Ollie is in bad shape.

I hope Ollie gets better. I love you sig of Ally and Ollie.

Sending vibes for Ollie. He's got a good daddy to take care of him now!



A favor for you? Let me know if they will eat the Enisyl-F gel. The company switched formula's a few years back and my cats hated the new flavor. Our vet told me that most people returned it for the same reason and my vet stopped carrying it. I'm curious if they changed the formula again to make it more palatable. It works very well if they will take it.

What a great kitty daddy you are!! Kudos for you going with your gut instinct and taking the kitty back to the vet.

Do the steam sauna in the bathroom with Ollie and/or run a vaporizer where he spends most of his time. Feed him some good canned food and warm it up, or put it in a water bath. (Heat a bit of water in a bowl for a couple of minutes in the microwave, remove, then set the bowl in the water for a couple of minutes. Two minutes is enough in our kitty family!!) Heating it up enhances the aroma and makes stuffed up kitties smell it better. If Ollie can't smell, he won't eat. If you still don't think he's eating enough, you can force feed him some plain pedialyte from the baby section at the grocery store. You can also ask the vet for an appetite stimulant. When our kitties are really congested, we also leave a huge pot of water simmering on the stove to add some humidity to the house. Sometimes I add a couple of drops of eucalyptus oil to the water which helps open nasal passageways. CAUTION: Eucalyptus is fatal to cats if ingested. If they're really bad off with congestion, I will put a couple of drops of eucalyptus on an old washcloth and place it out of their reach near their sleeping spot.

Did you get Tobramycin drops or Terramycin drops? We've given those to Hannah in her nose and eyes with great success.

Stephanie

A favor for you? Let me know if they will eat the Enisyl-F gel. The company switched formula's a few years back and my cats hated the new flavor. Our vet told me that most people returned it for the same reason and my vet stopped carrying it. I'm curious if they changed the formula again to make it more palatable. It works very well if they will take it.

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Ally didn't seem to love it, but she didn't hate it either. She licked it up. I figured out that putting it on her paw was a bad idea. I'll put it on a plate instead tomorrow and get back to you.

Did you get Tobramycin drops or Terramycin drops? We've given those to Hannah in her nose and eyes with great success.

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No Tobramycin, instead he's on Gentamicin which is another non-systemic aminoglycoside antibiotic. No on Terramycin because Terramycin is Oxytetracycline. He's already on Doxycycline which is another antibiotic in the tetracycline family, so adding Terramycin could increase the side effects he experiences. He's essentially on the same regimen though, just different specifics.

ETA: I will try adding some steam.

Poor Olie get better soon.

I tried the steam. The vet also recommended it along with some members here.

At first I was going to just turn on a shower and leave it running on hot and then take Ollie into the bathroom with the shower door closed..... but then I remembered that I have a clothes steamer.

So I took the clothes steamer, filled it up with water, removed the hose, and let it run in the bathroom for about 20 minutes with the door closed. Then I took Ollie in there and sat with him for a good 15 minutes. He sneezed and sneezed and sneezed and there was snot flying everywhere. I figured that was good because it was clearning out his nose. I took advantage of the opportunity and brought some Wellness kitten food (canned) and he could definitely smell it better than before and ate a good amount.

Then I sat with him for a few more minutes until the sneezing stopped and turned the machine off and took him back to his room, gave him his last dose of meds and put him in his bed to go to sleep.

I figured I was covered in snot and didn't want Ally to catch what he has, so I took some isopropyl alcohol and saturated a rag with it. I rubbed my legs, arms, and neck with the alcohol and then changed my clothes. I hope that's enough to protect Ally. I'm back up with her right now and I think Ollie is asleep, but I'll check on him in a little while.

Get Well soon Ollie! He's lucky to have you!

I think he's in good hands. ( I love the little guy ) To me, Ally and Ollie are my kids. I hope to keep them healthy and happy as long as possible and would love to have them around when I one day have kids of my own.

Anyways.

Your experience sounds very similar to my own when I got Alan, my kitty! He was only just five months old and he was in the rescue centre, I saw him and he was fine and I could have him once he had been neutered but he never got that far. He got cat flu in the shelter and couldn't be neutered until he was better and I had to sign a disclaimer as I wanted to take him home to look after him as he wasn't going to get better there as the cat flu was rife! He was in a right state, sneezing, coughing, not eating, ear mites, the lot. So I had very similar stuff to give him. He had eye and nose drops, he was sneezing blood at one point which was awful, antibiotics to take, ear drops for the mites! Bless his little heart, he got better though!
Other things that I tried that could help, if kitty isn't eating much try slightly warming the food as it brings the smell out which will make it easier for kitty to smell it with blocked up or runny nose! Add a little water to the food so that kitty won't get dehydrated. HIs ear mites cleared up in a matter of days and although the uri took longer to go he soon got well again.
As an owner it is awful to see your kitty unwell but you are doing all the right things so good for you! I wish kitty a quick recovery

When we're being mushy with our kitties, we often wonder aloud, "Of all the wonderful kitties in the world, how did we get the best ones?" -- If your kitties only knew, I'm sure they'd be asking the same question in relation to their Daddy. They sure are lucky kitties to have such an awesome Daddy. Keeping the flowing for a quick recovery for Ollie and that Ally ducks the bug.

