URI Kitten breathing question!

Hi everyone,

I adopted a 2 month old kitten a few days ago from a shelter. The next day, I took him to the vet because he was drooling, sneezing and had a bit of a drippy eye. The vet said he had URI and prescribed him Lysine but not antibiotics because he didnt want to medicate him too much since he didn't seem to be that bad.

The next day he stopped drooling, but his eyes and nose were still mucusy and was still playful, affectionate, and eating and drinking. He seemed to be improving.

Today though, he still has mucusy eyes and nose, but is sneezing a lot less. He's drinking plenty of water, but not eating quite as much as usual. He's also been making sniffly nasal congestion noises and I was afraid he might be struggling to breathe. We put him in a room with a steaming shower and then gave him a vaporizer. Both of those seemed to help some and hes not really making those nasal congestion noises anymore or at least they are much quieter little sniffles when they do happen. I'm definitely taking him to the vet as soon as it opens in the morning but I can't help feeling very paranoid and worried for the time being. Does anyone have any advice?
How can I tell if he is getting better or worse and how can I tell if he is breathing properly?

Thanks in advance everyone

He needs to be seen by the vet again. He's obviously got something going on and needs some medicine. Call the vet and explain that he's not as well as you think he should be and ask if they'll prescribe you an antibiotic. Continue the lysine and the steaming/vaporizer.

Welcome to TCS and congratz on you new baby. I would definitely take him back to the vet. The steaming and/or vaporizer is a good idea for his room. URI's can be quite nasty and if it is viral, an antibiotic won't help with a viral infection. But.... viral infections can lead to secondary bacterial infections and then an antibiotic would be in order. Hope your kitten feels better real soon.

Don't freak out! URI is like a cold. It's uncomfortable and unpleasant but rarely dangerous. It's just like when you have a stuffy and/or runny nose. If your kitten was in any danger you would know. As long as he is eating and drinking and isn't lethargic he will be fine. It will generally go away on its own but it may take a few days.
URI's are caused by viruses and antibiotics do nothing for a viral infection. As mentioned a viral infection will sometimes lead to a bacterial infection and in that case antibiotics may be needed but I have to agree with your vet that it's not that serious and with such a young kitten antibiotics can do more harm than good. It doesn't hurt to have him checked out again just to be on the safe side and if it would make you feel better but I disagree that it's necessary at this point. There is usually little a vet can do.
I've had more cats with URI than I can count (I foster) and in the beginning I was running back and forth to the vet just to end up with a bunch of vet bills and unnecessary Clavamox prescriptions that didn't help. In my experience they recover just as fast and well with or without antibiotics. Now if a cat is not improving, won't eat or drink, has a fever or is lethargic a trip to the vet is in order. Otherwise it's just like your cold. You can make yourself feel a bit better but it just has to run its course.

If your kitten has a stuffy nose he probably does have some trouble breathing but it's nothing dangerous and unfortunately nothing the vet can help. What you can do is to continue to use the vaporizer and put some Vicks vapor drops in it. Put kitty in a carrier and put the carrier and the vaporizer under the kitchen table a few feet apart. You can cover the table with blankets to make sure that the vapors don't escape. Keep him in there for about a half hour. At night you can keep him in the bedroom with you with the vaporizer in the room. Do the 30 minutes treatments a few times a day.
You can also use nasal spray on him. Use the baby version that is non medicated and basically just contain saline. I use a brand called Little Noses. You can but it together with a bulb syringe that can be used to remove mucus from the nose on the cat.
Continue to keep his nose and eyes clean by wiping it with moist, warm cotton balls.
To make him more comfortable you can put a heating pad under a folded blanket for him to sleep on.

When cats have stuffy noses they will eat less or not at all because they can't smell their food. To help that you can feed him a food with a strong smell that you warm up in the microwave for a few seconds to make it even smellier. Fancy Feast with some kind of fish or seafood is good. Canned food also gives him fluids which helps if he's not drinking enough. You may have to feed him several small meals if he won't eat a big one.
If he won't eat enough you can supplement him by giving him Nutrical. Get an oral syringe and put the nutrical in the "back" of the syringe (it's too thick to draw up through the front part). Just pull out the plunger and reinsert it after you put the nutrical in it. Inject a little bit at a time into the corner of his mouth.
Getting him kitten formula is another great way to get nutrient in him if he's not eating enough. Most cats love the canned version. You can get it at the pet stores or Walmart and even some grocery stores. Of course getting enough nutrients is very important to recover, especially for a growing kitten.

The only concern I have from your description is your kitten's eyes. It could just be runny eyes but it could also be an eye infection that sometimes comes with URI. Are his eyes gunky and the fluids yellow or greenish? If so he may need antibiotic eyedrops. That is something you have to get from your vet. There is an OTC version called Terramycin that works okay but the RX version has more ingredients and would be a better option for a kitten the first time he has an eye infection, imo. If an eye infection is not treated in a kitten it could cause permanent damage to the eye like a cloudy eye or a blocked tear duct.

I'm sure your little guy will be okay. In a few days he should be as good as new.