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Feline asthma: A cross-sectional study on determinant and conditioning factors
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Feline asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lower respiratory airways that has shown an increased incidence in the past decades. It is important to acknowledge that feline and human asthma are very similar in their pathophysiology and symptomatology, which can be justified by common predisposing and conditioning factors.
Given the above, the present study aimed to investigate some of the possible determining and conditioning factors associated with the occurrence of feline asthma, previously reported in literature. With such purpose, a cross-sectional (self-completed) questionnaire-based study targeting Portuguese speaking owners of cats was carried out. The questionnaire comprised five main sections, regarding animal identification and characterization, respiratory disease, animal stress, animal physical condition, and animal housing conditions. After constructed, the questionnaire was validated and applied in both paper and digital form, between September 2018 and March 2019. One hundred and eighty nine questionnaires were analyzed, of which 16 corresponded to cats diagnosed with asthma and two other with feline cough. Eighty two percent of studied cats, as well as cats with asthma or respiratory disease, were of mixed breed and 76% were neutered, living 62% indoor exclusively and with other cats as co-inhabitants (68%), mainly in and urban area (56%) from the north (47%) and central (37%) mainland regions. Equal male/female ratio was also observed in both groups. According to the owners’ perception, the cats were mostly active and with the ideal weight. The symptoms that owners more often associated with asthma crisis were respiratory wheezes and cough, whereas the worsening of such symptoms occurred in spring and autumn, and in case of changes in the environment. Frequently reported symptoms of stress were excessive hygiene and not sleeping with belly up. The correlation between stress-related diseases and asthma was close to significance (p=0.065), being urinary tract infection the disease more frequently associated with stress. Statistical analysis showed that cats with access to both indoor and outdoor showed less symptoms of stress (p=0.032). Although close to significance (p=0.07), the presence of pollutant industries was not correlated to asthma in enrolled cats. Finally, in most of the houses in which an asthmatic cat lived in, no owner or other co-inhabitant relatives with asthma existed (78.8%). The identification of further conditioning and determining factors of feline asthma was hindered by the relatively small number of asthmatic cats enrolled and the fact that feline asthma is frequently underdiagnosed. Nevertheless, the prevalence was slightly superior (8.5%) to the ones previously reported (3-5%). The paucity of similar epidemiological studies in cats demonstrates the importance of the current work and the need to conduct further studies on risk factors associated with the disease, both in humans and cats, and eventually to assess if cats could be used as sentinels for the disease.
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Allergens Environment Feline asthma Obesity Pollutants Risk factors Stress