing asthmatic attacks suffer genuine respiratory distress. The severe bronchoconstriction of an acute attack causes open-mouth breathing, labored abdominal effort to breathe, cyanosis, and panic in affected animals. The subjective experience of acute breathlessness is highly distressing in any species capable of experiencing it. Between attacks, chronically inflamed airways cause a persistent impairment of respiratory function that may limit physical activity tolerance. The chronic need for medication administration including inhaler therapy imposes a management burden and some stress from handling. Environmental trigger reduction is a welfare-positive intervention that directly reduces attack frequency.