do kittens always die from URIs?

without veterinary care?

Even if it's not that bad?

Ohhh, I dont think so!
How little of Kittens?

3 weeks old

no, just make sure they are eating and drinking, or in the case of 3 week olds, nursing Clear the crusties off their eyes and noses also. That is important. I use Little Noses (for children) a drop in each nostril, just a tiny drop. It usually clears in a few days. I rarely even take them to the vet when this happens. I wouldn't recommend that unless you are being very careful with everything I mentioned and you know what you are doing.

Not always, but at 3 weeks old they don't have as much strength to fight the URI as an older kitten would. So please do get them to a vet asap.

no, just make sure they are eating and drinking, or in the case of 3 week olds, nursing Clear the crusties off their eyes and noses also. That is important. I use Little Noses (for children) a drop in each nostril, just a tiny drop. It usually clears in a few days. I rarely even take them to the vet when this happens. I wouldn't recommend that unless you are being very careful with everything I mentioned and you know what you are doing.

Click to expand...

Okay every one of them is nursing great.

If it were to go on for more then a few days(just in case!) then how long would be too long and I should take them to a vet(even if their condition stays the same..unless it would get worse if it went longer then a few days(?))?

I honestly would take them to the vet. URIs can(can, not always) be deadly....at their age they have very weak immune systems....I would not risk it.

Ya, I probably would take them to a vet, IF you have one available where you're at! You're in good hands the people here are great and can get you through anything with advice and support! You keep asking questions and they will keep answering them. Isn't this place great?

Glitch's Earth Mommy
Amber


RIP Glitch
11.16.07

At 3 weeks old, your kittens are still nursing, so will be getting some of Mom's immune-boosting properties in their milk, however ... the key here is to know whether or not this is a virus or an infection. If it is a virus, it must run it's course and there is nothing other than supportive care to address it. Viruses do not respond to antibiotics unless they develop into a secondary bacterial infection, but Viruses do cause upper respiratory symptoms. Examine the goop. What color is it? Is it clear, white or yellow? If so, then the chances are extremely good that what your kittens have is a virus. If the goop is green or greenish yellow, the chances are good that they have a bacterial infection and will require antibiotics.

As white cat lover accurately points out, 3 week old kittens do not have the benefit of a fully-functional immune system. They also lack the physical fortitude to effectively fight illnesses and may decline very, very quickly.

My strong advice to you is to check with your vet, but if he/she wants to give antibiotics, ask if he thinks this is bacterial and will respond well to them. If it isn't bacterial in nature, then stay away from giving the antibiotics since it makes their developing immune systems a bit lazy.

Best of luck and I do hope you will come back and update us once you've seen the vet.

I agree. Im one of those kinda people who like to wait till its absolutly neccessary but with Glitch I didn't wait and it turned out I should have brought him in sooner. (they couldn't have stopped the disease but they may have been able to put it in remission.) I would probably bring them in even though its going to be alot of trouble, possible for nothing but you know what? It feels great knowing whats wrong and it feels great knowing theres nothing wrong too!

Glitch's Earth Mommy
RIP
11.16.07

it can be kind of jarring to take young kittens to a vet, though... if they're OK at home, then they ought to stay at home. But yeah, mild URIs are quite survivable. The thing with the kittens is that you have to be sure they're nursing--if their noses are clogged, they'll have a harder time breathing while they nurse, so you have to be sure they're nursing. Check to make sure their bellies are full and they're warm and active. Make sure they're not dehydrated or lethargic. But the second they won't eat or seem sluggish, call the vet--a young kitten can go downhill very quickly.

thank you all so much!

our vet charges you through the nose, just to LOOK at one of the kittens is $72 (that's NO examination included & he'd charge us for their mom), he is a great vet, but really really expensive and I can't afford to fork out hundreds of dollars for him to say "it's nothing", don't get me wrong, I'm willing to pay that if they start looking like they need the vet, but they currently don't.

I just really don't want to right now because they are so young, I think putting them in a cage and in a car to drive for 30min to the vet would be very traumatic at this age. I also don't want to open them up to any colds since it's VERY cold out(below freezing). As long as they're doing okay I plan to keep them here at home in their nice warm room with a relaxed enviroment.

There isn't any goop..all they have are some crusties around their nose(sometimes..they don't have that every day) and like 1-2 crusties by their eyes. I haven't found any runny stuff