Sneezy Kitty - Time for the Vet?

[Tazicket]

We're trying to decide whether or not we need to take our almost 2 year old cat, Mischa, to the vet to be looked at and could use some advice. She started sneezing a few days ago - maybe once or twice every hour or two (but she usually doesn't sneeze much at all). Yesterday, it seemed to get a little worse and today she's sneezing a lot.

Her eyes look clear and her nose doesn't look runny. But, she's more quiet and lethargic than normal and is a little more cuddly than normal, too. She's been curled up in my lap more over the last couple of days than she has in the last couple of months.

I'm thinking it's probably time to take her to the vet. Am I overreacting, given that her eyes and nose look clear?

 

[Hoodie]

Actions speak for kitties, but most usually disappear if they are feeling really bad.

Have you tried adding L-Lysine to her food? My cat had sinus issues (among other things) and the vet suggested just sprinkling some on his food. Stops the sneezing every time. Also reduced the weepy eyes on my other kitty. Just the over the counter human stuff ground up and sprinkled on top. They don't even notice it.

 

[Tazicket]

We haven't tried that, yet. I hadn't heard that before! How much do you add?

She's had an upper respiratory infection before (not sure if that makes a difference with this case of sneezes)- it was when we first brought her home (she was about 3 months old at the time). We wound up having to give her the pink stuff that smells like bubblegum for a couple of weeks. She was not a happy camper. I haven't really noticed her having any issues with allergies before, but that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't there.

 

[themarquis]

There are a lot of respiratory viruses that kitties can get. Our two boys have feline herpes . Not related to the human, er, "adult" type of herpes. The little one got it from the animal shelter and he brought it home to infect the bigger one

Periodically, usually when they've been "stressed" (though why exactly thier lazy lives would be "stressful" I don't know ) they will have a flare-up and start sneezing and what-not. Sometimes they get "pirate eye" (one eye gets the "herp" so they keep that one closed) too.

We used to haul them to the vet every time, but finally stopped doing so, since it's a chronic virus that can't really be treated. We just give them extra TLC at home. If I were you, I might take kitty to the vet since this is the first time it's happened, esp. if he/she is lethargic. But I wouldn't worry too much -- they may give you some antibiotics in case kitty develops a secondary bacterial infection and he/she will be good to go.

 

[themarquis]

We haven't tried that, yet. I hadn't heard that before! How much do you add?

She's had an upper respiratory infection before (not sure if that makes a difference with this case of sneezes)- it was when we first brought her home (she was about 3 months old at the time). We wound up having to give her the pink stuff that smells like bubblegum for a couple of weeks. She was not a happy camper. I haven't really noticed her having any issues with allergies before, but that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't there.

Ah, well, I guess she had it before. I'd guess then that she has some type of chronic virus thing. Maybe cat herpes (if she was from a shelter, it's very common there and spreads like wildfire), but I thinkt here are a few others, too.

In that case, I think you could wait it out and make sure she keeps eating and drinking and stuff. If it's a chronic virus, the flare-up will go away on its own whether or not you give her the "pink stuff". I'm generally of the opinion that many cats can be so stressed out by a vet visit that it can sometimes be better for their health to delay it and keep an eye on them instead of hauling them in all the time.

I second the L-lysine -- it's an antiviral, so it can be helpful in both humans and cats with herpes type things

 

[HeatherH]

I would definitely take her in. She probably does have an upper respiratory infection. Although that is viral, they do usually give kitties Clavamox (that's the pink bubble gum stuff) as a prevention, because it can turn into a bacterial infection.

Any time a cat is not acting normally is a big red flag to me. Cats hide their illnesses very well and when they start getting mopey or lethargic...definitely time to get her seen by a vet.

Hope she is feeling better soon.

 

[Tazicket]

Thanks for the advice. We'll see how she is tonight, but I'm thinking we'll probably be taking her to the vet tomorrow.

Not sure if it's related or not, but we just had her up there last week. She swallowed some ribbon (will spare you the details on how we discovered that ) and we ran her up there to get checked out. We watched her and it looked like she passed the rest of the ribbon a couple of days later and now she's feeling yucky. Poor kitty. (She's usually very healthy - we've only had to take her to the vet for her yearly shots and stuff with the one exception of her respiratory infection when she was a kitten).

 

[bballmom56]

I have a cat that gets "sniffly" sounding and sneezy, but it seems to be seasonal, so I'm assuming it is allergies. Everything else about him is fine, you can just hear his sniffly nose (no discharge).

He was a stray that just showed up on my back porch one morning and when he finally allowed us near him, he had the sniffles which I attributed to a virus from living outside and being malnourished. It finally went away, but as I said does come back seasonally. The vet could never find anything.

 

[Denine]

I have a kitty with seasonal allergies. Vet said to give 1/2 of a benadryl and it works for him.

I would be cautious though and take kitty to the vet.

 

[scrapquilter]

My cat had herpes, which caused a chronic sneezing/coughing/cold-like symptoms behavior. every time it happened, I'd call the vet and he'd get a round of anti-biotics

I think you should take the kitty to the vet.

 

[Imzadi]

My first thought too, was perhaps you brought something into the house that she's allergic too. But, when you mentioned she's lethargic, it might be something else. If she's also not eating or drinking much, I'd suggest taking her into the vet.