It definately sounds like an Upper Resp Infection. I would get her to the vet pronto so it doesn't turn into pneumonia.

URI's are very very common with shelter pets, it is because of the close quarters, and lets face it, no matter how hard we try we can't really keep it all perfectly sanitary. You didn't do anything to cause this, it's just a natural progression, at least with you, a caring owner, she'll get the best possible care!

You might want to mention to the vet that you also have another cat who may also need antibiotics (if you go to your regular vet, just remind them of the other kitty).

A few days of antibiotics and cuddles and she'll be good as new!

It's also a good idea to make an appointment for her follow up shots and to get her retested for FIV and FeLV. Shelters try to do their best but are often over whelmed and understaffed. You might want to make an appointment to get her spayed too. Most shelters require it.

Enjoy your shelter kitten!!!!

 

I made an appointment and warned them that Andi might have a URI and asked if there was anything I could do to make her feel more comfortable (she just looks so darn pitiful when she's "wharfing"!) and they said sometimes kittens might need to run their course with a URI but she should be fine until Tuesday (which is when I made the appointment for). They also said if it gets worse to give them a call back.

She's been meowing for a lot of snuggles! (she loves to lay on my "shelf") and she keeps coming up to me, rubbing against me, meowing to be picked up. (she is such a good lap kitten!)

I'm hoping she doesn't get worse and only better. She's remained active for the most part but you just know when a pet of yours is sick. (She's so needy! Too bad I am happy to oblige! heehee)

Thank you for your fast response! I was worried something much worse could be happening to her, but it is kind of a relief that she just has a kitten cold! (I'll keep my fingers crossed that it is just a kitten cold!) the other kitty was my husband's brother's kitty and he took her away to his girlfriend's place about 2 days after we had gotten this one, but I will tell the vet about her just in case! You just never know!

 

When the discharge is colored like that it's mostly likely a secondary bacterial infection on top of the primary viral URI. Antibiotics are usually prescribed in a case like that. Actually, if they can squeeze you in tomorrow, I'd go tomorrow, not wait until Tuesday, if it was me. URIs can turn serious in kittens, esp. if she hasn't had vaccinations yet.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

The humane society did FIV, FELV, FRCPC/FELV tests on 5/30 and then did another FRCPC/FELV test on 7/3. Is there another test that she should be given? So far she's been ok but I've been keeping a close eye on her to make sure she's eating, drinking, and doing her bodily functions in the litter box. If she starts getting worse tomorrow, I may call the clinic and see if they can't get her in. If they can't, I may switch clinics. So far she's been playful but still sluggish and she hasn't done her "wharfing" since earlier this morning. :? They said that the earliest they could get her in was Tuesday, but it sounded like they might be able to squeeze her in if things got worse.

 

Ummm....tests, or vaccinations?

 

I don't really know. It just says on the blue paper they gave to us "Vaccinations and Tests Given:" then it has "Medical Treatment Feline: FELV (they circled - ) FIV (circled -) and then put two dates next to FRCPC/FELV.

 

When we got Dorn...he had a VERY BAD URI...

we tried some lysine, clavomox and that did nothing...we adopted him from the shelter at about 7 months...he was very bad...sneezing all the time...tons of snot...took us 3 months to clear him up...they finally gave us drugs for humans called 'vibramicin'... cleared it up in a week!!! I was so shocked.. little pricey..60 dollars for a week supply...but it worked..

I am not so sure he would have been adopted as soon otherwise because he was pretty sick....but i felt bad for the little guy so I just had to bring him home....now he is healthy and king of the house.lol

 

Clavamox has been so widely used (and probably abused) I'm not surprised. The infection was probably anti-biotic resistant.

 

Since making this post (about 2:45-3pmish today) I've gotten concerned that Andi isn't going to the bathroom. My husband cleaned out the litter box when he got home (around 4:30ish) and it hasn't been used yet. :?

I've placed her in it several times and even kind of rubbed her paws in the litter (like she was pawing at it or something) and she just kind of walked off to sit behind the tv again. Am I unnecessarily worrying? It's been a long while since I had a kitten, but I've never had one with a URI. She ate at 9pm est wet cat food (the only way she would eat it is if she licked it off my finger) because I was concerned she wasn't drinking water and she did eat some of the dry cat food earlier around 6pm est (should I just have her strictly be on wet cat food at this moment? Kind of confused when I should switch over to the dry food since she's already eaten it)

Thanks guys!

 

How long have you had her and how long since you noticed the URI symptoms? I sounds like a few days? You said she was active when you brought her home...but now mention hiding behind the TV. If she was acting like a normal active kitten and is now hiding unless she's in your lap, I would be concerned...it means she's feeling sicker.

