Allergies Maybe?

troub95

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Hi all! 


My co-worker adopted a kitten from the local shelter July 31st. Little Marabelle has messed into her new family very well and is doing all things a kitten should do with the exception of her nose.

She does all of her cat "business" with no problems, eats and drinks with no problems. 

So about 1 week after bringing Marabelle home, my friend took Marabelle to her first vet appointment. Marabelle was diagnosed with a URI (no surprise since she came out of the shelter). After her doxycycline treatment for that, she was right as rain. A week or so later, her nosed started running again and she started sneezing.  She went back to the vet on Aug 21 and received another doxy treatment. Knocked it out.  After 3 days or so, nose started running again, so back to the vet she went for a 3rd round of doxy. This time the vet said if the didn't work, they would do something else. 

Marabelle has been off the doxy for about a week and a half now and about 2 days ago, her nose started running and she started sneezing. She is not running a fever, eyes are not watering and she is not lethargic. Other than the URI, tapeworms and vacs, Marabelle has not been treated for anything else.

She lives in a multi cat and dog household. All animals have been vaccinated and are healthy. Everything I can come up with just doesn't make sense, other than allergies.

I haven't had any experience with allergies in a cat so I told my friend I would come to y'all and see what theories you might have. My friend is very happy with her vet (she poo-pooed my suggestion of a 2nd opinion) but is frustrated that Marabelle is still having this issue.

If it is allergies, how do vets test for that? Is this going to be a trial/error scenario where my friend spends Marabelle's life trying to figure out what triggers the runny nose? Any ideas/suggestions/theories will be greatly appreciated. My friend, her vet and I are all scratching our heads on this one.

Brandi
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I don't rally know if an antibiotic would help if it were allergies.  What did the Vet thing about that, or are you just thinking out loud?

I'm just thinking out loud myself, and wondering if it might be this:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/203138/pseudomonas   Maybe this is what the Vet meant by "do something else".  That didn't necessarily mean he didn't have any other ideas in mind, to my way of thinking.
 

stephenq

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Brandi
By all appearances your cat has a recurring URI that may not be fully responding to the Doxi.  It's time the vet tried a different antibiotic.  Cats do get allergies but not in the way your cat is showing symptoms.  Most cat allergies are either food based (GI) or skin based.
 
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troub95

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Update on Marabelle

After a couple of trips to the vet and rounds of medication, I suggested that Kim ask the vet about feline herpes. Not long before Kim took Marabelle to the vet, we discovered that our Ruby had contracted feline herpes from some kittens we were fostering. Ruby, as well as our other cats, is now on daily L-lysine to keep everything under control. When she has a flair-up, she gets L-lysine treats.

Kim talked to her vet about the feline herpes and her vet agreed for her to follow the same treatment we have been using with Ruby. After about a week on the L-lysine, Marabelle's eyes & nose started clearing up. Kim has and will continue with the L-lysine and all seems well in her household.

Thanks again everyone for the information and the encouragement! After all the problems we had last year with all of our fosters, we seriously discussed the financial impact that fostering was taking on our household. However, we decided to continue fostering and The Boyfriend and I are looking forward to "kitten season"!

Brandi
 
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