Presentation
Presents with respiratory distress and intermittent open mouth breathing.
Patient Data
There is a diffuse bronchial pattern present. The bronchial walls are thickened with central gas lucency (doughnuts). These follow the pattern of the branching airways. There is a region of uniformly increased alveolar pattern in the right middle lung lobe seen on the left lateral projection. This bronchial pattern is consistent with inflammatory lower airway disease.
Case Discussion
A purely bronchial pattern is the main finding in cats with inflammatory airway disease. The bronchial thickening is due to chronic inflammation. Bronchial plugs may form in the airways after which the lung lobe loses ventilation (atelectasis).
Airway sampling would be necessary to discriminate between allergic and non-allergic disease, however was not performed in this case 1.
Unable to process the form. Check for errors and try again.