Asthma is a medical condition which can take a life-threatening form if you do not resolve it on time. Timely diagnosis is a challenge when it comes to feline asthma. You need to be very careful every time your cat coughs. Check out whether his cough is persistent for a couple of days. If it is, take him to a veterinarian as soon as possible. The veterinarian will follow a more or less standard process for asthma diagnosis.

The veterinarian often finds it difficult to call persistent cough asthma as the symptoms are similar to those of several other medical conditions such as pneumonia, heartworm and congestive heart failure. To rule out the possibility of any other disease, the veterinarian conducts a number of diagnostic tests. He carries out X-ray photography. The result helps him eliminate the possibility of heart problems. The result at times shows respiratory inflammation which may be indicative of asthma at times.

The veterinarian may conduct complete blood count and a feline heartworm test of your cat. He may take out small samples of tissue from the lower airways and the back of your cat’s throat. He will use this sample to test the autoimmune responses to various substances. With the help of all these diagnostic tests, the veterinarian will determine whether your cat is suffering from asthma or not.