To help your cat as much as possible you should have a close eye on her and note down in which situations the asthma attacks happen.
That's important because it's not always certain substances that can trigger an asthma attack but also certain situations in which a cat feels "confined". (You probably also know cases of human-beings who get their attacks inside of elevators or while being in a very stressful situations. Cats ain't that different!)
If you, for example, notice that a cat starts coughing and gasping whenever a child picks it up and won't let go of the cat you know for sure where to tie in!
But pretty often (and sadly) the sole avoidance of situations won't help you a lot. Then it can be suggested that your cat reacts in an allergic manner to one (or several) substance(s) which make her airways swell.
A lot of substances are known to trigger asthma attacks. The most important are listed below:
Mites and Dust
Solution: Wipe the floor with a humid rag instead of vacuum-cleaning it. The vacuum-cleaner swirls up a lot of dust and therefore is bad for your cat's airways. You also should wash blankets and similar stuff at least once a week to give mites and dust not a chance!
Pollen
Solution: Keep the windows closed during times of pollination or apply nets to your windows that keeps the pollen out. Keep your cat at the same time, of course, inside especially in the morning and evening.
Dry Air
Solution: Air dampers like a room fountain and small bowls filled with water that are positioned above a heater can help to create a less dry atmosphere for your cat.
Cigarette-Fume
Solution: Stop smoking near your cat or inside your apartment/house - or stop it completely... ;)
Mold
Solution: Detect the source where the the mold comes from and eliminate it yourself with the right products for that purpose. You can, of course, also ask a specialist.
Chemicals (e.g. shampoo, washing powder, hairspray, sanitizer, ...)
Solution: Keep the chemicals away from your cat or start using (by now lower-cost) eco products.
The Asthma-Therapies for Cats
Cortisone
When you are visiting an ordinary vet who learned the orthodox methods he will tell you to treat your cat with cortisone. This cortisone can either be given inside of pills or also be injected via syringes.
Cortisone is a hormone naturally produced in the body that soothes inflammations and makes them go down again.
As nice as it sounds, Cortisone that's being given via syringes and pills for a long time can cause diabetes which lowers the cats already restricted life quality even more.
An alternative to the often hated syrenges and pills is a respirator for cats that becomes slowly known all over the world. Certainly the following page can tell you more about this invention: http://www.trudellmed.com/animal-health/aerokat.
Homeopathy
The former notorious treatment with homeopathic means acquires not only vogues in human medicine. And the use of this kind of therapy in veterinary medicine proves a bit that it is more than a big placebo.
But please note that homeopathy is now allround-magic-therapy that shows results after just two days of treatment. It is still a therapy - an alternative one - that needs time and just acts in a different manner.
Homeopathy also should performed by a specialist who knows what he's doing. Otherwise it's eventless at the best case!
Take care of your cat,
your Healthy Cat Team!
Picture: CC 2.0 by Mel B.