If she's not drinking, she's not going to pee. Also, any signs of fever? That could dehydrate her too. To get an idea if she's dehyrated pull up the skin on the back of her neck (the scruff), if it returns quickly she's hydrated but if it stays up and slowly returns she's dehydrated. If that's the case I really recommend that you call an emergency clinic tonight and get their take on whether you need to bring her in immediately or if it can wait till morning. In any case it doesn't sound like waiting till Tuesday is an option.

As far as feeding goes, cats won't usually eat if they can't smell their food so you really need to watch that. Warming wet food in the microwave (about 8-10 seconds if room temp, 12-15 seconds if refrigerated) will enhance the smell.

Keep us posted...

 

Well she peed in her litter box! *cheer* and she's currently sniffing the monitor and pawing at the words as I type them. She also got some snot on my monitor. (what I've always wanted!)

I just did the neck test and it seems like it goes back pretty okay? It's not overly slow or anything. I might put fresh water in her bowl before I head to bed and maybe try to get her to drink a little bit more. Still concerned she isnt getting enough water, but she seems to be a bit happier. Thanks for responding to my posts! She's my husband and I first furbaby and we (mostly I am) are worrying about her wellness. If she seems to take a turn for the worse tomorrow morning, I am taking her into a vet. (So far she seems okay though aside from the wet nose and sneezes here and there)

 

Congrats :lol: :lol: :lol:

Sounds like maybe eating that bit of wet food has perked her up. Sounds like she should be stable till morning but you probably ought to check on her during the night. You're watching for all the right things now so you should be able to identify if she's in real danger.

I went through this when I adopted Kobi. He was sneezing at the shelter, brought him home took him to the vet the next day. He didn't want to treat him just based on sneezing, but by the weekend it developed into a full blown URI with a fever and everything. Got that cleared up and about 2 weeks later he developed a UTI. Our first month together was not fun.

 

It seems common for cats/kittens in a shelter to come home with a URI. (That's unfortunate!!) It should be easy to check up on her during the night because since we've gotten her, she sleeps with us! She'll sleep in the computer chair next to the bed and she'll stay there all night. (I usually get up a few times to go to the bathroom myself and she's always in there) We filed for adoption two Sundays ago and took her home last sunday. She started showing these symptoms about two/three days ago and we just figured she was trying to pass a hairball. This morning the sneezing set in and that's what triggered that something was NOT right. (I figured green snot was a sign of sickness Since it is the number 1 sign for me that I'm getting sick)

Once I settle into bed, she might lay down next to me and then once my husband fights for his space (heehee) she should be in the computer chair. Should I feed her some wet cat food when I get up? (I usually get up around 3 am est to do a potty break)

Thanks!

 

Yes, by all means give her some wet food if she'll take it. It will help keep her hydrated and keep her strength up.

Yes, URI is a big problem for shelters, especially this time of year when they're overcrowded. It passes like wildfire....just like a cold in a pre-school or kindergarten class. And overcrowding increases stress which makes them more susceptible to URI spreading. I was just in my local shelter tonight and they have 109 cats in residence and only have 6 quarantined for URI...they consider that really good. (They also have another 40-50 out in foster homes....that number of cats is huge for this shelter, typically it's about 120-130 combined)

 

Congratulations on your new kitty!
Poor baby! My shelter kittey came with a URI too. One of the things that helped was to steam up the bathroom really well and sit in there with him for a good 15 minutes 3x a day.
I also think the wet food is good idea right now. Personally, I think wet food is better always.
It is true that an URI has to just run it's couse but, if she's got green gunk in her nose, than she most likely has a secondry infection and I wouldn't wait 'till next week to see the vet. You don't want to end up with kitty with pnemonia! I would also request that they give her fluids, even if she isn't badly dehydrated, it will help flush out her system. You can't tell her to drink plenty of fluids! 8O
Good luck and let us know ow she's doing.

 

I just tried giving her wet food and she ate only a small bit of it I left it on the floor so maybe she can eat it at her leisure?

She hasn't been to the bathroom since she peed a tiny bit (That was around maybe 10:30 pm est thurs) EDIT: I noticed a lil bit of poo in there when I went to check at 3:50 am est. so woot!

She's been doing the "wharf" thing which I guess is coughing? Although she has been pretty social and could meow a tiny bit.

I'm probably going to call that clinic tomorrow and ask if they can squeeze her in. If they can't I may go for a local vet in the area. (We adopted her from a shelter in a different county/different state and they gave us this blue sheet for a free physical that could only be used at specific vets, to which they gave a list of and it's only in that county. We both lived in that county for a long while and had visited the pets at that humane society so we knew how the pets there were treated, which is fairly well) Well, screw the free physical. I just want Andi to be better. I was thinking of calling a few places I just found via google as backup vet places just in case the clinic I made the appointment for won't take her in early.

