possible respiratory infection in my cat.

erinmaiden

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My cat has been sneezing frequently, and occasionally rubbing his nose. There's a small amount of discharge coming from his left eye, but not more than normal. He's shown symptoms for about 4 days, but it's only started to be alarming to me today; he's been sleeping a lot, and generally lethargic. I gave him some treats, which he ate, but not before sneezing a few times, and he was a lot slower to eat them up than normal.

I'm wondering if I should treat this as an emergency, or wait a few days to see if his symptoms reside. I read that vets suggest L-Lysine for cats that have upper respiratory infections, I have that on hand (haven't given it to him yet). If I were to put a small amount (250 mg?) in some wet food would that harm him? He's a very big Maine Coon.

Sorry if this post is redundant to any other posts around, I just figured I'd seek out some more personal advice before taking any further actions.

Thank you, and Happy New Year!
 

stephenq

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My cat has been sneezing frequently, and occasionally rubbing his nose. There's a small amount of discharge coming from his left eye, but not more than normal. He's shown symptoms for about 4 days, but it's only started to be alarming to me today; he's been sleeping a lot, and generally lethargic. I gave him some treats, which he ate, but not before sneezing a few times, and he was a lot slower to eat them up than normal.

I'm wondering if I should treat this as an emergency, or wait a few days to see if his symptoms reside. I read that vets suggest L-Lysine for cats that have upper respiratory infections, I have that on hand (haven't given it to him yet). If I were to put a small amount (250 mg?) in some wet food would that harm him? He's a very big Maine Coon.

Sorry if this post is redundant to any other posts around, I just figured I'd seek out some more personal advice before taking any further actions.

Thank you, and Happy New Year!
Hi and welcome to TCS!

It's not an emergency (yet) but he's declining in a bad way (loss of appetite) and it does require treatment and the longer the delay the worse it could become. Upper respiratory infections have several varieties and only one of them, Feline Herpes, benefits from L-lysine so don't jump the gun on that.  What you need is a vet who can diagnose him and prescribe proper treatment.  Untreated it could turn into a bacterial lung infection and then he will be in real trouble.  As it is he is getting worse, may have a temperature, and if this gets even a little worse he will stop eating entirely and then you are in BIG trouble.  2 days without food and he becomes at risk for hepatic lipidosis, a  very dangerous  and possibly fatal liver disease requiring massive and $$$ treatment in order to survive.

Until you can get to a vet, give him smelly food to tempt him to eat.  If he is congested and can't smell his food he will refuse it so look for something really smelly like 9 Lives tuna as an example.  Heat it gently in a microwave (finger test it for temp) to release more smell.  If he refuses to eat or is not eating enough consider syringe feeding him until you can get to a vet.  Your drug store will sell the right type of oral syringe, see this video for instructions. 
Give him a stream bath at least twice a day by sitting with him in the bathroom with the shower on hot  for 15 minutes to loosen congestion.  You can also get children's non-medicated  nasal drops (one brand is "little noses") and put a couple drops of this saline solution ion his nose 2-3 times a day.

Do not give him any human medications without consulting a vet, no Aspirin, nothing, as many of these drugs are very dangerous to cats.

He needs a vet.  He will get sicker the longer you wait.
 
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