Help!

hi,
my cat has been sneezing, his noze is dry, hes been sneezing quite a lot, i rang the vet he said give it a while, so i checked online and rang an old freind who used to practise veterinary medicine, he said sounds like a minor upper tract infection, and i can clear it up by crushing half a vitamin c tablet up and sprinkling it on the cats food, just make sure he eats it every day, and i should do that until he gets better, there was a tear from his eye, like a small drop of water but that was it, i told the vet all this he said give it a few days, and so i am his breathing is slightly wheezy which indicates infection too, and ive been advised to keep him in the warm. hes just come off metronizadole a couple of days ago for diahreao (cant spell the damn word!) as his diahreao is gone and as a precaution to strengthen his immune system im giving him a homeopathic remedy in his water a couple of drops in it called Natrum Muriaticum which my old vet freind told me who is retired now, but practised homeopathic and natural animal healing.
so any advice people? as to how i can make him more comfy and how to quicken the healing process, I live in the UK so if possible if any medicines are mentioned could you let me know the corresponding name for it in the UK?
thanks

Upper respiratory can turn into BIG issues...
IMHO I would find a vet who is willing to see kitty sooner than later..

you can runs a hot shower for the steam and put kitty in the room

ok i'll do that tomorow early morning because right now hes just resting and sleeping, im hoping the vitamin c clears up the infection, because the vet said it might just be a cold, and he said cats get colds all the time usually they clear up by themselves but on rare occasions they can get worse, this is what the vet told me, and he said to keep doing what i was doing and help him get him better i was told to just give him some time and then if he gets worse then take him to the vet.

I would take him into the vet, it can go from not bad to really bad in no time. I had one kitten( Microkitten, Runt was bigger than she was at this point) put to sleep over the summer because she had a severe URI and conjunctivitis, she also had feline leukemia and with her being so sick on top of a positive leukemia test it wasn't fair to keep her alive. She was fine with a minor cold and by the next day she was bad enough to be put down. Of course she was also around 1- 1.5 lbs at the time(Attitude was around 2.5 lbs at the time) so that didn't help with her being so small. They wanted to sedate her with gas before they gave her the final shot and her breathing was so bad it took way longer for the gas to sedate her than usual. This took less than a day to go from minor to really bad.

I'm currently monitoring Half-tail as she has a very minor cold that I just noticed tonight. She has sneezed once and her eye was a little runny and her nose was a little crusty. She will prolly need some antibiotics for it if it gets any worse.

I would find a vet who is willing to see the cat now rather than later. If he is wheezing he needs to see the vet, wheezing is most indicative of a URI that might need antibiotics instead of just a cold. Mine get Amoxicilian(from my vet for the inside cats) when they get URIs that need treatment. When it gets to wheezing it's time that they need treatment or at least need to be seen by a vet.

Taryn

A lot of URI are viral as opposed to bacterial and will not respond to antibiotics. A lot of times they just need to run their course. Where I foster for the local shelter I have to deal with URI on a VERY frequent basis. However I do agree that I would get a second opinion from another vet just to be sure. Clavamox is often perscribed here for URIs and is very effective if bacterial in nature. Sending vibes for your baby!

How long have you had him and how old is he? If he's a fairly new to you kitty, the stress of all the newness may have brought on the illness. It does indeed sound like he's got an upper respiratory infection and needs to see a vet pronto.

As Sharky mentioned, you can run the shower and give him steam treatments. You can also but a big pot of water on to boil and add a couple of drops of eucalyptus oil. This will help open up his nasal passages. I've even taken an old wash cloth and put a few drops of eucalyptus oil on it and placed it in the room where they're sleeping, but out of their reach. Eucalyptus oil is TOXIC to cats if ingested, so keep it out of reach.

Make sure he continues eating. He must eat some daily to keep his strength up and to fight off this infection. Force feed him canned food mushed up finely and watered down a bit if you have to, but don't allow him to not eat. You may also try warming up some canned food with a bit of water mixed in for a few seconds in the microwave. This will help enhance the aroma of the food and entice him to eat.

hi guys
an update on smokey, i started him on the vitamin C treatment and his sneezing has cut down sooo much ,he rarely sneezes and im also once a day giving him direct inhalation of some eucalyptus oil (sorry i should have mentioned i knew alot about herbs and oil extracts etc), and that has too helped clear up his breathing passages, the wheezing in his breathing is going, and hes eating his food with more gusto now, he has not got any more diahrea, and hes sleeping back to normal now, when he couldnt breathe he couldnt recognise my smell so he scratched me but now he can he actually came over licked where he scratched me to say sorry and then curled up to sleep on my chest, which was so sweet and soothing because his head was on my shoulder and my shoulder has been aching for past two days and this morning it was so amazingly feeling better, thanks everyone will keep u updated. x