Our poor kitty!

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Aurora just turned a year old and she is usually SOOO energetic! Last week she started sneezing a lot. Saturday she just seemed to feel sick so I took her to the vet. He said there is a strain of herpes in cats that causes cold-like symptoms which can crop up at any time. She is 100% indoors so we thought she might be allergic to all the pollen and whatever that has been blowing in when we open the windows.

Vet gave us an antibiotic for her and eye drops because her little eyes are watery. She is WORSE now than she was on Saturday! She is so congested she is breathing through her mouth! Her nose is runny, her eyes are runny, and she sneezes horribly when she tries to drink water or groom herself. She is lethargic and she isn't eating.

I called the vet this morning and he said if she isn't any better by tomorrow to drop her off in the morning so they can try to figure out what's wrong with her.

Has anybody else had experience with feline herpes? Do her symptoms sound like the ones your cat had?

 

[CheshireVal]

I had a cat with feline herpes and when it flared up he did sneeze a lot and seem really congested. His eyes were probably his worst symptom, though.

Only one time did he get so bad that he was lethargic, and I had to give him antibiotics for that.

The rest of the time, I just had to give him eye drops when I saw that they were starting to water. (Which seemed constant!)

I'd definitely go back to the vet if your kitty isn't eating, though.

 

[Thumper's Tara]

Oh. Your poor kitty. I haven't had any experience with this, but I wanted to tell you that you are in my thoughts.

I would take the kitty back to the vet as well if she isn't eating. They can give her fluids to help her stay hydrated until she can eat. My kitty definitely perked up a bit with the fluids.

Good luck.
TT

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

The vet said this tends to take 7-10 days to run it's course, but I didn't expect her to get worse before she started to feel better. He did say to drop her off tomorrow morning if she isn't showing improvement. DH got her to drink some water before he went to work this morning so hopefully she won't be too dehydrated. She is so pitiful! I hope she feels better soon!

 

[phantom728]

My thoughts are with you and your kitty. We have 3 of our own and they've never been through anything like this, but my one likes to make me spend lots of $$ with injuries.

I hope that she gets better soon and if you notice additional changes make sure to contact your Vet right away. I would think that you should be seeing some improvement, however slight, instead of the other way around.

 

[alliecats]

Do everything you can to get your kitty to eat. Cats can develop problems from not eating. Try fishy-smelling food and baby food meat varieties--BeechNut is good. Make sure the baby food does not have onions--bad for cats.

I've heard some people have sprinkled a tiny bit of Parmesan on their kitties food to make it stinky, and more appetizing to a kitty whose "smeller" is off duty. Good luck!! Poor lil kitty.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

I can completely sympathize. My youngest kitty has cat herpes. He is an outside cat and came home one day sneezing, congested and his eyes were tearing non-stop. The vet gave us some cream for his eyes. Any time his eyes get watery or he doesn't seem to want to open them we use the cream. The vet also said to give him prednisone (sp?) when he gets bad. He also sneezes like crazy when he cleans himself.

I know it is scary but you will get used to it. He scared us when he first showed symptons but now we know that he is ok. Most of the time he is just fine and has no symptons. Then sometimes his eyes just bother him. Other times he is lethargic and cranky.

You probably haven't had any experience with it, yet, but it is a symptom of the herpes. My cat starts to sound like he is choking. Not breathing right, drooling, almost like a hairball but worse. It is extremely scary the first time it happens. And the kitty probably won't let you come near him. Basically, the cat is having an asthma attack. The only cure we have found is to let it run its course. Don't try to do the heimlech on him, he will not like it. (Mom found that out the hard way.)

Hopefully your kitty feels better. Let him know he has a friend here in NY who can sympathize.

 

[chyam]

Do everything you can to get your kitty to eat. Cats can develop problems from not eating. Try fishy-smelling food and baby food meat varieties--BeechNut is good. Make sure the baby food does not have onions--bad for cats.

I've heard some people have sprinkled a tiny bit of Parmesan on their kitties food to make it stinky, and more appetizing to a kitty whose "smeller" is off duty. Good luck!! Poor lil kitty.

Baby food is great for them when they are like this, if she will not eat it on her own get a syringe from the pharmacy tell them what you want it for and that you don't need a needle then dilute the baby food with a little warm water, it keeps them nourished (baby food has a lot of calories) this will at least keep her strength up. Ditto about the smelly cat food, sometimes the cheapest ones stink the best but if it doesn't work try the baby food (chicken,ham,beef, veal or turkey)

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I can completely sympathize. My youngest kitty has cat herpes. He is an outside cat and came home one day sneezing, congested and his eyes were tearing non-stop. The vet gave us some cream for his eyes. Any time his eyes get watery or he doesn't seem to want to open them we use the cream. The vet also said to give him prednisone (sp?) when he gets bad. He also sneezes like crazy when he cleans himself.

I know it is scary but you will get used to it. He scared us when he first showed symptons but now we know that he is ok. Most of the time he is just fine and has no symptons. Then sometimes his eyes just bother him. Other times he is lethargic and cranky.

You probably haven't had any experience with it, yet, but it is a symptom of the herpes. My cat starts to sound like he is choking. Not breathing right, drooling, almost like a hairball but worse. It is extremely scary the first time it happens. And the kitty probably won't let you come near him. Basically, the cat is having an asthma attack. The only cure we have found is to let it run its course. Don't try to do the heimlech on him, he will not like it. (Mom found that out the hard way.)

Hopefully your kitty feels better. Let him know he has a friend here in NY who can sympathize.

This is exactly what she is going through!

We got her from a shelter, and right after we brought her home we thought she was getting a little respiratory infection. Her eyes were watery and she acted like she had a cold. We took her to the vet and he gave us eye drops and antibiotics and she was better within a day or so. She was only about 2 months old then. Now we are coming up on the first anniversary of her adoption so we were thinking it was a seasonal thing, but the vet said it is herpes. We have never heard of that before.

She looks like she is MISERABLE. She looks old. Far worse than our 16 year old cat! She doesn't purr when we pet her. I will have DH pick up some canned cat food and baby food on his way home from work today - he will be home before I will.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

Another thing you can try is L-lysine. It's an amino acid and you can get it at your local health food store or pharmacy. It's in the vitamin section. L-lysine stops the virus from replicating, but it has to be given long term. The dose is 250mg to 500mg twice daily.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I haven't had any experience with feline herpes, but I have had lots of experience lately with sick cats. It's so scary and worrisome-here's hoping your furr baby's well soon.