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URI - cannot breathe thru nose-HELP!

post #1 of 17
9/7/05 at 10:17am
Thread Starter 
Sammy has a URI and is on Clavamox, for 2 days so far. However, he can only breathe thru his mouth - he has complete nasal blockage and gags/dry-heaves every couple of hours, and/or when eating - sometimes getting up clear mucus, sometimes yellow. Fortunately still eating well. Has anyone experienced this and if so, can you recommend a home treatment? The vet wants to look inside (laproscopically) to see what the blockage is (they say full nasal blockage is uncommon??), but that is very expensive. I am so scared for his well-being, he is my youngest (1 yr. old) and my baby, and it is so hard to see him like this; there has to be something more I can do!
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post #2 of 17
9/7/05 at 10:25am
We all know what it's like when we have a cold and can't breath through our noses...........horrible

Is there no vets that do payment plans in your area so Sammy can get his problem sorted?
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post #3 of 17
9/7/05 at 10:26am
close your bathroom door, run the hot steaming water so it gets all steamy in there and than take the little one in there for 10 mins at a time, do it as many times a day as you can. we did this for Ares while he was sick, and it worked well.
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post #4 of 17
9/7/05 at 10:33am
Thread Starter 
I will definitely try that tonight; did Ares have full nasal blockage?
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post #5 of 17
9/7/05 at 10:36am
he was pretty stopped up. idealy you should get him back to the vet, but the steam treatments work. Ares boy is a persian so he already had one strike against him with that face lol
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post #6 of 17
9/7/05 at 10:39am
I mentioned this is another thread, but if you can, use a syringe or ball aspirator to help draw out the yucky stuff from his nose after you sit him in a steamy room for a while. He will NOT like this, but it may help things along. My Noble has a chronic URI, and I will still do that sometimes if he is snotting all over or wheezing (as nothing is quite as bad as a loudly snoring cat). Noble is quick to forgive me, and your probably will be too. Just be prepared for some squirming and a good bit of phlegm! And take care to thoroughly clean the ball aspirator or syringe, to decrease change of reinfection.

Cats and babies - poop, snot, crying, mess, and bizarre behavior. THey aren't that much different!
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post #7 of 17
9/7/05 at 10:42am
Thread Starter 
He was actually just at the vet yesterday; spent the day there having a physical exam and x-rays, which all turned out fine. The conjestion is all in the upper-area. He has a lot of gas in his stomach from breathing thru his mouth. On Labor Day I brought him to the ER, and yesterday to his regular doctor. The advice I received is "watch him for a few days and if he doesn't get better, we want to see him again".
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post #8 of 17
9/7/05 at 10:44am
Hmmm yup well i would defiently steam him
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post #9 of 17
9/7/05 at 10:44am
Thread Starter 
Hi Blueberrybeth, was Noble fully plugged nasally? I will definitely try that though. He has a pointy nose with small nostrils, so I'm not sure what kind of luck I will have. But I will try anything if it will make my Sammy feel better! Thank you for your advice!
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post #10 of 17
9/7/05 at 11:09am
Is he a persian? They are known for sinus problems if they are extreme faced-

There is a product called Little Noses you can buy, you can squirt that into his nostrils, just a tiny bit, he will sneeze and blow gunk out, then you can reapply the spray. You can also buy a vaporizer and plug that into the room when the cat is asleep and run that. The sudafed plug ins will work as well, but they need to be at least half a room's distance from the cat because they are so strong.
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post #11 of 17
9/7/05 at 11:18am
Thread Starter 
He is not a persian - just a petite black and white tuxedo. He's a runt I just spoke with the vet and she wants me to give him a pill called animophylline, to open up his airways. I will try your suggestions as well - thank you!
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post #12 of 17
9/7/05 at 11:19am
Garfield has feline herpes. He often has the sniffles, but has never been fully stopped up. I wipe the boogies off his nose with a warm wash cloth. I have even applied chapstick to moisten his nose, so it doesn't stick so bad.

When he is having problems, whenever we get a bath or shower, into the bathroom he goes. He often joins us in the bathroom at other times, too. To him the bathroom is the place for a cat!

Best of luck with Sammy!
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post #13 of 17
9/7/05 at 11:24am
Thread Starter 
Thanks so much for your well wishes - I will update as things progress! This site is SUCH a wonderful resources; what on earth did we do before the World Wide Web??
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post #14 of 17
9/7/05 at 1:15pm
Yeah, it is pretty nice here, eh? I am loving it!

Anyhoo, I did forget about the saline spray...you can use the Little Noses kind as was suggested, or Simply Saline, or whatever. You can either let it work on its own or use the aspirator afterwards. You know, sometimes using the ball aspirator is not pretty, as most kitty noses are small. (I'm thinking about how I do this...)
You don't really have to shove it UP his nose; as long as you cover the nostril completely with the tip of aspirator you should be OK. Those things have some pretty good suction! It may help to get some of the stuff out that sneezing doesn't.
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post #15 of 17
9/7/05 at 6:24pm
My Rocky has herpes and a chronic runny nose. I have found that if I don't use a baby aspirator on his nose every day or tow that he will get stopped up pretty fast. He doesn't like it but puts up with it. We've been doing this since he was very little and very sick. I think he knows it helps him in the long run. I have tried squirting saline but it doesn't seem to help that much and he really hates it. I have also done the steam thing in the bathroom when he is really sick.
My vet also suggested some liquid benadryl to help with the runny nose at night. I tried it once and he really, really hated it. She did suggest the pill, but I want to wait until after he finishes some antibiotics for a UTI.
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post #16 of 17
9/9/05 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 
Thank you for your suggestions; I've been steaming Sammy in the morning and at night, and he comes into the bathroom now and lays down and waits for me to turn on the shower - he knows it's helping! His gagging has slowed down a lot, and he is starting to sneeze stuff out, so I think that is a good sign!
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post #17 of 17
9/9/05 at 11:06am
oh that is a good sign! its always good when it starts coming out!
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