My Kitten just wont get better!! :(

ciggggg

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Hi Everyone.

I got my Kitten, Penny, on 18th February 2012. I got her from a woman advertising kittens online. I paid $400 for her. She had her first two vaccinations, flea’d and wormed. She was worth every penny (hehe). The one thing that is really stressing me out is the fact that she has not been 100% well since the day I got her. Since I’ve gotten her I’ve taken her to the vet 4 times. From the moment I picked her up she had a slight sneeze and eyes were overly watery, I wiped her eyes everyday, I’ve flea’d and wormed her. She’s been on antibiotics 3 times now. It does clear up and then the next day or so she goes downhill again. I’ve completely cleaned/disinfected my apartment at least 3 times since I’ve had her, that doesn’t make a difference. Over the past three days, she’s started to not use her litter box either. I’m just getting paranoid ,worried and stressed out thinking I’m doing something wrong, or my Vets just not doing anything useful?. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do? I’m assuming a big one would be get a second opinion?

EDIT - Penny is showing no other signs of illness, Eats drinks and plays normally, doesnt seem to be uncomfortable or in pain. She just sounds congested some days alot more worse than others.

Thanks guys

PS. I dont think the woman I got her from was a registered breeder. Penny has a Pure Himalayan as a dad, and her mum is Himalayan cross something else.
 
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Willowy

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Goodness, that's a high price for a non-pedigree kitten. Glad you think it was fair!

It sounds like she may have a chronic herpes infection. L-lysine can help. You can get it at almost any store tthat sells vitamins, or your vet might have a lysine paste you could give her.
 
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ciggggg

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Goodness, that's a high price for a non-pedigree kitten. Glad you think it was fair!
It sounds like she may have a chronic herpes infection. L-lysine can help. You can get it at almost any store tthat sells vitamins, or your vet might have a lysine paste you could give her.
Thanks Willowy!. I will go and buy some tonight :) Yeh I know I paid alot :( but I was a bit silly. It was a "lets rush into it because ive found the perfect kitten" kind of moment. I dont regret it as I couldnt imagine life without her now. Although in saying that, I would be interested to know if the other kittens from her litter are going through the same things right now.

I regret it in the sense that in total i've probably spent the same if not more than what I paid for her on vet bills and medication in only the past 2 or so months. I know everyone says dont get a kitten if you cant afford the vet bills, (I can afford them, hence why I got her) but this is just a bit full on for only having her for 2 months.
 

whollycat

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I agree with Willowy about the L-lysine. I could go into a lot of info here, but it may be more prudent to take a read of this: http://www.holisticat.com/uri.html for [hopefully] some useful information for treating Penny's URI issues. That site will also help with a dosage amount for the L-lysine. Since she is a wee one yet, I suggest cutting any recommended dosage amounts of anything you use to 1/4-1/2 what an adult kitty would be given. When choosing a human supplement, etc., you should look for ones that have the least amount of fillers and unnecessary ingredients (generally capsules have less of these than tablets)--and definitely NO alcohol in any liquid forms of supplements/herbs.

As you can tell, I'm more of a "holistic" kitty mom, so hope you still find the information useful--plus, your vet doesn't seem to be getting on top of this. Hopefully you might learn a bit more about URIs too to better help Penny in the future.

Sending lots of
to you and little Miss Penny!
 

whollycat

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BTW, I forgot to add that Penny is gorgeous!!!! Makes me just want to snuggle away with her!
 

stephanietx

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I have a herpes kitty and when we got her, she was sick kinda like your girl.  We only paid $50 to adopt her, then spent thousands of dollars nursing her back to health! If you want to know for sure if she's got herpes, you can ask your vet to take a sample of any nasal discharge and send it off to be tested using the Real PCR/URD test.  It's much more accurate than other tests in the past.

First off, have a culture & sensitivity test done on the nasal discharge, especially if it's not clear.  This will tell you if she has an infection, what kind (bacterial/viral) and which med will most effectively treat the infection.  She could have a secondary infection that doesn't respond to the antibiotics which is why it keeps coming back.  Once we addressed the underlying infection with Hannah, then we focused on getting her as healthy as possible.  That begins with a good food.  In addition to the lysine, I would switch her to a grain free diet. The lysine and going grain-free have helped Hannah the most with her herpes.  Also, avoid the combo vax as it has the rhino virus in it which can cause a flare up of an upper respiratory infection.  Ask the vet to give the others in the shot without the rhino virus.
 

txcatmom

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Just wanted to mention that my 3 cats all love the l-lysine powder that is sprinkled over their food.  Only one liked the paste.  So if kitty doesn't like the first thing you try, don't give up.  We had a round of kitty colds recently and I think the l-lysine kept the 3rd cat from getting it.  (I also think one of mine deals with the herpes virus, no official diagnosis though, so we'll keep using the l-lysine for him.)
 

catmom5

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Another thing to consider is what kind of infection she might have. My vets always do a culture and then match the antibiotic to what was found. All antibiotics don't work for all "bugs".

Sounds kind of like a backyard breeder situation to me. I think you would be in line to contact her and find out if Penny's littermates are also sick. (Hate internet animal ads for just this reason - bad breeders can and do pull in unsuspecting buyers - for the money and not for the betterment of the breed. And, no, I'm not a breeder, just do a lot of animal rescue.)

Good luck!
 
 
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