Very Dissapointed in My Animal Shelter

I don't know who I'm more upset with- the animal shelter I adopted Milo from or the Vet that he was sent to be neutered before he could be released to me.

Last Saturday, the first day I saw Milo, I noticed the cats around him were sneezing. I said something to someone that worked there and they replied that someone left the air conditioner on too high and some of the cats have "... a little kitty cold." On Monday when I finalized the adoption, I noticed some of the kittens were missing, I figured they had been adopted. I still noticed sneezing, but again that I told that it was "... a kitty cold." Milo looked okay, so I completed all the paperwork to adopt him. The shelter has a policy of not releasing an unaltered animal until it is neutered. The first available appointment was last Wednesday. I picked him up from the Vet and didn't get a good look at him since he was in carrier. When I got home I noticed green crust around his nose and discharge in the corner of his eyes. When I called the Vet back to voice my concern, they told me that he had an upper respiratory infection that had been going the cats at the shelter. What upsets me is that the neutered Milo, who is only 9 weeks old with an URI AND let me walk out the door without informing me. I went back and got the antibiotics.

Yesterday I noticed Milo was starting to go backwards with his URI. I called the Vet and she told me that this particular URI that was going around the shelter was very bad and had claimed the lives of 3 kittens. I'm pretty sure the severity of the URI in the shelter wouldn't have been so bad if they took it more seriously and thought more of it than "a kitty cold."

Milo is doing a little better, but now I'm even more worried about him. Does anyone know how long it takes for a URI to clear up? He still gets a build up around his nose every couple hours.

My Seldon was very very sick with a URI when he came home. I had to take him to the hospital several times. Finally I made them keep him for observation for a few days. He ended up with pneumonia. But we saved him.
He needs fluids, antibiotics, love, warmth, steam room(turn on the shower and sit with him for 20 minutes) and try to get some food in him. I fed Seldon by hand. I cleaned his snotty nose all day long.
Be aggressive about his care.

URI is a viral infection and has little effect on URI which is why many shelters do not waste their money on treating them with antibiotics, when they are given, it is to boost an immune system against a possible viral infection that may happen at the same time as the URI.

Vets are recommending against treating URI with antibiotics as URI just needs to run its course with fluids and love and overuse of antibiotics can make them less effective in future infections.

As mentioned above, steam will help, as will cleaning the eyes if gunky with a warm soft towel. It usually takes about 10 days to clear up in the shelter but to be honest, it is a more stressful environment and can make it worse as the immune system is slower under stress - so perhaps the vet visit and car rides made Milo worse and he just needs to settle some to get over it.

Both my boys had this when I brought them home. Bugsy was just a little sick but Capone almost died. We got him at 5 weeks so he didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have much of an immune system. I rushed him to the vet at least 4 times. What i remember the most is he couldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t breath. Every two hours the vet told me to sit in a steaming shower with him for 20 min. Poor baby didnt like that.

Almost all the cats at our SPCA have URI. They have been trying to manage it for a long time I guess its just too hard.

We also have the immunity booster, Capone loves the taste lol. They get symptoms every once and awhile but as they are getting older its nothing too bad. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m just cleaning eyes and noses out a little more often then my past cats.

Seldon had gunk for almost a year afterward. I was constantly pulling gunk out of his nose and cleaning his eyes. He is ok now. He gets vitamins and I kept him warm for the first year. That seemed to help.
He did have a secondary infection as icklemiss said. Maybe Milo has one?

The shelters here hand out pamphlets about URIs when you take the cat home.

My friends adopted cats from the pounds also and they were very sick. They should never fix a Cat with a uri. It can kill them. My Vet makes sure they are not sick first.

It's been a week now and Milo is still sick. It kills me every time I look at him and he has gunk around his nose and eyes. I've been taking him the bathroom with me when I take a shower to help clear it up, but there seems to be very little progress. He had a Vet appointment tomorrow, so hopefully they'll be able to help.

It is not at all uncommon for cats & kittens in a shelter to have URI. Unfortuantely kittens are especially suceptable. Our shelter is very careful, and some still get sick. That said we are very proactive and have not lost any kittens to URI in well over a year. Here's what I suggest. Antibiotics to prevent secondary bacterial infection. Sub-q fluids, these can be gotten from a vet. I would add an L-Lysine supplement to help suport his immune system. This too can be gotten from a vet. Make sure your baby is eating, cats have sensitive livers and must eat at least a little every day. Supplement with KMR (a milk replacement) if you can or chicken baby food, gerber #2 & make sure there are no onions. As far as length of time 7-10 days is "normal" just like a virus in humans.

No your kitten shouldn't have been neutered while he was sick. I don't know what you can do now, but do your best to take care of your new baby. It must be so hard to have a new kitten and have it be so sick. This is supposed to be an enjoyable time.

Many vibes for your baby to get healthy

And lotsa loves coming your way

Just kind of repeating what has already been said... a URI is just a kitty cold, its like children in a daycare, one gets it and they all have it, very common in shelters. You can treat but it is good to just let it run its course. Clear the eye gunk with a warm wash cloth, soak if they are crusted shut, steam does help greatly. L-lysine is great too as a suppliment to boost the immune system.

It is kind of odd that the vet neutered a kitty with a cold but it really might not have been that bad before hand. The stress of the vet, the surgery and going to a new home away from siblings can really affect the immune system. I have seen many kitties get a cold right afterwards.

When Scooter was a baby and had a bad uri, those smelly tablets in the steamy shower seemed to ease his breathing. It is also one one of those thing that won't hurt if it does not help. Sorry I can't think of the name of them, but the pharmacist can tell you. They didn't do much for Pepper, but they cleared poor baby Scooter right up.

You can also buy L-Lysine in most drug stores. Look for uncoated pills or capsules. My vet had me giving 1,000 mg (500 mg twice a day) when my cats were sick (just home from the shelter). They are both now on 250 mg daily (one is FIV positive and the other has ear polyps and a warped nasal passage which make URIs more problematic). We crush the tablets and mix it in their wet food.