Sick kitty

Hi all, I'm new here, it's a great forum! Well I adopted 2 kittens on Sunday and they are just DARLING!! I'll post picks asap. Well the little boy is a bundle of joy - soon as we got them home he found the food, litter, etc. with no problem, never had an accident, plays very well, etc. My little girl was VERY shy, ran straight to whatever corner she could find, wouldn't come out, wouldn't eat, etc. But she had no problem being held, doesn't fight, just sits there and you can feel the purr deep in her tummy, sigh! I knew that this could happen though. Now she's much better, comes out, eats, etc. I took them to the vet Monday and they both had little colds, so I've been feeding them antibiotics. His has gone away, hers is getting worse. Her nose is now completely stuffed and she's struggling to breathe - using her mouth to blow out.... it's so sad to watch. The vet said to buy pediatric neosynephrin (sp?) and do one nostril every other day. I'll do so when I get home in a few hours, any other remedies anyone else has?
Also, my boy (Ndung'u - I know, difficult name - African) keeps jumping on her (nduta) even when she's in the litter box, I have to keep grabbing him away. He sort of bites her neck sometimes too and she hisses at him. I tell him "NO!" and pull him away. But he probably does it when they're alone too... They're friends, they smell each other's noses all the time and all. What else can I do to him so he knows it's bad to do that?
Thank you all in advance!

Just a caution, Neosynephrine is extremely addicting to people, I can imagine it would be the same thing for cats, giving them the inablility to breathe without it.

I wonder if you used the same dropper to give both the cats their antibiotics? Thereby re-infecting the little female with the strain her brother had? I would ask the vet for a new bottle and an new dropper.

You might also want to visit a health food store and buy a bottle of GSE (Grapefruit Seed Extract) You want to get the liquid. Put two drops in her wet food, stir it up well. If she balks at eating it, try baby food- chicken or turkey flavored works best. The stuff is quite bitter, but it has amazing properties to kill harmful bacteria in the body. I swear by the stuff- I haven't had an URI in any of my crew since I started adding it to their water bowls. I also have a new rescue here that had gunky eyes, and I started him on it three days ago, and his eyes look so much better.

There is also a possibility this could be more than just a cold. Was blood work done on these kittens to rule out the standard diseases?


Best of luck, and thank you for rescuing!

thanx for that last note back to Suzie, from Hissy. I did not know that about the grapefruit seed oil. I'm sitting here reading threads waiting for the vet to call on Freddie's progress, so of course I'm hangin' on the Health Boards. I will try that remedy at home w/Sasha. As of 4pm, Freddie's temp was down to 104.5 from 105.8, so baby baby steps. Thanks for all your wonderful information, and welcome, Suziek from NJ. I adopted Freddie, too, at 4 mos. I love your African names. An elephant here at our zoo was named "Hansa" which means Light. Just darn nice!
Elizabeth

It's not oil it's extract-

I have a kitten that went through a terrible time with an upper respiritory infection and he was doing the open mouth breathing too, he went through a couple rounds of antibiotics and I also would put him in the bathroom with a running shower and the steam the shower gave off helped his stuffiness. I just put his bed on the floor in the bathroom and sat with him in there while the shower was running for a while when he got really stuffy. It took a long time for him to totally clear up so dont give up. Sometimes when they get really stuffy they wont eat, I mixed a little water with his wet food so he would get some fluids too. Hope your kitty gets better. I would take her back to the vet if she doesnt get any better, she may need to change her antibiotic if she doesnt improve.

I also use the Grapefuit Seed Extract sometimes too. It took me a while to find it and I found mine at a smaller health food store. I called a few to find it instead or driving everywhere and finally found it at a smaller store.

Thank you all for your responses! I'll look for the grapefruit extract. I'm also taking her to the vet today when I go pick up her drops (they don't have pediatric neosynephrine at pharmacies) and have her looked at some more. Something else - they don't drink water! I give them one serving of kitty milk from the pet store a day, and that's all they wait for. They won't touch the water. Anyone else has this?
Also, do you think the thing my boy does of jumping on her and biting her and trying to get her to play is ok? Like just kitties being kitties? I worry when she hisses and runs to hide. But then a few minutes later she seeks him out and they kiss.... So maybe just leave it be?
Thanks Elizabeth for the welcome!