eating problems/URI (long)

I'm new here (well new to being a member!) and have some concerns about my new cat. I have a 2 year old (I think) female (Kinsey) that I got from a rescue group and I just adopted another 2 year old (Mosley) from the humane society last Friday. Mosley started showing signs of a URI on MOnday so I took her back to the humane society vet on Tuesday where she got a shot of steroids and some clavamol. Last night (wednesday) I noticed that she hadn't eaten since morning and I couldn't get her to eat anything. Also, her sneezing increased by a lot and sounded really stuffy when she was breathing and had really watery eyes. She also had diarrhea and threw up the antibiotic last night. So I took her to another vet today and they gave her some fluids and appetitie stimulants.

The first concern I have is that the humane society had listed on her records under treatment and vaccinations "FIP". The people at the other vets' office were obviously very concerned so they called the humane society and they said that's just how they document that she was given a distemper vaccine intranasally. Doesn't that sound weird? That they would document it that way? Do you think I need to have her tested for FIP? Also, I think that's terrible that they spay these cats when they know they probably already have a URI and spaying will only weaken their immune system. Then to give an intranasal vaccine only makes it worse.

The other concern I have is that I can't get Mosley to eat anything still. I've tried warming up canned food ( I even have the a/d stuff from the vet), tuna fish, putting her in the bathroom while i showered to clear her nasal passages and nothing really works. She ate a tiny bit of tuna fish after the shower (about a teaspoonful). Do you think this is a good sign? That maybe she'll start improving? The vet suggested some plain yogurt to help the diarrhea, but obviously I can't get that in her if she won't eat. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or experience with this. I would appreciate any advice you guys have.

You've got a lot of things going here. First, steroids and antibiotics don't mix well - they counteract each other. My vet will not give them at the same time as they lose their overall effectiveness. Antibiotics can cause both vomiting and diarrhea. Perhaps get a different type from your vet. If she is stuffed up, she can't smell food and won't want to eat. You need to get her rehydrated very quickly. Vomiting, diarrhea and not eating is a bad combination! A vaporizor (like you would put in a babies room) might help her stuffiness - a steamy shower is good but too short in duration.

You need to get your baby to a good vet, and bring all vet history that you have on her with you - get it in writing if possible so the vet can see everything that has been done for her thus far. It is hard for a vet to pick up where another has left off without a written trail.

For the FIP testing, the test is highly inaccurate. Did they give the FIP vaccine for the sake of giving her all vaccines?

Good luck getting over this hump!

I'm not nutritionist but a while back our cat had a stroke and had lost feeling on the right side of his body. He went into depression and wouldn't eat or drink. Thats when we started force-feeding him. My mother made a liquid-type paste with his canned food. She mixed it with water and put it in the blender. Then with a syringe we used to feed him. It was tough as one person held him and the other opened his mouth to put the food into. We also gave him water that way. We thought this was the best way as there was atleast something going into his stomach. He pulled through just fine