Chronic sneezer

tange1

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I have an oci whos approaching one year old. Literally for almost all her life shes been sneezing. Im at wits end - Ive seen the vet more times than I can count. My cat sneezes all the time - when its bad she shoots gobs of green snot. After a round of antibiotic it backs down to sneezing mosture and sometimes snot. From licking her own snot she gets 'grunty' sounding wet grunts sometimes.

Ive been through many antibiotics, xrays of the nasal cavity, nose drops, even putting her under and injecting anti biotic on her nose.

Always she improves after antibiotics - usually down to sneezing w/ less or no snot.

The vet tells me she might out grow it or might just have it all her life. Im lost, what else can I try!?

thanks!
 

kit e cat

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I'd like to know also. I have an orange and white tabby who has sneezed his whole life, and he's about 1.5 now. He's totally normal otherwise, as I'm sure yours is, which is why its so frustrating. But he will sneeze and sneeze and shoot boogers all over the place, which I have to scrape off the wall or wherever he was sitting.Right now he's on an antibiotic and sterioud nose and eye drops to try and curb it. It's gotten better, but I'm afraid, like your cat, that it'll come back after the medicine is done.
 
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tange1

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Originally Posted by Kit E Cat

I'd like to know also. I have an orange and white tabby who has sneezed his whole life, and he's about 1.5 now. He's totally normal otherwise, as I'm sure yours is, which is why its so frustrating. But he will sneeze and sneeze and shoot boogers all over the place, which I have to scrape off the wall or wherever he was sitting.Right now he's on an antibiotic and sterioud nose and eye drops to try and curb it. It's gotten better, but I'm afraid, like your cat, that it'll come back after the medicine is done.
If yours is like mine shes otherwise normal, eats, plays, gains weight like a growing cat but shoots snot everywhere. Everytime shes on an antibiotic she improves but never shakes it.
 

kit e cat

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yep, that's how Little Kitty is. He doesn't have a real name because he was NOT supposed to stay here! But here he is a year later...and Little Kitty stuck. I'm so tired of scraping boogers off my walls.
 
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tange1

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Originally Posted by Kit E Cat

yep, that's how Little Kitty is. He doesn't have a real name because he was NOT supposed to stay here! But here he is a year later...and Little Kitty stuck. I'm so tired of scraping boogers off my walls.
And washing windows...
 

kit e cat

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Oh my gosh my picture window in the living room is disgusting! And I have to spray it down and leave it because the snot and boogers are like concrete! lol, what we do for our pets
 

otto

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Have these cats been tested for the herpes virus? It may be as simple as putting them on the amino acid supplement l-lysine.

L-lysine does not cure herpes, as herpes is not curable, but controls the frequency of out breaks and reduces the incidents of secondary infection.

When the herpes virus flares up, it often goes into secondary infection. Put the cat on antibiotics, the infection clears up. But since the herpes is not being controlled, it keeps coming back.

L-lysine is usually very effective at controlling herpes flare ups. The usual dose is 500 mg daily, for life.

It's not a prescription medication, but should be discussed with your vet before using on your cat, of course.

One more thing. For those of you who have brought your cat to the same vet for the same thing more than twice. It's time for a second opinion. See another vet. And ask about the herpes virus.
 

abbycats

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I have a abyssinian who has the same problems since he was a kitten. He gets really big green snots. He is normal and healthy otherwise. He has been going to the vet for almost 4 years over this. Poor little guy has had his snot analysed and we have treated him for strep infection to fungal infection. My vet thinks Frankie has an immunity problem from the herpes virus. L-Lysine is good for this. I get mine from the vet it's called Enisyl. Frankie usually has a couple rounds of antibiotics a year for this too.
 
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tange1

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Originally Posted by otto

Have these cats been tested for the herpes virus? It may be as simple as putting them on the amino acid supplement l-lysine.

L-lysine does not cure herpes, as herpes is not curable, but controls the frequency of out breaks and reduces the incidents of secondary infection.

