New kitten is sneezing, drooling, lethargic with fever

I had my 8 month old male rescue kitty to the vet today due to not eating, drooling, sneezing, and lethargy. He was given an injection of fluids to treat dehydration, an injection to help with nausea if that was the cause of the drooling, and antibiotics. She suspects a URI. I'm very concerned because it's been over 4 hours and the drooling hasn't subsided and he still hasn't eaten. I'll be feeding him baby food via a syringe if he doesn't eat by 8 as recommended by the vet. I'm wondering if anyone can give me some sort of idea on how long the medications could take to work and at what point should I consider taking him back if he doesn't improve. Thanks for any help, I'm feeling so helpless about the little guy. I should also add that the vet told me two kittens (much younger than mine) came to the office with the same symptoms and didn't make it. This is adding to my panic.

Your kitten may not be eating because he can not smell the food.  I have been through URI's with much younger kittens and they all survived.  One thing I did that really helped my cats was to run the shower with hot water and steam up the bathroom.  Take your cat into the bathroom with you for about 15-20 minutes multiple times a day.  This will help with the congestion and may help with help get your kitty eating again on his own. 

When my Starbuck was six weeks old she had a  really bad URI, ear infection in both ears and ear mites all at the same time.  I took her in the bathroom 3x daily until the sneezing and coughing stopped.  She did require 2 rounds of antibiotics for the URI and the ear mites.  My kitten never stopped eating though.  Starbuck is now a happy and healthy almost 9 year old cat.  She had another URI last year and I used the same treatment.  

Casey who is over a year old also had a URI when he was 7 weeks old and I used the steam treatment on him too. Casey gave my other 3 cats his URI because he did not start showing symptoms right away.  Only 2 of my 4 cats required vet care for this round.  I was able to get the other 2 cats through their URI's with the steam treatment.

When my 2 seniors started having health issues and stopped eating I was able to get them to start eating again with Fancy Feast Classics Pate wet food.  My seniors would not touch baby food.

I am not sure what to think of the drooling because I have never experienced that from a URI. 

Hi. URI's can be serious in little ones. You should start to see at least a small improvement in 24 hours. Its very important to make sure he gets all those antibiotics, which I'm assuming are liquid? If he vomits thru the injection (most likely Cerenia), isn't eating, and doesn't perk up by tmrw afternoon, I would take him back to the Dr. He may need to be hospitalized. Don't forget tmrw is Saturday so if you can't get into your regular Vet, you may need to go to an e clinic. Good luck!

Well, we just had to force feed him with a syringe. I should've specified, he got an injection of antibiotics, not pills or liquid, so no worries that he's not getting the media. I'm just very concerned about the drooling, and more specifically the not eating on his own. He doesn't have watery or crusty eyes, a runny nose or congestion (that I can tell). Just the sneezing, drooling, not eating and being lethargic. My vet told me to call with an update tomorrow morning which I'll do. I'm hoping the meds will work overnight and he'll be at least a bit better in the morning. I'm sure he won't be 100% for a few days.

I'd also recommend talking to your vet about Calici virus. They can develop ulcers in their mouth (stomatitis) that can cause drooling and pain, which would make him not want to eat. The Calici virus can present with respiratory symptoms. I'm glad you opted for injectible antibiotics as they will take effect quicker.

She did check his mouth and said she didn't see any ulcers. I'm wondering if maybe they were just starting to form. I just can't overcome the drooling. I feel like the anti nausea medication should've certainly worked by now, and if the nausea has stopped I'd have thought the drooling would as well?

Drooling is often associated with dental issues. Will he let you look at the roof of his mouth? Alot of dental issues can't be detected during a normal exam bc cats don't let us just look inside their mouths. Anti nausea meds normally are fast acting.

I was worried the nausea meds were fast acting. If that's the case, I wonder what the cause of the drooling could be if not ulcers and if it wasn't the nausea? Thanks so much for all the advice. I'm praying the little guy pulls through.

Sorry, I meant to add that the vet checked his teeth gums and tongue although it was a very quick check as he wasn't very happy. She said it all looked fine.

Do you have any plants in the house that it may have eaten? I know that peace lily's can get a cat quite sick. Any cleaner or bleach it may have licked? Does it go outside? Antifreeze,rat poison,flea treatment?.Drooling to me sounds like some kind of toxicity. Hope he gets better.

No problem! Give us an update on this little guy tomorrow. In the meantime, keep him warm, try to entice him to eat (try warming baby food), and take him to Vet tomorrow for more sub Q fluids to get him thru the weekend when they're closed. Good luck!

No, he's been confined to one room with absolutely nothing toxic in it. We just got him from the shelter Tuesday. He hasn't been outdoors.

Well, we had to go back to the vet today. Still drooling excessively and not eating or drinking, his fever went up a bit. She did a white blood cell count and it was in the low range so she's worried he may have distemper. He was vaccinated at the shelter though so I'm not sure how this would be possible. We have to continue with the force feeding and he now has developed diarrhea which he was given another medicine for. She said if he is worse by tomorrow to take him to the emergency clinic to be euthanized, which will break my heart. I am unsure how to know if it's time to give up on the little guy and end his agony or continue with the force feeding and hope he recovers. Any help or advice about that would be greatly appreciated.