Assistance with Diagnosis please!

I spent last night up with Loki, my 18 month old neutered Burmese boy.

His 3rd eyelids have been partially closed for 3 days. They went red, which we treated with steroid drops. and now appear to be a sensible colour, although still protruding. 

In the last 36 hours he has developed very loose stools (not liquid), and has started to sneeze once every few minutes. He is still eating, although not as passionately as hr normally does. He is drinking - not excessively given his diarrhoea. He also appears to be a little wheezy/ snuffly I sat up with him all night and just watched him sleep when he could - he was definitely restless. He gets access to the garden but no further thanks to cat proof fencing so only interacts with his sister Mia. We've been checking his temperature daily and it's normal. He has some flatulence, which is abnormal for him, and when I woke up with him lying on my face this morning I could hear things gurgling away in his abdomen (given the soft stools and flatulence this was a rather alarming moment).

Obviously I took him straight down to the vets and they want stool samples for analysis, which I have now taken to them.  It will take several days to get the test results back. the vets have said to just look after him as long as he is eating and drinking, and doesn't have problems breathing etc, but get him down there if he deteriorates. 

So, we're waiting on the results of poo testing and to see if he gets better or worse. I am not known for my patience, and I hate seeing a cat in discomfort.

So

1. Intermittently Sneezing

2. Mild upper respiratory distress

3. flatulence that would KO a Rhino

4. Very soft stools

5. Protruding 3rd eyelids.

But...

1. No temperature

2. Still eating

3. Still drinking

4. vaccinated against the usual suspects

5. Indoor cat with no feline interaction (other than sister)

Any ideas what's wrong with my little boy? Embarrassingly my wife is an equine vet, but not a feline expert. She and I are both frustrated that we cannot treat a little more aggressively. Anything we should be asking the vet to do, or is a wait and see...


G

I'm no expert, but I'd hazard a guess at a respiratory/sinus infection of some sort.  I'm surprised the vet didn't at least start a course of antibiotics while you are waiting for test results. 

@Gareth -- how is your loki doing today?

Thank you for asking.

Unfortunately he's gone downhill a little. I came home to find he had diarrhea, and had soiled all over the living room carpet. He's also gone off his food. The poor little sod was desperately trying to scrape poo up off the carpet like he was in the litter tray. It broke my heart to see him.

I rushed him back down the vets. The vet we saw is my wife's boss, and in fairness, is a superb practitioner. Loki had a jab of painkiller / anti inflammatory, a jab of long term antibiotics, and a pill to stimulate his appetite. It's going to be costly, but we are also doing a full virus test as soon as the new year is out of the way and the labs open up. 

He reckons it's a viral infection with possibly a secondary bacterial infection. The specifics could be something relatively benign or something awful. We will just have to keep him warm and safe, manage his symptoms, and keep our fingers crossed.

My other cat Mia has started to sneeze now and again....

I've no experience with these symptoms. Just wanted to say that he's so handsome!
Hope Loki gets better soon!

Oh no.  I'm sorry to hear all that.

Keeping fingers crossed that he improves with the shots, and that Mia is not coming down with the same issue.

@Gareth -- i'm so sorry to read that poor loki has gone downhill a little. and now mia is starting to sneeze too.

i'm glad the vet gave loki the long term antibiotic shot. he won't have to take pills. when my mickey had an infection years ago, he had fever, diarrhea, vomiting. our vet gave mickey an appetite stimulant shot to start him off, and mickey was eating by evening of that day. mickey took antibiotic pills every day for 10 days -- he and i both were very happy when he had finished the pills.

has loki shown any interest in food/eating yet?

sending  that both loki and mia recover well and quickly.

I'm so sorry. What a handsome kitty. 

I hope that he's well hydrated. 

I hope the results come back with good.new.
poor baby trying to clean up the carpet..It gave me a lump in my throat.
I.hope he gets well soon and that his sister's sneezing is coincidental.

Fecal tests come back with monstrous giardia count, so although that doesn't explain the sneezing and other respiratory stuff, at least we know why he has diarrhea and is incontinent. He's now on a pretty aggressive antibiotic course to deal with that, and when we'll see where we are. Mia doesn't appear to be getting worse, thank god.

G

Gareth said:

 
Fecal tests come back with monstrous giardia count, so although that doesn't explain the sneezing and other respiratory stuff, at least we know why he has diarrhea and is incontinent. He's now on a pretty aggressive antibiotic course to deal with that, and when we'll see where we are. Mia doesn't appear to be getting worse, thank god.

G

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poor loki! i'm glad you have at least a partial diagnosis now, and antibiotics to treat it.  could it be that the giardia caused loki's immune system to become weakened, and so he became susceptible to developing the other symptoms (sneezing and mild upper respiratory distress)?

i'm so glad to hear that your mia doesn't seem to be getting worse.

mickNsnicks2mom said:

 
poor loki! i'm glad you have at least a partial diagnosis now, and antibiotics to treat it.  could it be that the giardia caused loki's immune system to become weakened, and so he became susceptible to developing the other symptoms (sneezing and mild upper respiratory distress)?

i'm so glad to hear that your mia doesn't seem to be getting worse.

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This is precisely my wife's suspicions, and I hope you are both right!

He was very, very flat last night, but seems a little brighter this morning, although he's not enjoying the constant pilling

Gareth said:

 
This is precisely my wife's suspicions, and I hope you are both right!

He was very, very flat last night, but seems a little brighter this morning, although he's not enjoying the constant pilling

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it might party be the (strong) antibiotics that were causing your loki to feel very flat last night.

poor loki! my mickey never liked being pilled either. his sister, snick, doesn't mind being pilled at all -- which is good, because she has pills to take quite often. but snick absolutely hates liquid medicines, so i always make sure to get medicines in pill form for her.

it might help the pills "go down" better for loki if he'll eat a little wet/canned food right after being pilled, to help "wash" the pill down. this is what i do when i pill my snick.

OK, thanks everyone, he's now definitely on the mend.

Gareth said:

 
OK, thanks everyone, he's now definitely on the mend.

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Don't forget how important probiotics are, especially with pets on antibiotics. Nutramax Provobial DC has been excellent for me and some other reader may have a brand to suggest.