Train your cat to use the AeroKat inhaler

If your cat has feline asthma or other lung disease it might need inhaler therapy. I have documented how I trained my own cat to use the AeroKat inhalation chamber, get used to it, accept it, and keep coming back for it every day. I use clickertraining, which is explained in the video. It is not necessary but useful. I am not a professional cat trainer ;-) I do know about animal training via the horses (Parelli Natural Horsemanship and clickertraining). My cat Beertje is a super cute Ragdoll, his colour is cream mitted. He is quite shy, very wary of new things, sounds, strange people (no visitors have ever seen him) and like most normal cats he likes to be around his owners, but does not enjoy being held or restrained by them. Cuddling is at his initiative, not ours. Shy cats need medication too, and when I was starting his training with the inhaler I did not find a good 'how to' video. The cats I saw made it look easy, which it wasn't for us, not at first. If I made a video now that he knows it we could make it look easy too :-)
The firm behind AeroKat (Trudell) now has tutorial videos made by professionals:

[kelwithani]

I am in tears watching this because I am SO relieved and happily encouraged to see a resistant cat become a cooperative one in this process! I have been training my cat for about a week, using the lengthy and somewhat complex process offered by the official Aerokat videos, and while I appreciate the detail that they offer it has been overwhelming and sometimes quite confusing. Also, seeing their “expertly calm” cat doing everything right makes me feel like I’m doing everything wrong when I can’t get past the “putting her face in the mask for a split second because there’s food in it stage” 😅. Honestly, THANK YOU so much for creating and posting this video!!! It is exactly what I needed to help my self confidence and my confidence in my Petunia. Every time she coughs it makes me so sad so I’m quite anxious to start the inhaled medicine. You have given me much needed hope 💛

[midmodfanforever]

1:38 food in the mask
3:45 manipulating cat's position
5:07 quicker rewards
6:10 inhaler attached
7:03 less food in mask, more frequent rewards
8:00 start using inhaler
8:37 stop putting new food in mask
9:51 stop using food in mask altogether
14:28 what we all strive to achieve

We are only between minutes 7 and 8 after 23 days, but we're not giving up. I watch the video a couple times a week, it really helps a lot. I hope beautiful Beertje is still doing great.

[DavidRademaker]

Great to see the progress over time. They say "Patience is a virtue" but here "Patience is an art... leading to results"

[lawlessandflawless]

This video is so great. I have started the training process with my shy cat and it really helps to see how you progressed with patience! I feel more confident now that we can do this together ❤

[karencoates]

To cat owners with kitties that don’t find treats rewarding:
We had great success using human baby food (Gerber brand) as a treat for our kitties. #1 was chicken. #2 was turkey. Their .25 oz ‘2nd foods’ jars cost about $1.00 each US. I know it’s expensive. Use something like a spoon or brush to help it stick to the mask.
Best of luck to each of you, from one cat lover to another! 😻😻😻

[tijgerlelie]

For everyone asking about treats: we used liquid treats (in little long plastic bags that you cut the top off) and paste treats in a tube, different brands. For cats that are hard to motivate by (dry) treats, the liquid treats are probably the best option. As far as I can tell they are quite healthy, mostly meat and water. I looked up some brands: Vitakraft, Cosma Jelly, Miamor Cat Snack, Smilla multivitamin cat paste, Trixie malt paste, GimCat Multi-Vitamin Paste, Sheba Liquid Snack, and I am sure there are many more!

[petrarka]

thank you so much for sharing, my cat got diagnosed with asthma couple of days ago and I'm at the very beginning of this journey. your video serves as a great tutorial 🤗

[Kknah]

Thank you SO much for showing the “whole boring process” 😂 I can’t tell you how defeated I’ve felt not being able to quickly train my cat (Bambi) to accept her inhaler. Any videos I’ve watched made it seem much easier than it has been for us. I think I advanced too quickly and it’s set us back. I Didn’t think it would be so slow and tedious to do. Your video gave a much more detailed training process. I’m feeling hopeful again that we can do this, thank you! ❤️

[jaynebourke]

So, thanks to the gooey treats you suggested, we are on Day 2, and have had 4 very short but rewarding lessons today. Our Sophie is becoming more relaxed and actually puts her nose way into the folded-back mask on the chamber… happily licking, pressing herself waaay in there to get the very last yummy lick!
We have clicker trained her to do a few tricks in the past, but this is so different. The gooey treats really encourage her & calm the learning process down to her speed. Thank you!
The way you’ve presented this is that it’s a bonding experience, step by step. We cuddle & i brush her after each lesson… so she knows it’s a special thing for us to do.
This is, by far, the gentlest yet most encouraging & effective video on using the aerocat chamber. Thank you so much & hoping your kitty is doing much better too!

[carolinamarinelli]

Thank you SO much for this video!! As it’s been already said, nobody needs a “tutorial” in which the cat allows you to do the treatment happily. I really hope I can be as patient as you’ve been and, hopefully, get the same results. Once again, thank you!!

[ievaivane]

I don’t know how you did this, how you got that patience. I am doing this as you are for 2 weeks, but my cat still won’t let me put mask on it’s face. At the beginning I was even happy that she licked the mask because she was hissing at it at first. But now I am scared to push her to much otherwise those 2 weeks will be gone. I don’t want to chase her every day. But still this video is more helpful than any other. Everyone else just puts the mask on and calls it turorial. Well all cats aren’t so peaceful with something on their face. I will keep trying. Thank you.

[maryparson]

Thank you for this video! I think Aerokat should hire you to demonstrate their product and how to train! Thanks again. I have to remember PATIENCE!

[Sammy-hgxb]

Thank you so much for this video. I first saw your video about a month ago and at the time my cat would run from the room at the sound of the inhaler. Tonight she actually inhaled her medicine for the first time. She’s still unsure of the whole experience but has decided it’s worth it for the treats. Thank you!!

[karacole]

You are a godsend. Please do not ever stop loving that baby and keep this video up pretty please! This will be our next venture and I am inspired to try with your motivation, which worked btw. 😎

[alleycatwoman]

I love everything about this video. Bless you for sharing this. Conditioning, time, patience, perseverance, and most importantly, LOVE!

[photographybya]

I commend you for having so much patience with training your cat on this device. You are a wonderful human being for taking such loving care of your cat and also for sharing this difficult training process and the steps you took to succeed to help others. Thank you so much. ❤

[lmjsem]

Thank you so much for making this video! I need to start training my cat. If I didn't see how you did it I'm not sure I'd have made it to 4 weeks! My Charlie is not as skittish/shy not sure he'd keep the mask on his face. I will start training tomorrow after getting the liquid treats. I want to say good bye to the prednisone!

[Inkpanther]

I really like this one. I’ve given a cat the inhaler, but never trained a cat to be used to one. I’m a pet sitter so it’s my job. But now I have a cat who needs the inhaler. I want her as comfortable as possible. This video is one of my favorites. Thank you to the poster

[crystalheart]

Thank you for a fantastic video on how to train your cat to use an inhaler. My kitty Annikah has just been diagnosed with feline asthma and the vet suggested an inhaler for her. I didn't think I would be able to get her use to a mask on her face but your video shows it can be done. Thanks so much!

[smhunter]

Thank you so much for taking the time to make this video, it's so helpful!