Cat with URI for a month

dextersmommy · Nov 21, 2014

Hi there! New here. My cat Dexter developed congestion and coughing (sounded liked quacking) about a month ago. He has been to the vet and has had two courses of doxycycline and clavamox, is on Lysine gel and was on nose drops. For this whole time he was eating and drinking normally. On monday the vet prescribed an antihistamine, but it's been really difficult to give it to him. Today I soaked some of it in water and used the syringe to get it down. Now today he has lost interest in food and that concerns me since he is always such a good eater. He has CKD and gets Sub-Q fluids every other day.

At what point do I need to treat this as an emergency and go to the hospital? If it's been a month with no change and now the eating has decreased, should I be concerned it's something else? TIA for your advice!

Lisa

stephenq · Nov 22, 2014

dextersmommy said:
Hi there! New here. My cat Dexter developed congestion and coughing (sounded liked quacking) about a month ago. He has been to the vet and has had two courses of doxycycline and clavamox, is on Lysine gel and was on nose drops. For this whole time he was eating and drinking normally. On monday the vet prescribed an antihistamine, but it's been really difficult to give it to him. Today I soaked some of it in water and used the syringe to get it down. Now today he has lost interest in food and that concerns me since he is always such a good eater. He has CKD and gets Sub-Q fluids every other day.

At what point do I need to treat this as an emergency and go to the hospital? If it's been a month with no change and now the eating has decreased, should I be concerned it's something else? TIA for your advice!

Lisa

I would be concerned and I would call your vet to discuss the turn with the anti-histimines. Given the length of illness I think its time or past time for a PCR test where your vet can actually determine the exist virus if its a virus, and possible also test a swab for antibiotic susceptibility.

See https://www.idexx.com/small-animal-...ces/reference-laboratories/realpcr-tests.html

dextersmommy · Nov 22, 2014

I am going to call her back and perhaps take him to see an internist/specialist. He started eating again which is good, but the blood in his nose mucus is back too and just isn't getting better. The last time we spoke she did mention trying a stronger antibiotic before we did further testing, but it's been over a month and it seems like this should be getting better, not worse or staying the same. I will mention the PCR test.

stephenq · Nov 23, 2014

dextersmommy said:
I am going to call her back and perhaps take him to see an internist/specialist. He started eating again which is good, but the blood in his nose mucus is back too and just isn't getting better. The last time we spoke she did mention trying a stronger antibiotic before we did further testing, but it's been over a month and it seems like this should be getting better, not worse or staying the same. I will mention the PCR test.

ok good, keep us updated.

stephanietx · Nov 23, 2014

Something else you might want to ask for is a culture and sensitivity test on any discharge. That will tell the vet if you're dealing with a viral or bacterial infection and which meds will best treat it. I adopted a kitty many years ago, and it took a good 2 MONTHS to get rid of her URI. She also had coccidia. I also would recommend the PCR URD test.

Cat with URI for a month

dextersmommy

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stephenq

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dextersmommy

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stephenq

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stephanietx

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