Another question/update from Cleopatra (long, sorry - I tend to be detailed)

So I finished giving 'Patra her antibiotics last week, and she is MUCH better! She runs around, she eats and drinks a lot, and uses her litterbox regularly.

A friend (a cat lover who recommended her current vet) suggested that after I finished giving her the antibiotics, that I should give her about a teaspoon of plain yogurt daily (the one with live culture) to help her get the good bacteria back in her system again. So for the past few days, I've added that to her daily routine (she'll only eat it out of my hand like a treat, though, not out of her plate). So at the moment, her diet is about a tablespoon of kitten milk in the morning, a teaspoon of yogurt in the afternoon, and some wet food mixed with water in the evening before I go to bed, and dry food free fed whenever she wants it.

Issues? She's still sneezing, although not anywhere near as much or as badly as she was before. No coughing, either. Her sneezes are pretty wet, too, but she doesn't seem to have a runny nose most of the time, and her eyes look clear to me.

Also, today, when I gave her her wet food, I tried out a new food my fiance had gotten for her - Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Kitten Food Pouch (Oceanfish and Tuna in Sauce) - and after eating one chunk, she wouldn't touch the rest. I figured maybe I just had a cat who didn't like fish (which is fine by me, really, since I don't like seafood, especially the smell), and I opened a can of Nutro MAX CAT Chicken & Liver Formula Canned Kitten Food (mixed with some distilled water), which she had had before, I believe, and liked. But after eating a tiny bit, she again wouldn't touch the rest.

One reason for that could be that I fed her the wet food earlier than usual, because my mom insisted that I was feeding her too late at night, and that she should have a chance to exercise after eating before sleeping. I plan to feed her at her usual time again tomorrow.

I've also noticed her going into her litterbox once or twice, pawing around, and coming straight out again, without even bothering to sit down. I'll scoop tomorrow morning, so I'll see then if she's been using it today and yesterday.

Basically, I'm a little bit afraid that she might still have a cold or have one again. She is active, thoguh, so I might be overreacting. In fact, my fiance (whose mom has had a cat for several years, and whose sister got a kitten a little while before I did) is sure I'm overreacting, and I think my praents believe so as well. But then gain, I was told the same thing when I was afraid she had a URI the first time.

I'd be grateful for any opinions on this. I plan to call the vet Monday morning, even if it's just to talk (I'm kind of hoping to be able to spend Monday at home - I got my wisdom teeth taken out on Wednesday, and I'm just finishing recovering - still on painkillers - but if Patra needs to see the vet, than I'll take her).

But I would like to have a better idea as to whether I'm probably overreacting, or if I should be worried. Thank you all in advance for your replies!

Well, I spoke to the vet yesterday, and she has a follow-up appointment tomorrow morning. Good thing, too, as the past few days, I've noticed her having trouble breathing. Like a dry, wheezing, gasping sort of breathing. When I hear it, I usually rush over to her (for some reason, this never happens when I'm already near her) and the sound stops. If it hasn't stopped yet, I pick her up for a minute, and the sound stops, and she's completely normal again. I half-expect her to give me a look that says "What are you so worried about?"

Do you think she might have Asthma also? my Cat can not eat anything with fish in it. I hope your cat feels better. If it is Asthma I can help you because my Cat has had it for so many years.

One thing I try to do before a vet (or human dr) appointment is write up a list of questions/symptoms/chronology of odd occurrences, because it never fails I forget something until I'm in the car going home. I've often printed out the list beforehand and given it to the tech/nurse so the doctor can read it before and have a feel for what I'm worried about.

BTW, my cats are on Nutro and for whatever reason, will not eat the pouches - they lick up the gravy and leave the meat. But, they'll scarf down the little cans, which is sort of gravy and meat as well. Cats are weird.

Good luck with your own recovery and best wishes for Cleo - she's got a very loving parent!

Thank you all!

mews, I hadn't thought about her having asthma until a day or so ago, when I'd read another thread in this forum where the cat had had similar breathing issues. I'm kind of hoping that she doesn't have asthma, as 1) she's only 4 and a half months old, and 2) it will definitely put a strain on my finances at the moment if she has to have expensive medicine each month. Still, even if she does, I'll manage somehow. I can probably get at least some help from my parents.

And darlili, that is a wonderful idea which I've heard before, but never seem to remember to do. Thanks for the reminder. This time, though, I've got the list with me (and I'll go ahead and take her medical records folder with me as well.

: : This is making me think that the shelter doesn't do such a good job as I'd hoped of screening for health problems, but I suppose they've got a lot on their plate. The problems she's having seems like issues which should have showed up when I got her, not the week after. Either that, or I'm doing something wrong, and I need to figure out what it is, so I can stop doing it.

