kittens been stuffy and hacking for a month now!

i am at such a dilema. my poor kitten is about 5 months old. i got her from a shelter and she was sneezing since i took her home. i went to the vet about a month ago and he determined that she has feline herpes so he put her on clavomox and l-lysine. after 2 weeks she got better for like a day then was back to sneezing and having a stuffy nose and my vet said just to continue with the antibiotics. but its been about a month now and she still has a stuffy nose with an occational sneeze. but now she does this hacky/coughing/sneezing thing.. its kind of hard to describe but she'll do it for a long time like a good 20 seconds maybe (seems like forever) and it makes me nervous to see her doing it. i give her some hairball remedy for the hacking but that doesnt do anything for her. maybe its asthma or a heart murmur or maybe allergies.. has anyone experienced anything like this? she still eats ALL the time and is very playful and social. she has a vet appointment with another vet (second opinion) on monday but i was wondering if anyone had some suggestions.
thanks

If she's had this for a month you are very justified in taking her to the vet. I would be concerned. When you go to the vet ask them about putting her on Baytril instead of Clavimox. It's a newer and seems to be a bit more effect broad spectrum veternary antibiotic. A bit more expensive, but worth it.

my first thought was "take her to another vet" but I see that you have already planned to do that! great!
My Tipsy had similar symptoms to what you described when he was just a kitten, and it too took a LONG time to be resolved, as is your situation. I was told that he had Chlamydia, but I cant remember too much other than that unfortunatly..

but good idea to get a second opinion!! GOOD LUCK!! let us know what this new vet says

My Wellington had these symptoms and was 2 months on varioous antibiotics before the vet took a chest Xray and determined he has asthma. Now he is on prednisone which is controlling it, though he still breathes loudly at night and a few days ago when I was stupid enough to use a fly spray, it sent him into a long fit of coughing. So, no aerosols or air fesheners from now on! Get the vet to think asthma, though there may be other causes of course.

thanks guys, ill be sure to let you know how the vet goes on monday

VET visit. Don't be afraid to keep bringing him back if nothing improves. Rocky went about probably 6-10 times his first year. Finally after trying at least 3 or 4 kinds of antibiotics it was decided that prednisone is the main thing that helps him out of his herpes induced asthma flare ups, and we have learned that runny nose and eyes is "normal" for him. Luckily he has gotten better and his flare ups are further apart.

sorry its taken so long for me to reply. i took her to the vet on tuesday and the doctor explained to me that upper respratory infections are viruses and can be hard to treat. sometimes the kittens get better after 2 weeks or sometimes two months. so instead of lysine, which is common to use with URI, he has her on Interferon and its working great. after the second day shes breathing clearly finally no more stuffy nose when she wakes up. just thought id let everyone know that my kittens feeling much better now. thanks for everyones advice too!

Hi. I have had many cats with Feline Herpes virus (joys of doing rescue). Most of them that did not respond to the meds in the beginning became cronic. They did well and lived long lives (they DO like to sneeze in your face!).
I am told that ya have to have them on the L-lysine for 6 months to see any improvement. Are you using the gel or the powder? A friend used the gel and said the cats hate it. I find that all ya have to do with the powder is mix it with a tiny bit of wet food and they eat it right up.
I hope your baby gets better!

ya, actually the vet originally had her on some l-lysine paste (which she HATED!) and then when that ran out i would crush up the pill form and put it in her food. she was onthat for a good 2 months but her stuffy nose was so bad. she would sleep with her mouth open and in the morning it sounded like she couldnt even breath out of her nose at all. it was so bad and i felt so bad for her.this interferon is working great! her stuffy nose and sneezing has significantly decreased within in this first week. myvet said that some animalclinics use the l-lysine method and others use interferon. different theories for different cats i guess.

A while back I got a kitten from my sister's barn. He was in really tough shape fr a while-did pnuemonia, URI,weepy eyes, runny nose, sneezing with "droplets" going in every direction. My vet ended up ordering something special as they had determined it was herpes and they hadn't treated before. Do I remember what it was anymore-NO!! But whatever it was it worked well but it took at least 3 months or more for him to get healthy!!

I am glad the interferon is working for your baby! It is so heartbreaking when they are sick:-(

yes it is, especially when they are so little, we'll see how i goes