Chronic sinus infection

My 14 year old orange tabby Merlin has had a chronic sinus infection for about 2 years. It seems to be getting worse. We have used Clavamox, Baytril, Doxycycline for antibiotics, and chlorphermine and Neomycin and Polymyxin B sulfates and Dexamethasone, and  to treat the problem. We also give him prednisone to stimulate his appetite.  We also flush his sinuses with salilne solution daily. He gets really  bad, tons of sneezing, wheezing,  green mucus, and coughing. He loses his sense of smell and refuses to eat, so he gets force fed. He loses weight and is very lethargic. When he has a lot of sinus drainage he also has bouts of vomiting which we treat with Reglan. Slowly he will get better and then he acts like his old self and eats every thing I put in front of him. But if the weather changes it starts all over again.

The Clavamox and Baytril do not seem to agree with him, and he goes down hill faster with them so I  have stopped using them. I have also had antibiotic injections that I have given him for 7 to 10 days in a row. I can't remember what was in them I think it was kind of amoxi. . They helped the first 2 times we used them and then they seem to have quit working.

As soon as he starts showing signs of another infection we start him on a vaporizer and also put Vic's rub on his throat and chest per Vet's orders.  I have been to 2 different Vets. They both agree he is to old for surgery to scrape out his sinuses.  I would let him go except for when he rebounds he does so good. He eats, plays and snuggles.

He will be sick from 2 to 7 days every time he has an episode.

He also has hyperthyroidism which is under control.

Please if any one has had this problem or can suggest any thing I would be appreciate the information.  There is not much I would not do for my orange boy. I recently lost my other old cat Sparky to renal disease ( last month )  I would really hate to lose Merlin too.

So Happy Holidays to all and if you have any information I would love to hear it!

Love to hear from you

8sandcats

I went through a similar situation with my cat several years ago, even though it seems like yesterday.  She had an ongoing infection for about 8 months where we'd get meds from the vet, she'd get better, then get worse, get more meds, get better, get worse.  You know the routine.  FINALLY, the 3rd vet we went to suggested a culture and sensitivity test on the mucous.  She collected 2 samples, one from her throat and one from projectile sneezing in the office onto a sanitary dish.  The vet sent those off and they were cultured.  That told the vet if we were dealing with a bacterial or viral infection.  The sensitivity test told the vet which medication(s) best treated the infection.  Turns out my girl had a pretty serious bacterial infection (psuedomonas) and needed two twenty-day treatments of a specific antibiotic to get the out of control bacteria into normal ranges.  She's not had a flare up since.  So, my advice is to get a culture and sensitivity test done on any discharge and go from there rather than treating it willy-nilly with antibiotics that aren't working or working well enough.

My cat Willis - 10 yrs - has had suffy nose and sneezing off and on for months. He was treated with convenia, no effect; baytril, little effect; lysine, no effect. The condition would get better but then get worse again. I also finally opted for a sinus/nasal culture. They had to sedate him because the culture was taken from far up in his sinus, but if your cat is producing something that can be readily be cultured they probably wouldn't have to sedate. The cultures test for a bunch of different bacterial, fungal, viral infections. Turns out Willis has a mycoplasma bacterial infection, sensitive to docycycline. This time around he's getting a heavy duty dose - 150 mg twice a day for three weeks. We're four days in and no major change but I think I can hear some improvement. I agree that it may be necessary to do a culture and find out exactly what bacteria you're dealing with so you can appropriately treat it. My cat hasn't gotten really sick, has maintained a healthy appetite throughout, but you should culture -

Thank you so much for the advice. I called my vet this morning and we are going to try to get a sample next week. Hopefully we will get a sample with him awake. He is a little to delicate to chance knocking him out with gas. I am a little disappointed my Vet did not mention this option earlier, like 2 years ago when it started and he was still strong. Thanks for the help!

my cat has a bad sinus infection.vet gave him antibiotics.clean areas where he sleeps.see if your cat don't have a bronchitis.if that vet isn't helping.go to another.what I did.this vet did help.

VaporRub is harmful ! . Sneezing/discharge sinus infection could be from bad teeth.
*Personal experience: Prob should use a squirt in tooth cleaner until cat's mouth is completely healed from tooth surgery.

I read that vicks vapor rub has camphor in it, which is TOXIC to cats.. prob not a great idea to put it anywhere they can lick

As for the infection... I hope your cat recovered. I know it's been several years but I thought this may help others, so I chose to respond anyway. My own cat had sneezing and discharge for a few YEARS and the vet said it was some kind of virus prob when it did not respond to antibiotics after two tries on the same antibiotic. If I had known better I should have persisted, but I believed her. After all, she is the expert right?

Well after a couple more years went by (I had been giving thyme hoping to stop it getting worse but it wasn't enough and was afraid to give my cat too much) I finally got desperate bc he sounded terrible & I was worried it might be in his lungs. Turned out the new vet doesn't think it's in his lungs, but that his teeth were causing a sinus infection. Both my cats recently had their teeth taken care of, and he was put on a 2 week antibiotic shot... twice. I do believe she was prob right as it has been gone for a few weeks. Unfortunately I started brushing his teeth or ... trying to, and may have started too soon, idk. To get them used to it you have to put your finger in their mouth along the gum line. Now I'm starting to worry maybe my hands weren't clean enough, and that I might have introduced bacteria again... Both my cats are now sneezing which is not encouraging!

But the point is... it could be that it's a sinus infection caused by bad teeth. And unless the teeth are taken care of, it will prob persist even on antibiotics. In some cases bacteria are resistant and the antibiotic round might need to be done for a longer period of time to get rid of it completely.

* I don't recommend putting your fingers in your cat's mouth without making sure your hands are completely clean when getting them used to brushing their teeth. If your cat has recently had teeth removed,prob we should wait longer before trying to get them used to the brushing. Tropiclean tooth cleaning gel for cats is prob best to start, bc all you do is squirt it into their mouth on each side. (This one, not the one that goes in water unless your cat drinks a lot. ) I do think the brushing rather than the one that goes in water will be more effective, but something is better than nothing. I would wait at least a month and a half prob after the cat has had teeth cleaned before introducing fingers into their mouth to get them used to the cat toothpaste/brushing