URI that won't go away? Or something else?

I'll try to keep this as short as possible

I have 3 cats, have had them for about 3 years. One, Sickey has had gooey eyes every once in awhile, they never last for long and my vet told me this was common with a severe URI in "kitten hood" of which Sickey had.

A little over 3 weeks ago a young stray female wandered into our yard, Nyx now . She went to the vet on June 7. My vet said it was likely she had herpes, not the gooey eyes, rather sneezing and coughing with mucus, put her on clavamox for a week and told us to come back. We went back to the vets on the 14th. She was still sneezing and when the vet listened to her breathing said she was better, but still congested. She said to just give her another week before vaccinating to be safe. Another week goes by, on the 21st, she's still sneezing with large amounts of dark yellow/greeny mucus. The vet put her back on clavamox for another week. Our week ends soon.

My question is, can a URI last this long? She's not a stressed out cat, she's quite comfortable here, she has a ferocious appetite, very perky and playful.

If it's not a URI/herpes, what do I do next? She's had bloodwork done for feline leukemia and AIDS (? I think?) and they both came back negative. Do I get a culture of the mucus? X-rays of her skull? Radiographs? I just don't know where to go from here and I never would've thought a URI could last this long, especially considering how much healthier, with exception to the mucus, she seems.

Another forum recommended supplementing with L-lysine. Nyx and my other cat Sickey, who now has the worst herpes flare up he's ever had, very gooky eyes, started on 500mg/day.

Also, is that pointing in the direction that it is herpes with Nyx, if Sickey is now having a severe flare up? What about my other two cats? They've never displayed any symptoms even with Sickey's flare ups and are showing none now. Should I be worried about them?

Thanks in advance. I'm really at a loss here. I don't know what to do next in regards to finding out what's wrong with her and starting on an effective treatment/management.

If the mucus has changed colors to yellow and/or green, doesn't that sound like she's gettin worse instead of better? That is concerning to me. I don't really have any advice, that is confusing to me, too and I've never had it happen, except once in a stray years ago, and she wandered off never to return again. It came on quite suddenly too, but we never did find out what it was. She had very thick mucus.

I don't know if anyone else would agree, but if it hasn't cleared up after this week, I would get a second opinion. Antibiotics for 3 weeks, ... Boo was on antibiotics for his extracted tooth for about that long because it didn't seem to be healing, but now I find out he may have a piece of tooth still in there. Sorry, off topic: I would get a second opinion because to me it sounds like maybe the antibiotics aren't helping? I could be wrong, not a vet.

Did the vet offer any other options after this week of antibiotics ahead of time?

Hope things get better

She hasn't been on antibiotics for three weeks consecutively. She's had 2 weeks of antibiotics, week 1 and 3. Week 2 she didn't have any, the vet thought she just may need time.

My vet hasn't suggested any other tests to diagnose what's wrong with her, just stated that some cats are snotty their whole lives. I'm not convinced of that yet, I think there is something wrong with her, I just don't know what to do next, I do realize this could be an affliction that has no cure, but I'd like to focus on finding out what it is right now and we'll go from there.

URI is tricky - there are tons of different things that can cause them, but the most common are viruses (Herpes virus and Calicivirus). Antibiotics do nothing against a virus - they only work against bacteria. Usually the vet gives the antibiotic to treat and/or prevent against secondary bacterial infection while the kitty's immune system is compromised.

The change to colored nasal discharge most likely means that she picked up a secondary bacterial infection while still fighting off the affects of the viral infection. So, the goal is to find the antibiotic that will clear up the bacterial infection. Unfortunately, there's not much that can be done for the primary viral infection except to keep the kitty comfortable, hydrated, and well-fed while their own immune system fights off the infection. (Antiviral medications are only available to treat a small range of viruses, and I'm not sure if they're used in veterinary practice yet.)

From my own experience, if your kitty has been on an antibiotic but is now sneezing out colored stuff, it's time to try a different antibiotic - she may have a secondary bacterial infection against which Clavamox is not effective. I had both of mine on Clavamox after my Jack brought a URI home from the shelter with him and "shared" it with my resident kitty Sophie...he healed up, she got worse. She was doing the same thing your Nyx is doing - in a matter of 24 hours, she was suddenly so congested she sounded like she was gargling when she breathed, and she was blowing out nasty little yellow snot-rockets all over the house. She went back to the vet, who switched her to Doxycycline. Within 36 hours, she was significantly better. It did, however, take her awhile to FULLY get over her illness - I don't know if it's really typical for them to be sick for weeks, but if the bacterial infections compromise them, that would most likely be too much for their immune systems to process, and therefore extend their recovery time.

If you want to read more about it, I'd recommend this page - http://www.sheltermedicine.com/porta...pper_res.shtml. It's an info sheet for a shelter medicine program run by the UC Davis veterinary school, and it's fairly technical, but it's the most comprehensive collection of information I've foundon URI, and towards the bottom of the page, it describes the delineation between the primary viral infection, and the secondary bacterial infections that often move in to compromise kitty's health even further. If you can get past all the medical jargon, it might help you get a clearer picture of where your kitty stands in the spectrum.

As far as a kitty just being "snotty"...I'm sure it's possible - but colored mucus almost always indicates infection (in people, too!), so I wouldn't be satisfied with that answer, either.

One other suggestion - my Jack sneezed so hard, and so often, while he was sick, that at one point he began sneezing little spatters of blood (vet said he either had dry/irritated skin in his nasal passages from all the sneezing, or the force of the sneezing ruptured a small blood vessel). If you can hook up a humidifier and run that, it's very soothing and helps prevent that sort of extreme reaction (which can be quite terrifying!). You can also take Nyx into the bathroom and run the shower as hot as it will go...let the bathroom steam up and let her breathe in all the steam.

Thank you so much for all of that info! I'm going to check out the link now.

At least now when I go back to the vets on Wednesday, if she doesn't suggest another antibiotic I have a name of one I can ask for. I have a feeling that her "snot rockets" are possibly the reason she was kicked out of the home she was in. It's not pleasant finding hardened mucus on your furniture, floors, counters, everywhere! We haven't seen any blood in the mucus yet, so hopefully we can get it under control before that happens. Maybe she just has tough nasal lining as she's been sneezing pretty hard for weeks now. Bringing her into the bathroom won't be a problem, she's very interested in what goes in there....

Once again thanks for the info, I'll go do some more reading now.

Just wanted to update her vet visit today. Her lungs apparently never sounded very bad, but they're absolutely fine now. Her nasal passages sounded clear, everything was good.

It's really the past 2 days that I've noticed a significant reduction in mucus, and I can't be sure but I think it's the doses of L-lysine I've been giving her. It's the only thing that makes sense. She'd been getting the clavamox already for a few days with a little improvement, but within the past 3 days she started on the L-lysine.

My vet ordered me the liquid, flavoured stuff as I only had the capsule form which is a pain to get a measured amount into them. Crushing the pills finely enough, making sure they eat out of the right bowl and my cats are being finicky about switching to a wet diet, so they don't lick their plates clean. I think the liquid stuff will be much easier.

So my fingers are crossed that she continues to improve and STAY clear of the mucus!!!