Thanks for hanging in there with me guys. I hate it when pets get sick. You just want so bad to make them all better. It's sometimes confusing how sick they can be. She's acting social, right now she's sitting on my shoulder and purring away but once in a while she'll sneeze and that stuff just comes out. I don't think she's gotten water. any ideas how to keep her hydrated besides the canned food? thanks!

EDIT: I still was worried she was dehydrated so I put some water on her paws to lick it off. Was that okay to do?

 

Well, hubby says he saw her drinking and eating this morning, plus I saw some fresh ones in the litter! She seems to be doing better. This morning she was playing with a bag that was on the floor. Now she's sitting on the window sill lazily listening to the roof workers outside. Haven't heard her wharf in a while (last night she did it about 2 times, much less than the night before)

I know kitties can be deceptive in their sickness so I won't take this lightly. First sign she is worse, I am calling the vet and demanding in a polite way they accept her. (Or if they get nasty, a nasty way)

EDIT: Made the appointment and we'll find out what's up w/ teh furbaby in about an hour and a half. (We'll see how this goes, she might enjoy the drive cause its a beautiful day out but I hope she does well at the vet!)

EDIT #2: Well, we're back! Turns out she just has a URI so I have to give her this pink medicine from a syringe (Amoxicillin) and she has some kind of eye infection so we have to put this gunk in her eye called Terramycin Ointment. I'm happy that's all it was! (And the bill wasn't too bad! :-D)

Kitty was well behaved (except giving her the syringe thingy. She scratched me on the wrist but it wasn't a bad scratch) and she purred for the vet so I am convinced that Andi is just a happy-go-lucky wonderful feline that just happened to be unlucky at the humane society. Thanks guys for all your wonderful tips and information! I hope once her eye gunk goes away to put up some beauoooootiful pictures of her.

 

Yippy! Glad you were able to get her in. She should be back to normal in no time.

 

Glad to have helped nurse her thru it :lol: :lol: ....anytime. Happy to hear it's just run of the mill URI....yeah the eye thing goes with that a lot of the time...it's all connected. She should bounce back in no time. Enjoy her!

 

Just thought I'd post that I'm posting pictures of Andi in the pictures forum so you can get an idea of what she looks like. She is a much happier kitten now! She keeps meowing for me to play with her (inbetween sniffles of course) and so I go and play and she just goes at it with our scratching post w/ mice attached!

I think she's bonded to me more than to my husband because I'm home a lot more. Anyways, you will see why I think so in the pictures!

Thanks for all your help! Andi and I really appreciate all the kind words and encouragement to go to the vet. If it wasn't for you all, I'd be at a loss of what to have done and what to have expected. Thanks everyone!

 

Looking forward to the pics and hoping you'll stick around and keeping posting!!

 

I have also noticed that for the last day or so, my kitten has been showing the same symptoms as Krystalily described. But I have purchased my kitten from a pet store though.

It's scary when she makes these wharfing sounds because it sounds like she is honestly trying to get "something" out and then she kind of coughs, then sneezes.

So now should I take him to the vet or should I just wait for few more days and see if it gets better?

 

They said it was common for kittens from shelters to get URI's or any place where a cat could have come in contact with another that had one.

The only concern I am having is that I saw the vet on Friday and it's wednesday and well, I've been putting the eye gunk in her eye and he said to do it until "it looks better".

I have no clue what better really looks like as I don't know exactly what was wrong with it? He said it was something with a c word and the eye gunk he prescribed was that terramycin. Her eye keeps watering up and that's the only thing I would think is wrong with it. Anyone have any clues?(that and her third eyelid isn't really showing anymore) He said it would take about 4-5 days for that to clear up, but I have no clue what "that" really is.

Thanks!

 

Could the 'c' word be conjunctivitis? That's what a lot of people call Pink Eye. If her eye is still watery, runny, or has mucus...then it's not 100% better.

 

I have also noticed that for the last day or so, my kitten has been showing the same symptoms as Krystalily described. But I have purchased my kitten from a pet store though.

It's scary when she makes these wharfing sounds because it sounds like she is honestly trying to get "something" out and then she kind of coughs, then sneezes.

So now should I take him to the vet or should I just wait for few more days and see if it gets better?

CyCLoBoT...cats from pet stores are likely to have these types of issues. If you haven't had your cat checked by a vet since you purchased it, you really should anyway. Add in the additional symptoms and it's a very strong case for a vet visit.