Howdy to the good folks here at TCS, i've been lurking on these boards for the past couple of weeks. Just got my first kitten who is now rounding the 18 week old mark, and I'm curious as to whether or not I should be concerned about a little bit of a sneeze she has had for the past couple of weeks.
Before you get too concerned, she was at the vet for her rabies/distemper shot a little over a week ago. I asked the vet about the sneeze, and he checked and said she had no sign of any respitory problems. My house is definetly dusty, me and my roomate aren't particularly good house cleaners and we smoked until about 5 months ago (quit well before we brought the kitten home).
So it's possible it's just allergies, but I find that she seems to be worse in the mornings. She refuses to sleep on either of the two beds I bought for her, one is a standard flat pet bed and the other is a more enclosed job. She prefers to lay on my computer desk chair, which is about a foot from my bed. When I wake up in the morning, she has her morning ritual of walking all around me on the bed and purring (the only time during the day i ever hear her purr), and the purring sounds congested. She'll sneeze a few time, and go eat and use the litter box etc. I go to work, come home and I generally don't hear or sneeze at all until the next morning.
So, my main concern is that she is getting too cold at night, and I know this is bad for a kitten. However, i don't know what else to do. I have beds available, i've tried to put some dirty t-shirts in the bed so they have a more pleasant odor, rub some catnip in them, etc. The one enclosed bed is definetly warm and snuggly, but she doesn't have a desire to sleep in it. She also doesn't snuggle up to me at all. Due to the intense heat outside, we had our AC jacked pretty high (about 70 degrees in the house, a little warmer in my room) and the last couple of nights it's been in the 50s outside, and I left a window open for a breeze, and it got pretty cold when I woke up.
So, will a kiiten this old know what is too cold and try to find warmth? Is this something I should be concerned about? Should I attempt to give her a more warm spot to sleep. The doc mentioned some benadryl when I talked to him about the sneeze, is this an option?
Thanks for reading, and this site is a wonderful wealth of feline information. Thanks!
Before you get too concerned, she was at the vet for her rabies/distemper shot a little over a week ago. I asked the vet about the sneeze, and he checked and said she had no sign of any respitory problems. My house is definetly dusty, me and my roomate aren't particularly good house cleaners and we smoked until about 5 months ago (quit well before we brought the kitten home).
So it's possible it's just allergies, but I find that she seems to be worse in the mornings. She refuses to sleep on either of the two beds I bought for her, one is a standard flat pet bed and the other is a more enclosed job. She prefers to lay on my computer desk chair, which is about a foot from my bed. When I wake up in the morning, she has her morning ritual of walking all around me on the bed and purring (the only time during the day i ever hear her purr), and the purring sounds congested. She'll sneeze a few time, and go eat and use the litter box etc. I go to work, come home and I generally don't hear or sneeze at all until the next morning.
So, my main concern is that she is getting too cold at night, and I know this is bad for a kitten. However, i don't know what else to do. I have beds available, i've tried to put some dirty t-shirts in the bed so they have a more pleasant odor, rub some catnip in them, etc. The one enclosed bed is definetly warm and snuggly, but she doesn't have a desire to sleep in it. She also doesn't snuggle up to me at all. Due to the intense heat outside, we had our AC jacked pretty high (about 70 degrees in the house, a little warmer in my room) and the last couple of nights it's been in the 50s outside, and I left a window open for a breeze, and it got pretty cold when I woke up.
So, will a kiiten this old know what is too cold and try to find warmth? Is this something I should be concerned about? Should I attempt to give her a more warm spot to sleep. The doc mentioned some benadryl when I talked to him about the sneeze, is this an option?
Thanks for reading, and this site is a wonderful wealth of feline information. Thanks!
