Help! New cat with URI worried for other cats

I adopted a cat this past Friday. He is 10 months old. At the adoption just before I left with him I was told "he has a URI, it is just a little kitty cold. He needs to be in isolation for another week" That was fine, I would isolate a new cat anyway. So, Saturday I call to make an appointment with my vet for his check-up. Then I started going through the adoption packet I was given. I realized they didn't give me his medical record. I knew he had been neutered at the shelter and treated for this URI. Yesterday I went back to the shelter and they gave me the records. I read that he had begun treatment on Aug. 28th and he would need to isolated for 1 more week possibly several weeks. I can't do that as the room he is in will be taken by my step-son and his wife when they come visit in the middle of next week. I did some reading about URIU and was upset to find it can be more than a "kitty cold" depending on the original cause. I have 2 adult cats 1 who is in remission from Stomatitis. I am terrified that if kitty seems better he can still be shedding virus and cause my other cats to become sick. If my Leo gets sick that can cause a flare up of his stomatitis. Leo has a rare form which began in the back of his throat.His teeth are good and other than re-sectioning his throat etc. there is nothing we can do. The vet had said for Leo it is quality over quanity of life. He takes L-Lysine and has been good.I am so upset at the shelter for not informing me what I was getting into. I wouldn't have adopted this cat. He is a  sweet cat but I love my cats and am afraid. My husband says I should take the new cat back to the shelter which scare me and makes me sad. PLEASE advise!!!

I'd take your new kitty to your regular vet first and see what he thinks. Can you get him in quickly?

I am going to try.

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y had an appointment for tomorrow. I am going to see if I can move it up to today. I am heartsick. I never pictured in my life that I may have turn an animal back to a shelter. It makes me sick in the pit of  my stomach.

Most likely, if he's on antibiotics, he won't pass the URI to the other cats.  Now, having said that, the stress of a new kitty in your home may trigger an URI in your other cats but most likely he's not contagious.  However, talk to your vet and see what s/he says and advises.  Is it possible to confine him to the master bathroom so he's still isolated when your family comes?

The vet said he should remain isolated for up to 2 more weeks. If the shelter had told me this I would not have adopted him. But I have and he is my responsibility. The vet said that my other cats being rescues have more than likely been exposed to URI's in their lives. I cannot put him in the master bath. It is so small because the vanity and what not are not closed off so the bathroom is just the shower and toilet, no room for even a litter box let alone food bowls. He is doing very well, eating fine, very active etc. he still has a bit of a runny eye and nose and sneezes.I am going to have to sleep on this, I cannot even express how mad at the shelter I am. The vet also says that when he is well I have to throw out is new litter box, toys bed and $200 cat tree. I thought we could just clean the cat tree (we own a carpet cleaning company)I may sound uncaring but I am not , he is the sweetest cat but as I said I feel mislead into adopting the cat. I simply cannot isolate him that long. If he has stopped sneezing by Friday I am going forward....

What does the vet say that the new kitty has??

What about isolating new kitty to your bedroom?

Why do you have to throw away the cat tree?  I have a kitty that was deathly ill when I brought her home.  She had to be isolated for a month because she was ill.  I never had to throw anything away except the litter and clean the litter box well with a bleach solution.  Even when she was projectile sneezing with a pseudomonas infection, I didn't have to worry about exposing my other kitties to it.  What exactly is your kitty sick with?  What about getting a large crate and confining kitty to your bedroom?  Do you have a laundry room you could use for quarantine?

I know throwing away the cat tree makes no sense. If I have to throw that away then perhaps I should rip out the carpet too. No, when he is better we can clean the tree the same way we clean the carpet....I am not as worried as I was this morning. All my animals have been rescues and have more than likely either had or been exposed to a URI.I am going to set him up in the laundry room next week. We have a cat door in there and usually feed my Leo there but I will block it. Leo is probably going to be a little confused but he can eat in the kitchen with Remy. For some reason Leo likes to eat a lone in the laundry room. I didn't want to put the new guy in there because the laundry leads to the garage and I worry my husband will forget to close the door.  Before we got married he had never had animals and it took him a while to be more vigilant. I remember once he crawled under the house and didn't notice my then kitten Leo had gone after him. He then closed the poor kitty down there. A couple hours later I kept hearing this meow coming from underneath me. Sheessshh. Everything will be okay. Now I just have to give this poor cat a name...

I'm glad your feeling better about the situation and have found a solution to isolate him.  Sending he recovers quickly.

Naming cats has always been my weak point. I usually go with a trait that stands out or something that relates to their coloring. Then, way after they already have been named, I come up with one I wished I'd thought of before! Like my Babygirl, now 2yrs old, she's a tortie with a red swash of color down the back of her head. 2 days ago I was looking at her and thought.....Flame! What a cool name that would have been! Is it too late to rename her?

I am holding off on the name until I know him better. Took him to a 2nd vet today for another opinion. She spoke to the shelter and it turns out they never medicated him with anything while he was there. That was odd because the adoption counselor told me he had received a shot of Clavamox> Clavamox is not injectable. Any way, because he was sneezing up a storm and had a little greenish nasal discharge she gave him an injection of Convenia. Now, I am reading up on that and what I read has scared me to death. I hope he is okay. I wish I had known about this drug. I would have rather had the  Clavamox

Catluver4life. I don't know if it is to late to rename your baby girl. I guess with all the nicknames we give our cats Flame could be another one. It is a cool name. About 4 months ago I adopted Remy, he is 6 and has been in the rescue shelter for 3 years. I decided that because all the folks at the shelter were so good to him that there were no bad associations with his name I would keep it. That is fine but he looks so much like a bunny that I wished I had named him Harvey ( after the Jimmy Stewart movie) Oh well, he also makes this really cute puffing noise, I could have named him Puffy.

So glad you got him to the vet and got some meds.  Not happy that it was Convenia, but if you've read any of the threads here, you know the side effects and what to look for. Hope your little one is feeling better soon.  Did you talk to the vet about confinement time?  How's he doing now?

How long do i keep my cats seperated after I give my cat with the URI meds

Have they already been introduced?

If they've already been exposed to each other and the others aren't showing symptoms, I would think you could go ahead and let them interact.  If they've not been introduced, then I would leave him confined for about 4 or 5 days, but call your vet and ask for some guidance.  I know that my vet didn't want me to introduce Hannah to my resident kitty when we adopted her until she was sneeze-free.  That ended up being almost a month!

Wow stephanietx a month! I don't think her URI is bad and they haven't really been introduced I tried there was a lot of hissing and growling between Bella pretty much the alpha resident cat and tish the rescue kitty there about the same age (2) Chloe my other cat she's 6 months old she was fine she loves everyone and everything. So I'm waiting for tishes URI to go away and ill try the introduction again. Any tips would b great

When the time is right, this is a good article on how to do introductions http://www.thecatsite.com/a/introducing-cats-to-cats. Trick is to just go slow and let the cats tell you when they are ready for each next step.

New kitty is doing better. His name is Desmond (Desi). He is still sneezing a little and it turns out he had an eye infection too. Very relieved that the Covenia didn't cause any bad reaction. I was horrified to read about that drug and would not have allowed him to be given that injection if I had known the risk. He is still in isolation until he is one week past any symptoms of illness. We ended up having him in my bedroom, not what my hubby wanted but that is the way it is.Can't wait to introduce him to my other boys. It is hard to spend "quality time" with everyone in separate places.Thank you everyone for your input. I love this  site.