And it's off to the vet we go!

If its Asthma there are a few ways of treating it. The Depo Medrol shot is forty but it would sometimes help Coco for a long time. She can no longer have the shot though because it causes her to get crystals and bladder infections. You are right about the pounds not checking everything. y Frends cats all were sick when she got them there. Let me know wht the vet says. Here is a video of a cat with Asthma. http://cats.about.com/od/catvideos/y...cat_asthma.htm Your cat could also have bronchitis with a Uri. Coco had bronchitis alot of times. Even if its Asthma if its mild you may not have to do any treatment.

I think most of the reputable shelters try to provide as good health care as possible, but you never know what a change in environments may trigger, even in an animal that was doing pretty well in a shelter environment. When I adopted mine from a county shelter, I signed a contract affirming I'd take mine into my own vet within three days for another exam. Basically, if there were a severe problem the shelter had missed, you would have an opportunity to 'trade' pets.

And, honestly, even if you have the most devoted vets volunteering their time, most shelters really don't have the vet resources or staff a full-time practice will have.

One way or the other, at least you should be getting a good, in-depth base-line visit for your baby and setting up a relationship with your vet as well. Let's hope it's something minor and very treatable.

BTW, has she been eating and using the box any better? Oh, and you'll probably find you do a far better job tracking her symptoms and remembering what to bring to the vet, than you do for your own doctor visits!

eh, last time for her wellness exam, I forgot to bring her medical records. I ended up scanning them in instead and emailing it to them.

The vet said that she's doing pretty well, and that the sneezing and wheezing is probably just a residual from the URI. He gave me some Lysine (Lysene?) to boost her immune system to mix with her food. And since she won't touch most of the wet food I still have for her, I stopped by Petsmart on the way home and picked up some more. (Apparently the flavors she liked were chicken and lamb, and beef and chicken from nutro natural choice canned kitten food). I also picked up a tuna one that she hadn't tried yet, and a few other similar flavors from other brands to try her out on.

I also went ahead and got her a harness and some catnip. She now loves the catnip (finally got her to use her scratching post) and played with the harness a bit like a toy. I don't really want to take her outside, but I get the feeling my mom might insist on letting her out into the backyard when I go home, so I would rather she got used to the feel of it, just in case.

Anyway, I'm supposed to call the vet in another five days with an update, so hopefully, the Lysine will work!

If she has a cold, she might not be able to smell the food very well - maybe heat it up just a bit to make it 'smell' more - just stir in a bit of warm water, or some nuke it a bit - you don't want it hot, just a bit warmer.

Maybe you can start working on your mom about how indoor kitties have statistically have far longer, healthier lives than outdoor or indoor-outdoor kitties. Maybe even check your town's statutes - my suburb technically does not allow any unleashed animals at all, including kitties.

And let her play with her harness and decide it's not a strange bad thing - yet!

Haha, I just talked to my mom, and she said that she wouldn't have her go outside(might help that Patra's MUCH better at sticking to her litter training than our old cat, Cleo, was), so I might have gotten the harness and leash for no reason at all. Still, I plan to keep them, and let her get used to it just in case, even if all it ends up meaning is that I walk her around the house every now and then. She was playing with the harness today when we got home. I hung it up for now, but maybe in a few days she might let me put it on her? I need to go back to that thread on harness training I had read a little while ago - someone posted detailed instructions about the steps they took to train.

I hadn't thought about warming it up a bit more - I'd been mixing some of her drinking water into it, so it made a sort of slurry, and she loved it - I hadn't done that with the chicken and liver flavor food, though - normally I let her sniff the can and she follows it to the kitchen. I'll try warming it up for her tonight. If that doesn't work, I'll open up one of the cans I know she ate before, so I can mix a little Lysine into it.

I've read that harness training is always a good idea, if possible, even for indoor kitties. Let's say you go on a long car trip, and need to make a rest stop - on a leash you could let your baby stretch her legs a bit at a quiet, safe rest stop. Or, if you take her on a plane trip, they always make you take the cat out of the carrier - with a leash at least you'd have a fighting chance to keep her from running all over the terminal!

And yay for mom! I'm so glad your little girl won't have to go outside!

Both of my kittens are on Lysine (on my vet's recommendation) because they got a nasty URI right after I brought them home. It's an amino acid, like Vitamin C, and is good for their immune system. Also, it's really safe! I mix mine into wet food for them every day.

I am fairly sure that it does help them. They perked up after I started using it. I may just keep supplementing them forever, since I take Vitamin C and Echinacea every day to keep my immune system strong, why not help them with theirs?

I hope Patra feels better soon!