lung damage from URI as a kitten

My kitten suffered a bad URI when he was young and we nursed him through it. My partner just took him to the vet to deal with a flare-up while I was at work and get some more antibiotics (he is now about 7 months). The vet said his lungs are actually quite damaged and my partner said 'should i be concerned?' He replied, 'well yes, but theres nothing we can do'. This is the reason that he also begins to pant after exercising.
I was just wondering how serious this could be to have lung problems? Will it shorten his life span? and is there anything we can do to help?

Hi and so sorry your kitten is sick again. I have not heard of lung damage from a URI and will be curious to hear if anyone here has. I guess it is possible if a kitten suffered severe pneumonia for example. Maybe someone will have more knowledge on this :cross:.

if your kitten is panting after exercise, it just could be from playing to hard. When my cat's were about that age, they would pant too after playtime. Panting is fairly common with kittens during exercise. It sounds like a herpes virus flare up and you could give your kitten L-Lysine to help clear the infection and keep it at bay. Here is an article about thus great supplement. http://www.ehow.com/about_6330005_l_lysine-cats.html.

You can order the powder form on-line from Amazon. I use the NOW Lysine for my cat's. . It has no bitter taste and mixes easily into wet food. 1/4 tsp. Is 500 mg. 1/8 tsp. Is 250mg. I would start with the 250 mg. twice daily for at least a week to ten days. 250 mg once daily is for maintenance. I think if your current vet is not being clear on what he is telling you, maybe consider getting a second opinion on the lungs.

My OTB Bogart had lung damage from a URI he had as a young kitten. We suspect what he had was not a simple URI, but rhino virus and he was on a respirator for a week at the vet when he was 8 weeks old. He nearly died but the vet did pull him through. Bogart had chronic respiratory infections his entire life, sneezed constantly and had serious mucous discharge the entire time. In fact, we lovingly nicknamed him "Booger Boy" because of this.

We learned to manage it. While sneezing was normal for him, we learned to see the difference between his chronic condition and when his immunity was down and he developed an actual infection. Those times we would put him on antibiotics, and we would switch up the types of antibiotics all the time so that he wouldn't develop an immunity to them. He was probably on antibiotics about 3-4 times a year. We also encouraged him to LOVE the bathroom when we showered, as the steam from the shower helped his condition. If it was dry in the winter, we added humidifiers to keep the air more moist for him.

The respiratory illness did not take him. He developed CRF when he was about 11 (unrelated to his lung issues) and crossed when he was 13. If anything, the CRF caused more stress on his body, therefore lowering his immunity further, and he had more frequent respiratory infections the last 2 years of his life. He did eat less when he had a URI. It is possible that because of all the URI's he had while he had CRF, the reduced amount of food that he ate caused a faster progression with the CRF.

Focus on keeping his immune system healthy, his environment friendly (humid and stress free), and catch things before they get worse. And work closely with your vet on this. If they know he has a chronic condition that you are actively monitoring, they will be more willing to work with you on prescribing medications. Like any cat, Bogart really didn't like to go to the vet. My vet knew me well enough that I could simply call him after a while and ask for more meds without having to bring Bogart up to see him. I kept the relationship with my vet close to avoid further stress for Bogart.

It's challenging at first, but not all that difficult to manage long term. Bogart and I shared a good long life together.

thank you for all the positive information. even though he was really bad when he had the URI i think the malnourishment played a bit part in that. He didn't ever have to stay at the vet overnight or have an IV just lots of fluid shots and medication. I hope the vet is maybe just suggesting that if he is panting - it is probably his lungs. But now I have heard of a few more kittens panting after play hopefully his lungs arent actually damaged at all.
We have worked so hard to get Nox where he is now, we are not giving up any time soon. We just caught his first flare up early (only sneezing) and got some Doxy medication and he has bounced back in nearly two days.

From now on i'm going to keep him on the l-lysine at all times. I know that is for the herpes, but i know there is also another strain of URI through clamydia. Not sure which one he had - but am sure the l-lysine cant hurt him anyway.

Thanks guys. You have really put me in a better place about this. Hopefully some more people reply with their experiences.

When we adopted Hannah she was 7 mos old and weighed only 4 lbs.  She was malnourished and incredibly sick, so sick she almost died at the vet's.  She had a very nasty upper respiratory infection and pneumonia.  We nursed her back to health and she's doing wonderfully 6 years later. She also has been diagnosed with feline herpes and has chronic sneezing and eye watering.  We've learned to tell the difference between "normal" sneezes and sniffles and when she's sick.  We do know she has permanent damage in her turbinates (in the sinus cavity) due to infection.  As mentioned previously, the best defense is a good offense, and good nutrition is the best offense.  Build up the nutrition and get your kitty to maximum health and a lot of the residual problems will be taken care of.  While Hannah has never panted, my other kitty pants after a good play session, so I have to watch him.