Would you knowingly give your cat(s) the URI?

Hereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s a question for you all. As I posted earlier I am leaving my boyfriend. The big issue now is my cats. I cannot afford to move on my own so I need to move in with either my sister (who has 4 cats) or my parents (who have 3 cats). All three of my cats have URI which we all know is contagious and for life. Now dealing with URI for awhile I have come to just accept it and to me itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s forgettable. They havenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t had cold symptoms in over a year so a URI in my world is no biggie.

Guaranteed if I move in with my family their cats are destined to get the URI. Being that I think itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s no big deal I wanted to get other peoples opinions on this matter so I can understand my families concerns over this, or I can discuss it with them to make them feel better.

Let me know how you would feel/think if a family member wanted to move in with you with her URI cats knowing your cats will get this for life.

Thanks all!

I don't think your family's cats are necessarily going to contract URI. Here's my story: I adopted a cat from a high kill shelter in January. They wanted to euthanize Boojie, who suffered from a URI, because they lacked sufficient funds and resources to treat him. Anyway, I adopted him and brought him home thinking that Holly would get sick too. Amazingly, she never did get sick at all. The vet explained that Holly has a strong immune system but she also receives a yearly FVRCP vaccine, which apparently protects against URI.

Ask your family if their cats have received that vaccine.

Firstly, many things can cause a URI, normally it, in and of itself is not a lifelong illness.

Stress, overcrowding, poor nutrition and parasites are just a few of the causes.

The only real and true cause for concern to other cats would be viral causes resulting in chronic URI.
Feline Herpes, Bortadella, Mycoplasma, Calcivirus and Feline Chlamydia

If the other cats are not compromised in any way, I really do not think there is a problem under most circumstances, providing poper quarantine is done.

I have not read your other thread, so taking that into consideration, my belief is that you should NOT take your cats over there with URI unless your situation is dire. You should wait the extra week or find a house to stay where there are no other pets until they are better.

Moving them while they are sick would put them under a great deal more stress and they could get a lot sicker.

Plus, what are the ages of the cats where you are going? If there are any very young or very old cats, they could get really ill from the URI. If my cats get URI it means they go to the vet, and I give them clavamox to keep it from turning into a bacterial pneumonia. Also cats can get really sore throats from URI and cannot swallow and stop eating. It could be very costly to your family.

If you do have NO CHOICE but to take them out of the house immediately, you should confine them to a separate room from the other cats, and put a towel under the door and put books or weights so the cats cannot smell thru the door and get germs. You would need to keep them in a separate room anyhow at first, so this is just going a bit further. Also you would need to use hand sanitizer and do NOT touch your family's cats or let them get near your cats. You'd need to use separate garbage bags and go to great lengths in tossing any food remnants.

I really don't think you should move those cats until they are well. If anyone came to my house with sick cats and mine got sick, I would be really super angry.