URI? Allergies? What to do?

doctorprilicla

doctorprilicla

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So, I have two cats. Dukhat I've had since he was a kitten, and at the end of March I adopted Galen from a rescue. When Galen came, a few days later he developed a URI, which he then passed to Dukhat. I got Dukhat treated (eyedrops + antibios), and Galen, since he was abused and is terrified of humans, I managed to get him to the vet where they gave him an antibio shot. Both cats got better. Now, they've both got gummy eyes again, and Galen's got the runny nose.

The question is: Okay, what do I do now? Is it definitely a URI or could they both be having seasonal allergies? If it *is* a URI, then what? I can't give Galen daily medication because he's terrified of humans and everytime you get near him, he runs away, and he's a *fast* cat and good at hiding. I don't know how to separate them, since we live in an apartment. Need help because I do not want sick kitties
I've been putting l-lysine in their food, ought I to just keep up with that?
 
mrblanche

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It's not impossible that it's feline herpes, although allergies are not impossible, either. You can treat them with L Lysine (the vet will have a version that cat's like, but you can make it from tablets you can get at the store). It won't hurt anything, and if it clears up in a few days, you know you have found at least a treatment.
 
addiebee

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Definitely keep up with the lysine.

Allergy season this year is terrible... awful. My boys are suffering, too. With your scaredy boy - you would have real problems medicating the eyes directly.

It is also possible that it's a combination of the two... with the viral issue making them more susceptible to allergies - that is what my vet thinks. She is seeing a lot of seasonal allergy in her practice this spring.

I mean - you can TRY getting some Benadryl into them... there are other OTC antihistamines that can be used, ask your vet what he/she recommends. If the eye drops are cortisone - you don't want to keep doing that -- it creates its own set of problems....

The Benadryl dose for an avg cat is 12.5 mg - hard to do unless you get the caplets and cut them in half. The children's liquid made one cat foam at the mouth b/c it is very bitter to them. I tried pill pockets and that worked ONCE!!! Luckily I have been able to get artificial tears into their eyes to flush them out and for one cat- antibio ointment ... but it's not easy!
 
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doctorprilicla

doctorprilicla

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Yeah, I've been having awful allergies, but I'm allergic to everything. I've never had a problem with allergies and cats before; my 17 year old Fluffy never had this problem. But different cats, I guess. I'm able to get drops into Dukhat's eyes because he's a laid back (and often confused) cat who trusts me, and the drops I've used are gentocin opthalmic drops, but I'm almost all out.

It's impossible to administer anything to Galen unless I take him to the vet. He's afraid of humans, and also very angry at them, so for us if we are able to pet him for a few seconds, it's considered a big victory.

What I've been doing with the lysine is grinding it up into a powder and sprinkling it onto their food. I've got some benadryl of the regular human variety, but it makes me loopy as heck...would it do the same for them?
 
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msnibbles

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I just had good luck steaming shrimp in front of my cat that has a bad URI. She has not eaten anything for me in days, just a nibble of this and that and sub-cutaneous fluids. She sniffed out the fishy smell from the shrimp and went nuts, she ate a whole shrimp on the spot!
 
addiebee

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doctorprilicla;2866506 said:
Yeah, I've been having awful allergies, but I'm allergic to everything. I've never had a problem with allergies and cats before; my 17 year old Fluffy never had this problem. But different cats, I guess. I'm able to get drops into Dukhat's eyes because he's a laid back (and often confused) cat who trusts me, and the drops I've used are gentocin opthalmic drops, but I'm almost all out.

It's impossible to administer anything to Galen unless I take him to the vet. He's afraid of humans, and also very angry at them, so for us if we are able to pet him for a few seconds, it's considered a big victory.

What I've been doing with the lysine is grinding it up into a powder and sprinkling it onto their food. I've got some benadryl of the regular human variety, but it makes me loopy as heck...would it do the same for them?[/QUOTE]

It may make them a little sleepy - but we are talking a very small dose here at 12.5 mg. This is Benadryl of the regular human variety. If I can get it into Ghost it definitely helps, but I have only been successful once. The capsules are 25 mg... I mean you can open a capsule and take out half the contents and put it back together, gop it up with butter or something like that and give it to your cat. My vet says this is the only human anti- histo SHE recommends b/c she feels it's the safest. As I said there are others people have mentioned and I have seen described online - such as Chlortrimeton. But before you do anything like that, talk to your vet.
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