Sick baby kitten :(

Hello! The other day we adopted a little orange furball (Liam). His first day home he was so energetic and active and the second day he started sneezing frequently. I wouldn't say he's lethargic but he does lay around a lot. If I dangle the thing on a string toy in front of him he gets a bit active but other than that the poor guy just lays around. I know he doesn't feel well We took him to the vet and she gave us clavamox and this is the 3rd day he's been on it. He's very congested and breathing out of his mouth. I put him in the steamy bathroom twice a day, I gave him saline drops in his nose (as best as I could), I have a humidifier in the room with him, I've been hearing up canned food mixed with his food to entice him to eat and I got lysine capsules and mix the powder with his food. I don't feel like he's worse but I don't feel like he's better, either. His eyes were runny this morning but ever since then he doesn't have any watery eyes and hasn't had any nasal discharge. The breathing through the mouth is what concerns me.

Does it take time? Should I call the vet anyway just to be on the safe side?

He doesn't always eat all his food so I don't know how much lysine he actually gets but I feel like I am doing everything I can

Any suggestions? Thank you!

I'll try to figure out how to post a photo of the little guy

Hi and welcome to tcs!

Actually, clavamox is my preferred antibiotic, it's very important to give doses at the same time daily, 12 hours apart. Say 10am and 10pm. This is because clavamox takes 12 hours to clear the system, in other words, if you are late dosing it gives bacteria time to grow again, so I just wanted to explain the importance with that.

Also of course, completing all of the full treatment period, 10 days usually.

I think you are starting to worry just about the time you should see an improvement, as it usually is seen about mid day after dose #5.

After tonight's dose the morning he should show improvement for sure.

Open mouth breathing is due to his nasal passages not being clear for air to easily get through. It would help if they were able to blow their noses!

Anyway you're doing great, the most important thing as far as food intake is water, keeping him well hydrated.

If you are not sure, offer chicken baby food with water or pediolyte mixed in, warmed up, he will LOVE it.

This also helps perk him up.

Did the vet give you a diagnosis? 

I think if the eyes stopped watering it means he's starting to feel better though. 

The vet said it was a URI and that it's common for shelter animals. His eyes were never watery except this morning, and nice then they haven't watered. Hopefully it's a good sign! I just get nervous about the mouth breathing. I wish they could blow their noses!

Catwoman, THANK you for the baby food suggestion!!! He gobbled it up with gusto! He didn't eat the whole jar but he ate enough considering he hadn't eaten much today.

The vet wasn't in today so we are going in tomorrow morning for a re check

Great to hear! It usually works like a charm

Also a perfect way to be sure he is getting plenty of fluids.

Yay!