So far Ally seems to be ok, but I know that there is an incubation period so if she's caught it, I won't know for a litle while.

I had to schedule her spaying and microchip implementation today, but to be safe, I scheduled it for mid April. If I notice that she's caught it, I will reschedule for late April or early May.

In the meantime, Ollie is still eating. I've put him in the "sauna" twice today and sat with him in there. He definitely has more of an appetite in there. Other than that, his anxiety level still seems high (which isn't helped I'm sure by me having to give him all of these meds he doesn't want). I just need my little guy to get better so that he and Ally can meet. I'm sure having another friendly kitten roughly around his age will help ease his nerves and comfort him.

Give Ollie some time - my boy probably took three weeks before he stopped shedding wildly (a sign of stress). But, they really can pick up on when they're loved, I think - so Ollie is picking that up as well. So good to read he's doing better - I'm so glad you were able to get him into the vet the other day.

BTW, how is Ally doing emotionally? I'm sure she can smell 'other cat' on Daddy - she doing ok with that? Are you swapping tee-shirts with the individual scents between the two cats (although, poor Ollie, hard to smell yet). My princess definitely wasn't too keen on 'other cat', but now they groom and sleep with each other, so I guess we got over that!

I just picked up on this thread and I am impressed with all you are doing for Ollie. I hope he continues to get better and your little girl doesn't catch it.

Ally doesn't seem to have a problem. She can smell him sometimes on me even after I wash up and she just sniffs at me and then looks up at me with this look like, "Ok. Where is he?"

I've let her see him from a distance a few times, but that's about as close as they've gotten so far.

I'm kind of worried that Ollie is going to hate me after all of this.

I'm giving him 3 different meds which works out to giving him meds 8 times a day and he just hates it... he absolutely hates it. I'm worried that after he gets better, he's going to have this mental association me as being the guy who will hug him and pet him, but then turns on him, torturing him with meds.

Oh, I think once the meds are done, and the hugs and cuddles continue, he won't be slow to realize that you're his friend, even if you do do weird distasteful things sometimes. Humans! -- go figure, eh?

Originally Posted by LawGuy

I'm kind of worried that Ollie is going to hate me after all of this.

I'm giving him 3 different meds which works out to giving him meds 8 times a day and he just hates it... he absolutely hates it. I'm worried that after he gets better, he's going to have this mental association me as being the guy who will hug him and pet him, but then turns on him, torturing him with meds.

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Won't happen. I've had to give Muddy up to 5 pills a day over the last year and he still loves me. He's down to 2-3 a day right now. I give Muddy big comforting kisses on the top of his head after he gets his meds and he immediately starts to purr. I used to spread out his meds across the day, but have worked them to all be in one shot during the evening. That way the trauma only happens once a day now. With 8 meds for Ollie I know it will be hard, but if you can do it, reduce the number of times per day that you have to approach him to medicate him. Then love, love, love on the boy. He'll remember the end of the interaction (the love) more so than the beginning of the interaction (the pills).

As far as the medicine goes: Bugsy was on Clindrops, a liquid antibiotic, and he HATED. And he was getting traumatized of me as well... I learned that a great way to give him the meds was to mix it in his wet food in the morning. If it is liquid, go ahead and mix it up. If it is pills, you can crush them and mix it up too (call your vet to make sure it is ok to crush the pill). Mix it with about 1/2 of the amount that he usually eats, to make sure he eats everything. Clindrops taste HORRIBLY, and he had no problems whatsoever to eat it when mixed in the wet food...
This should spare you and him some stress...

lol I worry abou tthat when I cut Jake's nails and put on his soft paws... He always hisses at me when I do that. It's strange though he will hiss but at the same time stays still in my lap so that I can do it lol
Anyways I don't think it's a problem..cats forget those things fast

Originally Posted by LawGuy

So far Ally seems to be ok, but I know that there is an incubation period so if she's caught it, I won't know for a litle while.

I had to schedule her spaying and microchip implementation today, but to be safe, I scheduled it for mid April. If I notice that she's caught it, I will reschedule for late April or early May.

In the meantime, Ollie is still eating. I've put him in the "sauna" twice today and sat with him in there. He definitely has more of an appetite in there. Other than that, his anxiety level still seems high (which isn't helped I'm sure by me having to give him all of these meds he doesn't want). I just need my little guy to get better so that he and Ally can meet. I'm sure having another friendly kitten roughly around his age will help ease his nerves and comfort him.

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Be sure to check if the microchip will be of any use when you move out of state.. I do believe in my area the microchip only works at the shelter where it was put in..

Don't worry about that - while cats have good memories, he'll still be able to associate you with all the good stuff - love and good food and scritchies. I've had good luck with Pill Pockets, if yours will eat them. Just remember to follow the package directions, where you hold and close up the pocket with the hand that is not holding the pill. I think you could feed a pill pocket to a kitten?

Also, a friend of mine always follows meds up with some sort of little treat, and, as mentioned above, lots and lots of love. Heck, I starved my boy and took him to the vet for a dental cleaning, and then accidentally stepped on his tail the same day, and he still loves me.

And, look, Ally loves you - even when her neck hurt and you wouldn't let her play outside the cage. I have to admit, I'm really looking forward to the 'introduction' stories on these two.