URI? Is this urgent?

Our cat Audrey was put on oral steroids to help her get over an episode of chronic dermatitis, starting about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, I think it messed with her immune system, because since yesterday she's been sneezing every now and then and occasionally shaking her head. Just now, I noticed a bit of fluid coming out of one of her eyes.

I'm guessing that this is a URI, right? Unfortunately, the ER vets here cost a fortune. Is this the sort of thing that can wait until Monday, assuming of course that she doesn't take a turn for the worse? Currently, her energy level and personality seem normal.

It's quite possible that she picked up a little URI from the trip to the vet due to the stress of the trip, or she might've even picked up an URI at the vet's. Keep an eye on her and if she deteriorates (stops eating, starts hiding, not playing, change in litter box habits) then a trip to the ER vet is in order. Otherwise, she should be fine until Monday. However, you may try calling your vet's office and leaving a message if they have a machine or emailing if they have that way of contacting them, just to let them know what's going on. Some vets will check messages over the weekend and may call you back.

She didn't actually go to the vet before we started her on steroids. The dermatitis is an ongoing issue, so the vet prescribed the meds without making us bring her in.

On the bright side, it ends up that this vet has office hours on Saturday mornings! I can't believe it. My husband is bringing Audrey in as I type this.

The vet thinks it's feline herpes, and that it's probably flaring because of the steroids. So we're stopping the steroids and starting her on lysine. Hopefully that will resolve the issue.

Hmm...I have a herpes positive kitty and steroids don't CAUSE a flare up, but they do inhibit the immune system and cause the herpes virus to replicate and start the flare up. Herpes is incurable, but there are many things you can do to keep the virus from flaring up. One thing is to keep the stress level to a minimum in your home. Has anything changed recently in your house?

I'd assumed that the virus was flaring because of the lowered immune response, as you said. I'm sure that Audrey was also stressed by her dermatitis, which must be uncomfortable for her.

Anyone have any suggestions for helping Audrey through her flareup? We've vacuumed the hell out of our apartment to get rid of irritants, and have started her on lysine, though it looks like that won't help for a while from what I've read. We're also taking her into the bathroom when we shower so that she gets a bit of a steam.

Anything else we should be trying? She's definitely on the lethargic side at this point, though her eyes are still looking pretty good and her breathing isn't labored at all. And she has been making an effort to sneeze on us as much as possible today. Got me full force directly in the face this morning while I was still in bed. Yech.

Oh man! Been there, done that, had the kitty boogers on me to prove it!

It could be that tomorrow, you'll need to take her to the vet to get an antibiotic to clear up the infection. Until then, you're doing everything right. Keep giving her the spa treatments (steam). If you have some, you can add a couple of drops of eucalyptus oil to a big pot of water, set it on the stove and let it simmer all day long. The eucalyptus oil will help open up the nasal passages.

If she's having lots of nasal discharge that's colored, you might want to have it cultured to see what exactly you're dealing with, especially if this doesn't clear up right away. Just be sure she continues eating and drinking as much as normal as possible.

Thanks for your response!

So far I think all the discharge is clear. And most is coming from her eyes, not her nose (or maybe she's just licking it off her nose). She's squinting a little, but there's no redness or irritation, as far as I can tell.

We're lucky in that she normally has a monstrous appetite. So even though she obviously feels awful, she'll still drag herself down from her perch the second she hears us getting her food ready.

Actually, she just emerged right as I was typing this, I guess because we often give them a snack at 3pm.

I'll see if I can find any eucalyptus oil at our pharmacy.