When the herpes virus flares up, it often goes into secondary infection. Put the cat on antibiotics, the infection clears up. But since the herpes is not being controlled, it keeps coming back.

L-lysine is usually very effective at controlling herpes flare ups. The usual dose is 500 mg daily, for life.

It's not a prescription medication, but should be discussed with your vet before using on your cat, of course.

One more thing. For those of you who have brought your cat to the same vet for the same thing more than twice. It's time for a second opinion. See another vet. And ask about the herpes virus.
Shes been tested for herpes and it came back negative -- shes on duralactin lysine right now. She had it before, this is her 2nd tube of it on this round of treatment. Im not sure if does anything or not. Where would you buy more if I want to? Its expensive from the vet.
 

nes

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Can I add Peaches to the list?

We thought she had a cold when we took her in, but the sneezing has continued (although improved GREATLY). I'm still hoping it will eventually go away, especially after the babies are weaned, as it is super gross
! Otherwise she's a perfectly healthy little momma.

No we've never tested her for herpes, I'll talk to the vet about that when she goes in for her first sets of vaccinations.
 

samhainborn

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Cuddles has been having sneezing fits lately as well. I had a tube of terramycin Antibiotic eye ointment from the vet last week when Smudge ended up with an eye infection, and as the eye and sinus cavities are connected, decided to try the ointment on Cuddles.

It helped!

It's only been a day or two since I started with the ointment but he's no longer blowing gobs out of his nose or giving me a gross shower when he shakes his head. He is also negative for herpes.
 

stephanietx

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Okay, I'm going to post Hannah's story one more time for you. Hopefully, it will help you.

We adopted Hannah in 2005 from the city pound. She was approx. 7 mos old and weighed 4 lbs. She started sneezing on the way home. Spent the first week of her life with us in ICU at the vet's and almost died from a very severe URI. Got her well and she blossomed.

Fast forward to 2008. Starting around February, she got one URI after another with each one seeming to get worse in intensity, but a trip to the vet and a round of antibiotics and she was good to go. About 2 or 3 weeks later, she'd be sick again. In late March, we had her tested for Feline Herpes using the Real PCR URD test. Came back positive for herpes. Great! That would sorta explain why she has difficulty kicking the URI, but doesn't explain why her snot is green and yellow and every color in between. The get well/get sick/get antibiotic routine continued until we changed vets and took her to a cat only vet in November.

By this time, she was sneezing many times in a row many times a day. It hurt me to watch her because I knew it was hard for her. She'd sneeze so much and so hard her nose would start bleeding. I followed her around the house with a paper towel or kleenex because I was constantly wiping snot off the floor, off her whiskers, off the wall, off her face, off the litter box. You name it, it had snot on it!

The first thing the vet did after reading Hannah's very thick medical file and talking with me and my husband extensively was to do a culture and sensitivity test of her snot ("nasal discharge") to find out what we were dealing with. The culture would tell her if it was a viral or bacterial infection and the sensitivity test would tell her what medication would effectively treat it. Around Thanksgiving, the test came back that Hannah had a pseudomonas bacterial infection. Did a 20-day round of Zenequin and had her tested again. Test came back positive again, so we did another 20-day round of Zenequin. Shortly after New Year's 2009, Hannah's snot was tested again and the results were in a satisfactory range, so she was declared healthy. She still sneezes and sounds snotty from time to time, but we've not had any snot slinging sneezes since January!!

All this to tell you to have your cat's snot tested to see what your kitty is dealing with. Clear snot is fine, but colored snot is not.

Stephanie
 
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tange1

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Stephanie - thanks for your story. Pepper, my Oci has clear snot again after a round of antibiotics but this is always the case. She will improve for sometimes months before she starts getting green/yellow snot. Right now she's clear but very sneezy having just finished a round of antibiotics a week ago.
 

stephanietx

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tange~When the snot turns color and you take her to the vet, ask for the snot to be cultured and a sensitivity test done so you'll know the best course of action to treat the infection. I'd also encourage you to have your kitty tested for herpes.
 

otto

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Ask for an xray of the sinus cavity. I lost a kitty to a cancer in her sinus. I was with a vet at the time who turned out to be useless on so many levels.....but Bibbs's story is:

She had a dental cleaning with a couple of extractions. She did well, healed fine. About two months later her nose started to run. Vet put her on antibiotics, it cleared up. Two months later it came back, so on and so forth. This went on for over a year. How I wish I'd known as much as I know now.

