Page 55 - Problem-Based Feline Medicine

PART 2

Cat with lower respiratory tract

or cardiac signs

5. The dyspneic or tachypneic cat

Robert Allen Mason and Jacquie Rand

KEY SIGNS

Dyspnea
● Anxious, uncomfortable breathing.
● Increased respiratory effort.
● Respiratory distress.
Tachypnea
● Rapid breathing, not necessarily labored.

MECHANISM?
● Dyspnea can be caused by several mechanisms:
obstruction to airflow.
weakness of ventilatory muscles.
pleural space disease, inhibiting expansion of the lungs.
diminished oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.
WHERE?
● Upper respiratory tract (nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses, pharynx, larynx, trachea).
● Lower respiratory tree (bronchial tree, small airways).
● Lung parenchyma, pleural space, chest wall and ventilatory muscles.

WHAT?
● Acute severe dyspnea in cats is often caused by an acute asthma attack, trauma or decompen-
sating congestive heart failure.

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