cat colds

As long as everything is running clear she should be ok. Viruses have to just run their course in cats as they do in humans. If however, themucus changes color (yellow or green) make a vet appt as that is a sign of infection.

Sending good vibes your way!

Some L-lysine powder (like 250-500mg twice a day in wet food) might help ease her symptoms. It interferes with the replication of the Herpes virus, which tends to be the most common cause of URIs in cats. 

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Originally Posted by brightsunray812 

She is almost better- she is running around the house and mewling pitifully when she wants to go to the upstairs, which is normal behaviors for her :) thank the lord

 

Excellent!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by brightsunray812 

should I try the steamy shower thing?

 

Wouldn't hurt, especially if she still has a bit of a runny nose. Might help prevent it from gumming up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brightsunray812 

what is herpes and can it be fatal?

 

Herpes (also known as rhinotracheitis) is very common in cats and not usually fatal (except sometimes in small, frail kittens or geriatric cats with weakened immune systems). Once they have the virus, they carry it for life. Stress is what usually brings out symptoms, so keeping things routine and relaxed is important. Also a good diet helps (I'd stay away from kibble if you can: www.catinfo.org).

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+1348&aid=210.

It sounds like your kitty my be responding to some allergens.  As long as everything stays clear, she continues to eat normally, play and use the litter box as normal, then she's okay.  Any change in those is cause for concern.

I have a herpes cat and she most often exhibits symptoms of an upper respiratory infection when her herpes flares up.  The best offense in a good defense, so we make sure to keep her food grain-free (both dry and wet) and give her Lysine daily.  She also gets a daily antihistamine.

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Originally Posted by brightsunray812 

what exactly is kibble? is it dry, flaky, hard food, because that is what we're giving her. i think it suits her because it has an extremely strong smell, therefore "allowing" her to eat it.

 

 

Ya, kibble is hard dry nuggety food. About as far away as you can get from what cats evolved eating (which is moisture-rich, fresh prey). I wouldn't change her food now while she's sick, you're right. Maybe down the road though you can slowly introduce some wet food into her diet. Most canned products are lower in carbohydrates (which cats don't need) and higher in protein/fat (which cats DO need), but just as important, they have a more appropriate amount of water for a cat. A balanced raw diet is ideal, just takes more research and effort (see the catinfo link for more on that).

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Originally Posted by brightsunray812 

may i ask one more question? so she has one water bowl upstairs and one water bowl downstairs. she almost NEVER drinks out of her downstairs water, but she always drinks out of her upstairs water.

 

Cats can be weird like that. Do you change both water bowls at least once a day (maybe even twice)? Most cats tend to loathe stagnant water, which is why sometimes a water fountain can entice them to drink a wee bit more. Perhaps the downstairs bowl is in a higher traffic area and gets more dust and hair in it. If the bowls are different (for instance different colours, or maybe one is stainless steel and the other is glass, etc.), then maybe she has a preference in that regard. Or perhaps it just never occurs to her to have a drink while she's downstairs. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

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Originally Posted by brightsunray812 

thank you so much for answering me before, and sorry if my questions are extremely stupid!

 

Nothing stupid about them!  

Wet food is so much better for kitties than dry, so if you can get her back on wet food, that would be great.

Dry food is just fine for cats. There are no scientific studies that prove otherwise. Cats have been living on it for years! Others say it causes UTI's but because they arent getting enough water. Most cats do drink enough water or there would be far more incident of URI"s. II see alot of people online that say they believe wet is nesasary for URI's but quite a few of them have cats with recurrent URI's. I dont believe there Is one right food. Just try to get a food that has some kind of meat as the first 2-3 ingrediants.

I'm glad kitty is doing well. Keep us posted.  :)

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Originally Posted by ilovemia 

Dry food is just fine for cats. There are no scientific studies that prove otherwise.

There are no scientific studies to prove that dry food is "just fine for cats" either. Oh, unless you're talking about those "studies" done by the pet food companies themselves. Not exactly scientific.

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Originally Posted by ilovemia 

Cats have been living on it for years!

Dry cat food has only been around for 50yrs tops (and it's really only the last 20-30 yrs that it's become a mainstay diet of pet cats in N. America). In contrast, cats have evolved to eat fresh, moisture-rich meat over millions of years. It hardly needs to be said that there is a very big difference between merely surviving and actually thriving. According to VPI Pet Insurance, the top 10 vet visits for cats are as follows:

The first 7 of those are more often than not linked back to a dry food diet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilovemia 

Others say it causes UTI's but because they arent getting enough water. Most cats do drink enough water or there would be far more incident of URI"s.

URIs and UTIs are not the same thing, so I assume you're referring to urinary tract inflammation or infection. How do you know "most cats drink enough water"?  Since FLUTDs are the number one claim according to a well known pet insurance company, I'm thinking there's probably quite a large number of incidents of that condition. Not to mention, if you just look around any pet-related message board, there are a huge number of threads related to the topic. So yes, I'd say it's an overwhelmingly common (and life-threatening) condition largely influenced by a dry food diet (even scientific studies have proven that much).

http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

http://feline-nutrition.org/features/could-everything-we-know-be-wrong

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Originally Posted by brightsunray812 

then we introduced her to a new kind (science diet) and now all she eats is kibble. we barely bother to put up with cleaning and such the wet food dish day and night because she loves the dry food.

 

Dry food is sprayed with flavour enhancers to make what would normally be an unpalatable diet (lots of plants, minimal meat) so much more appealing to a carnivore. Those intense flavour enhancers, plus extra salt, can make kibble addicting. There are some great tips at this link for getting kibble addicts switched over to wet food: http://catinfo.org/docs/Tips%20for%20Transitioning%20PDF%201-14-11.pdf

Quote:

Originally Posted by brightsunray812 

ok. i might try that. thank you so much for that link. she seems to be getting along fine but i will try. 

 

It would be totally worth it if you could. All cats are "fine" on dry food, until they aren't. Meaning that while she may appear okay and normal now, you don't know what damage is being done on the inside, and that damage is cumulative. Things like diabetes and kidney issues don't tend show up until cats are in their senior years, and by then it's usually much harder to switch them over to healthier food. So whatever you can do for her now in terms of good quality nutrition will pay off in the long run with hopefully fewer vet bills and a longer life. 

I don't see an issue with mixing 2 types of dry together, but hopefully you won't need to for very long.