Now, I would never have gone to the same vet over and over again, I would have sought a second opinion the third time the infection came back.

Anyway. Finally, after a year of this, the vet took an xray and said there was "something up there" in the sinus cavity causing irritation. She did not want to do surgery.

I finally got smart and took Bibbs to another vet, but by then it was too late, a malignant cancer had formed around the "something".

If the original vet had done an x ray sooner, and seen that "something" and sent me to a specialist for surgery, maybe I could have had my Bibbs for a much longer time. As it was, by the time the malignancy was diagnosed (by biopsy) it was much too late for surgery and I had to let her go at 13. (Tolly was so devastated I thought I would lose him, too)

Afterward, I found out what I think is the answer to what happened to Bibbs. During her dental surgery a filament of tooth root got loose and went into her sinus cavity. This is not common, but it happens. It explains why two months after her dental she started getting runny noses. It explains why the condition never cleared up.

So....in addition to being tested for herpes, and having cultures grown on the discharges to determine what antibiotic is likely to work, and keeping the cat on antibiotic long term....ask for x rays. If there's something up there causing this trouble, hopefully it can be removed before it is too late.
 
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tange1

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Originally Posted by otto

Ask for an xray of the sinus cavity. I lost a kitty to a cancer in her sinus. I was with a vet at the time who turned out to be useless on so many levels.....but Bibbs's story is:

She had a dental cleaning with a couple of extractions. She did well, healed fine. About two months later her nose started to run. Vet put her on antibiotics, it cleared up. Two months later it came back, so on and so forth. This went on for over a year. How I wish I'd known as much as I know now.

Now, I would never have gone to the same vet over and over again, I would have sought a second opinion the third time the infection came back.

Anyway. Finally, after a year of this, the vet took an xray and said there was "something up there" in the sinus cavity causing irritation. She did not want to do surgery.

I finally got smart and took Bibbs to another vet, but by then it was too late, a malignant cancer had formed around the "something".

If the original vet had done an x ray sooner, and seen that "something" and sent me to a specialist for surgery, maybe I could have had my Bibbs for a much longer time. As it was, by the time the malignancy was diagnosed (by biopsy) it was much too late for surgery and I had to let her go at 13. (Tolly was so devastated I thought I would lose him, too)

Afterward, I found out what I think is the answer to what happened to Bibbs. During her dental surgery a filament of tooth root got loose and went into her sinus cavity. This is not common, but it happens. It explains why two months after her dental she started getting runny noses. It explains why the condition never cleared up.

So....in addition to being tested for herpes, and having cultures grown on the discharges to determine what antibiotic is likely to work, and keeping the cat on antibiotic long term....ask for x rays. If there's something up there causing this trouble, hopefully it can be removed before it is too late.
Sorry I didnt share this already but shes had an xray of the nasal cavity. It showed what the doctor thought was minor damage to the back of the nasal cavity caused by an infection as a kitten. I will check on if she was tested for herpes, i think she was and it was negative.
 

lilac&higgie

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One of mine started with the sneezing. The vet (holistic) said he had allergies- that animals have allergies the same as people. She gave him an herbal supplement. When his allergies act up, I give him the supplement and his sneezing is gone within a week.(Funny thing- his allergies seem to act up when mine do!)
 

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What is the herbal supplement that your vet gave your cat? We are fostering an eight year old boy cat. He's got green snot, he was on antibiotics. When I started giving him 5 mg a day of Aller-tec (half of a Kirkland brand Vetirizine HCI), he clears up a mostly.
 
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