My cat is sick and I'm worried

[Manue]

Hi,
Ever since we got our cat from the shelter 10 days ago, she's been sick and I've been worried. She was sneezing a little at the beginning, then it got better, but now she is kind of snoring/wheezing and I can hear mucus in her respiratory track. Same thing for eating and going to the bathroom. She didn't eat a lot at the beginning, which I attributed to the surgery (she had just been sterilized), then it got better. But the past couple of days she's only eating 1/4 to half of the food I give her again. She sleeps a lot too.

I tried to get a vet appointment earlier (we're scheduled to see a vet in a nearby clinic in 4 days), but they have no opening. I will go to the walk-in clinic of the shelter when they open this afternoon. That's a half hour drive though, but I'm too worried.
My boyfriend thinks I shouldn't worry so much and that the stress of moving her around will make things worse. Anyone?

[Luvmyfurbabies]

Make sure she's drinking water. If not than I would probably try to get her to eat wet food to get hydrated. My baby had a horrible respiratory infection and became seriously dehydrated. My specialist gave him fluids which helped him tremendously.

[anie]

she is probably running upper respiratory infection and with stuffed nose she makes sounds and also likely partially lost her sense of smell and that's why she does not want to eat.

vet visit is recommended - often respiratory infections in cats are coused by virus, and cats from shelters are usually more prone to them, but sometimes bad virus infection causes secondary bacterial infection and then antibiotic will help. vet will look at your cat, listen to her airways/lungs and determine what's going on.


to avoid future viral cat colds and to boost your kitty immune system you could supplement her with lysine. many people here on the forum do that, including myself


good luck! and let us know how she is doing!

[britishvixen21]

Boo was the same when she came home from the shelter. she had a terrible cold. I found heating her food through helped her appetite. the whole shelter had URI going around when we took her home. thankfully she didnt pass it on to Bee.

My vet recommended pedialyte for kids to help keep her hydrated. she slept a lot too. I know that when i have a cold I just want to sleep it off and dont have much of an appetite. I just gave her tons of TLC and made sure she was hydrated.

They really are in rough shape when they come from the shelter. we have had Boo 6 weeks and its only now that she seems healthy and normal.

Hope she ok.

[Arianwen]

What happened in the walk in clinic? I think it's awful that you ahd to wait 4 days for an appointment.

[Manue]

Hi,

Thanks for your answers. I was able to see a vet at the walk-in clinic. She confirmed that my cat is heavily congested, so that she probably has an upper respiratory infection. It's most likely viral but she gave me 14 days of antibiotics to cover any secondary infections. She also gave us an appetite stimulant and some laxatives. She finally recommended adding Lysine to her food, and using a brand of canned food made especially for recovery for a few days. We can also warm up the food and put a bit on her palate to convince her to eat (she cannot smell the food with the congestion).
If the cat doesn't resolve eating, drinking, and using the litter normally we should bring her back and she will be hospitalized for further investigations.

We will take very good care of her and hopefully she will get better soon.