upper respitory virus?

My kitty is nineteen weeks old and has been sneazing since I got her at twelve weeks. A couple of weeks ago she started sneezing and her mucus had blood in it. I took her to the vet and they said she has an upper respitory virus that may be able to be treated. They had me give her clavamox and since her eyes are runny (may be conjunctivitis) they gave me and ointment to put in her eye. I did the regimine and she seemed to be getting better. About four days ago I noticed more of the blood in her mucus from sneazing so I brought her in again. More clavomox and another ointment, this time for both eyes. Anyone have any experience with this? I have heard that once they have the upper respitory virus it never goes away. both the vets said it might be able to be treated. Since she's not getting any better, I want to make sure she's not getting worse and they are just giving me meds for no reason.
She is a pure bred ragdoll for reference.
Thanks!

PLEASE find another vet.. some URIs take many meds to fix

Originally Posted by sharky

PLEASE find another vet.. some URIs take many meds to fix

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I TOTALLY agree! The antibiotic may need to be changed or another one added. Amoxy and Clavamox are good antibiotics, but if it came back, a stronger one may be needed.

A URI can be treated successfully. Just make sure that the kitten continues to eat. Dehydration is your biggest enemy with a URI. Run blood tests to make sure that there is not an immune problem, as well. I am not a Vet and cannot give Vet advice, but ask about Doxycyline. It is a stronger antibiotic and can be very valuable, especially since it can come in capsules that you can sprinkle on the food. It does not have a taste and your cat will eat it when mixed with a food the kitten likes.

Wow -- I could've posted this!

Just got back from my Vet this morning and she prescribed Zithromax as the second-line antibiotic after clavamox ... but, it has to be compounded for a feline dosage, by a pharmacy, and will take a few days. I'll let you know how this goes!

Doxy, huh? That is inexpensive and readily available!

BTW -- since you were considering getting a pal for Lucia, please WAIT (ask Vet how long), as some of the resp. viruses are highly contagious and can have longterm consequences.

Yeah, Doxy is cheap and works great for most URI's.

I went through several URI's with Lilly when she was little. In addition to the eye ointment and antibiotics, I also bought L-Lysine. It's a natural supplement you can buy at the grocery or drug store. I bought pills, crushed them, and put them in her food. I still give it to her as a precautionary measure. It helps many cats with URI issues. You'll have to ask your vet about dosage. And while URI's can be a sign of chronic feline herpes virus, luckily Lilly hasn't have any problems in over a year.

Good luck getting things under control!

Thank you so much for all your replys. I will take your advice and see where I get. I feel so terrible for her all this time. I will not get a new kitty until she is better and I speak to the vet about it. In the meantime, I may look for another vet for a second opinion.
Thanks!

When we adopted Hannah from Animal Control in Nov, 2005, she was very sick with an URI. It took MANY rounds of antibiotics and several weeks of confinement from our other cat for her to get well. As a matter of fact, she was in solitary from Thanksgiving until New Year's because of the infection. I think I was at the vet with her or getting meds for her every week, if not more often!

She spent the first week of her life with us at the vet's getting IV fluids and antibiotics. I went and visited her everyday during which time she would eat a HUGE serving, then fall asleep. She's a little fighter! They later told me that she was so sick they weren't sure she was going to make it through the first night she was there.

URI CAN be cured, but they often take time and patience. Another thing to ask your vet about is L-Lysine. It's an immune system booster that my vet prescribed for Hannah to help her overcome her URI. It's wonderful stuff!!

Is your kitty still stuffed up? If so, you can run a humidifier or vaporizer to help ease breathing. Make sure kitty is eating. If necessary, you can get some stinky canned food, heat it for about 15 sec. in the microwave to intensify the odor, and that might entice your cat to eat it. If cats can't smell their food, they won't eat.

Stephanie

It could also be a sinuse issue. I have two kittys with sinuse issues. We have 8 cats and no one else gets sick. They have been to several different vets and on several different meds and nothing works. We finally took them to a specialist that said is was chronic sinuse issuse and now we only give them meds when they get a secondary infection. You may want to find a specialest in your area and see if this could be what is wrong with your kitty.

awesome advice! thank you again! She is on the lysine which may be slowing it down. I am going to also look for a specialist in the area.
Thanks again! This is really helpfull!

I hope she is feeling better. Stan's nasty URI seems to have been treated with a one-two punch of zithromax and interferon. Went on for months before we got the right treatment. He was sneezing up yellow gook and blood everywhere.

Thanks for that jella, she is sneazing up yellow gook and blood too. I feel so bad. I will also ask about zithro and interferon, I had read that else where as well. It seems there are many different treatments and that this is a waiting/trial and error game...I just feel terrible that she is looking up at me with her big (now pink) eyes!!!
Thanks for all the suggestions. We welcome them all and really appreciate all of the help.
Thanks again!
Melissa and Lucia

Originally Posted by bellaluciabaci

Thanks for that jella, she is sneazing up yellow gook and blood too. I feel so bad. I will also ask about zithro and interferon, I had read that else where as well. It seems there are many different treatments and that this is a waiting/trial and error game...I just feel terrible that she is looking up at me with her big (now pink) eyes!!!
Thanks for all the suggestions. We welcome them all and really appreciate all of the help.
Thanks again!
Melissa and Lucia

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It is always a big guessing game with URIs. We actually ended up with the zithro & interferon because my other cat tested positive for Bartonella and zithro is often the antibiotic of choice for that. The interferon was given for his immune system as we suspect there was also a selection of nasty viruses at work.

Most vets like to try a few things before they pull out the zithro, it's kind of a "big gun".

Good luck!