Cat is sneezing a LOT!

Okay so on Friday, I took my cat Flakes to a new vet (we recently moved away from our old vet who was awesome) and we got him a checkup, bloodwork, urinalysis, and 2 vaccines - rabies and panleuk, both 3 year versions. About an hour after we got home, Flakes started vomiting and looked very lethargic. He vomited at least 5-8 times in the span of 30 minutes and then had diarrhea twice. The vet was closed (we had the last appointment of the day) so we had to take him to the all night emergency vet. When we arrived, they took him back for oxygen because he was breathing heavy and was very lethargic. They then gave him fluids and a Cerenia shot. He had more diarrhea while we were there.

We took him home that night and kept food away until the morning. Since then, he has not thrown up and his bowel movements are normal. However, he has been sneezing - a lot! Like he's sitting next to me right now on the floor and he has sneezed 5 times since I started typing this. He's been getting sneezing fits like this fairly often in the past few days. He isn't really getting any snot anywhere (like his normal sneezes where there's a huge glob on the floor that he proceeds to lick up, haha), it just seems runny and clear. His eyes also look a little runny.

Any ideas on whether this is related to the vaccines? Should we take him back to the vet to get him checked out? Or do you think it's safe to wait it out and see if it's just a little cold?

I hate to sound like a penny pincher but a routine checkup has turned into a several hundred dollar expense. I love the little guy and want what's best for him though so if you all think he should go back to the vet, that's what we'll do.

Also, forgot to mention that the emergency vet wasn't sure what was causing the vomiting and diarrhea. He said he's fairly rare for cats to have vaccine reactions but it was possible. Also, Flakes' bloodwork and urinalysis were both excellent. Also forgot to mention that Flakes is around 10 years old, not sure the exact age as we adopted him several years ago.

No advice whatsoever?

Well that first evening sounds like it could have been a reaction itself. Did the ER vet ever say what the problem was or did they just treat the symptoms? It sounds like he was pretty bad going by everything they did.

Have you tried calling your vet to ask if this is something that could be related to the vaccines? They may still ask you to come in but it does not hurt to try and calling. It could be leftovers from whatever he had that first night.

Donutte said:

 
Well that first evening sounds like it could have been a reaction itself. Did the ER vet ever say what the problem was or did they just treat the symptoms? It sounds like he was pretty bad going by everything they did.

Have you tried calling your vet to ask if this is something that could be related to the vaccines? They may still ask you to come in but it does not hurt to try and calling. It could be leftovers from whatever he had that first night.

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Thank you for the reply! The ER vet wasn't sure and said that unless we did lots of testing, we probably wouldn't know. He gave us the option to treat symptomatically or to do the testing but warned that the testing would be very expensive and it could end up inconclusive so we went with treating symptoms. Flakes got fluids under the skin and a Cerenia shot. We were also given some anti-diarrhea medicine but Flakes refused to take it. He didn't have any diarrhea after that.

I did contact our vet on Monday to ask them to put in Flakes' file that he had a bad reaction but they did not ask us to come in at that time. I can try calling again tomorrow to ask if this is normal. I'm really worried that he picked up an illness while he was at the vet's office. We were the last appointment of the day and who knows how many other animals came through and what they had.

jersharocks said:

 
Thank you for the reply! The ER vet wasn't sure and said that unless we did lots of testing, we probably wouldn't know. He gave us the option to treat symptomatically or to do the testing but warned that the testing would be very expensive and it could end up inconclusive so we went with treating symptoms. Flakes got fluids under the skin and a Cerenia shot. We were also given some anti-diarrhea medicine but Flakes refused to take it. He didn't have any diarrhea after that.

I did contact our vet on Monday to ask them to put in Flakes' file that he had a bad reaction but they did not ask us to come in at that time. I can try calling again tomorrow to ask if this is normal. I'm really worried that he picked up an illness while he was at the vet's office. We were the last appointment of the day and who knows how many other animals came through and what they had.

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Did you actually talk to the vet when you called on Monday, or a vet tech? Or was it just the office staff? If not I'd make sure to ask to speak with the doctor tomorrow, even if they have to call you back. Usually they are more than happy to help but it's possible the urgency of the issue wasn't quite received. It's possible they thought the issue was resolved when you said you took him to the ER vet (I'm assuming that was mentioned anyway).

Donutte said:

 
Did you actually talk to the vet when you called on Monday, or a vet tech? Or was it just the office staff? If not I'd make sure to ask to speak with the doctor tomorrow, even if they have to call you back. Usually they are more than happy to help but it's possible the urgency of the issue wasn't quite received. It's possible they thought the issue was resolved when you said you took him to the ER vet (I'm assuming that was mentioned anyway).

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I spoke with the office manager who is the wife of the vet. I would venture to say that she would know whether something was urgent but you're right, I will try again. I did mention the ER vet visit.

jersharocks said:

 
I spoke with the office manager who is the wife of the vet. I would venture to say that she would know whether something was urgent but you're right, I will try again. I did mention the ER vet visit.

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Definitely talk to the vet himself this time. And make sure they know the details of what was done at the ER vet (if that wasn't relayed yet) and how long / how much he's been sneezing. If nothing else, he can actually say "yeah, that's normal" or "no, bring him back in". 

Not sure what kind of rapport you have with your vet's office. I know if I call and I talk to the Cat Whisperer, odds are I'll be getting a call back from the vet whether I asked or not. Other folks, I may have to specifically ask to talk to the vet / have him call back.

Donutte said:

 
Definitely talk to the vet himself this time. And make sure they know the details of what was done at the ER vet (if that wasn't relayed yet) and how long / how much he's been sneezing. If nothing else, he can actually say "yeah, that's normal" or "no, bring him back in". 

Not sure what kind of rapport you have with your vet's office. I know if I call and I talk to the Cat Whisperer, odds are I'll be getting a call back from the vet whether I asked or not. Other folks, I may have to specifically ask to talk to the vet / have him call back.

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I didn't get ahold of the vet today but will try calling again tomorrow. I did a ton of research today though and I'm thinking it may be feline herpes. I read that it can be triggered by stress and he was definitely stressed on Friday. He tends to have boogers in his nose and sneezes fairly often so maybe he has the herpes virus and I just never put two and two together. I feel like a bad kitty parent.

jersharocks said:

 
I didn't get ahold of the vet today but will try calling again tomorrow. I did a ton of research today though and I'm thinking it may be feline herpes. I read that it can be triggered by stress and he was definitely stressed on Friday. He tends to have boogers in his nose and sneezes fairly often so maybe he has the herpes virus and I just never put two and two together. I feel like a bad kitty parent.

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That's always possible. Good thing is it's treatable if it is that. 

If everything works out at the vet, and your cat is still sneezing, it might be something like the dust from the cat litter that is making your cat sneeze. I know that some cat litter causes my cat to sneeze. Catnip can make my cat sneeze at times too! I hope that you find the help that you need for your cat.