New Kitten with odd problems

My girlfriend and I recently adopted a 5 month old kitten, Lemon.  A day or so after bringing her home she began sneezing and dry heaving a bit.  This increased a lot and then included thick gooey build up on her eyes and nose, so we brought her to our vet.  The vet gave her some antibiotics to clear up an infection.  The antibiotics cleared up the eyes and nose but she still has the sneezing  and hacking.  But now when she sneezes and coughs she cannot control her bowel.  Her feces just kind of pour out.  She doesn't even seem to know it's happening because she often just sits in afterwards.  Other than the mentioned problems she's fine, plays, sleeps and eats normally.  We've taken her back to the vet and she suspects a stomach infection because her stool has been so loose.

My girlfriend's family runs a cat shelter and has cared for up to 70 cats and my family has had a handful throughout my life and we're all stumped.

We've tried pumpkin for her stomach.

Hairball paste and cat grass for the hacking.

steaming her up for the sneezing.

Changed her food (dry & wet)

anyone else ever dealt with something like this?

If your Vet suspects a stomach infection, did she put her on some sort of antibiotic?  When i hear "infection", usually the treatment is antibiotic, although I guess it depends on whether or not it's viral vs bacterial.  When she does have an "unknowing" bowel movement while sneezing or hacking, is it soft, normal, or diarrhea?  I'm guessing fairly liquid since you say it "pours out".  Has she been thoroughly checked for ALL parasites, including a PCR test, which is more than just a fecal float? 

As to the sneezing and hacking, could be allergies. Not knowing which hemisphere you live in, are there things blooming where you are?  Actually, I live in a place where my allergies are pretty bad at the moment, so it doesn't need to be spring to have allergies.  Also, she might have Feline Herpes.  And she might have asthma.  Have any of these things been raised as options? 

Steaming probably won't work for sneezing, but it is good for congestion.

At first, the vet put her on cefa drops. That was when she started having the really loose stool. Right now, she is on metronidazole. Yes, when she has the "unknowing" BM it is diarrhea. We have a scheduled call with our vet to check progress once the 7 days of metronidazole is up on Friday, so I will mention the PCR test then, as I'm not sure if the shelter and/or vet did that.

We are in the Midwest and the weather keeps going warm to cold. Allergies could definitely be a possibility. We did briefly discuss the feline herpes  (that is what my girlfriend's mom suspects) but again, we will have to bring it up on the call.

Thank you for your advice! We appreciate any help that we can get. We're just glad she seems okay otherwise, but are worried about her losing weight (she's a little thing as is) and her stool being so loose. Again, thanks!

I'm thinking the sneezing and gagging are from allergies as well.  Most likely, she has post nasal drip and that's causing the gagging and over exaggerated swallowing.  You can try a little bit of an antihistamine or baby saline nose drops like Little Noses one drop once or twice a day to help clear out her nose.  I would also call the vet and let them know that the upper respiratory infection hasn't cleared up completely and ask for additional antibiotics or a different antibiotic.

If you've changed her food, especially if you feed dry food, that might be the cause of the diarrhea.  You can change wet (canned) food suddenly, but dry food has to have a gradual change over.

Thank you so much! We'll definitely look into the saline drops if it continues.

We appreciate your advice!

Antibiotics themselves can cause diarrhea. I vote to update your vet on the situation, then continue the supportive care that you've been providing already. Pumpkin, steaming, etc. Have you tried the boiled chicken and rice diet for a few days? Be careful that she doesn't become dehydrated. Feel her gums, they should be slick like yours.

CinqChats said:

 
Antibiotics themselves can cause diarrhea. I vote to update your vet on the situation, then continue the supportive care that you've been providing already. Pumpkin, steaming, etc. Have you tried the boiled chicken and rice diet for a few days? Be careful that she doesn't become dehydrated. Feel her gums, they should be slick like yours.

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I agree with this, 3 days after I put Midi on antibiotics he had some major runny bum