Upper Respiratory Infection

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to the site and a newbie cat owner. I adopted my girl (Russian Blue/Siamese) on Sunday April 30th from our local shelter. A couple of days later she started sleeping constantly, sneezing and she had runny eyes. I have since took her to the vet and they confirmed that it was Upper Respiratory Infection and she has been on Clavamox for 4 days now.

She wasn't a big eater over the couple of days when she wasn't as sick but now she won't eat at all. I have tried feeding her wet food but she's still not responding to it. I'm getting worried because its been a couple of days now since she last ate. Just wondering if this is normal? any ideas on getting her to eat?

Thanks so much

Try warming it a bit so that it puts off more scent.

A kitty with a URI can't smell very well, so it's important that their food have a very strong scent.
If heating doesn't work, try pouring the water from a can of tuna over it, or get some fish food flakes from the pet store and sprinkle some over her food.

Run a hot shower and really steam up your bathroom and put her in there for a few minutes to try and help loosen her stuffy nose.

Thanks so much for your ideas, I tried and unfortunately didn't work and it seems that she's pretty mad at me know for making her get out of bed. I'm just so worried and would give anything for her to eat. Should I take her back to the vet or just wait and see?

This is a serious situation because after 2 days a non-eating cat is at significant risk for Hepatic Lipadosis, a life threatenbing liver condition. In addition, by not eating, her general condition will worsen.

At this point, assuming what you said is true that she hasn't eaten in 2 days, she needs hand feeding, aka force feeding, using liquified food and a feeding syringe in which the food is squirted into her mouth. You CANNOT do this without some intruction by either your vet or your rescue organization.

You can either contact your rescue group/adoption organization ASAP for help with this or contact your vet. You MUST NOT wait and see, if you do you will see that you have a massively sick cat on your hands.

After a few days of hand feeding and as her cold improves she will start to eat again but if you avoid treating her for not eating should she could end up at the vets with an IV feeding tubes for days and at great expense.

Thanks for the information I will get in touch with my vet first thing tomorrow. I don't want anything to happen to my baby, thanks for opening my eyes.

Originally Posted by Lala_lee_lou

Thanks for the information I will get in touch with my vet first thing tomorrow. I don't want anything to happen to my baby, thanks for opening my eyes.

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Like you I didn't know about this and lost our beloved Simba to liver failure. Force-feeding is no picnic but a necessity for our beloved pet.

My ucle was a Vet, and I know a few tricks, if you are still on line try this. Put some of that wet food on her front paw just enough that she will not like her paw to be dirty and she will lick it off. If she is not willing to do that then wipe it off with a warm cloth and try it on her nose, or around her mouth. You do have to get her eating, or at least get some of the gel or juice from the food into her if you can. By hand feeding they probably mean if all else fails put some of that canned food on your fingers and gently pet and talk to her and give her your fingers to lick the food off your fingers. I would even go so far as to make some broth or boullion and try to get her to lick that off of your fingers if you cannot get her to take anything else. Good Luck.

She may need to be put on something stronger, clavamox is a medicine that just stops the infection from multiplying, thus allowing the cats own immune system to begin fighting the infection. Sometimes a cat gets very weak, the can quickly get dehydrated and not want to eat, all of which will weaken the immune system.
The vet can put her on something stronger that will kill the infection, and work along with the clavamox to stop it.
She may need Sub-q fluids and continue force feeding and keeping fluids down. At this age a syringe will be the easiest used or a large dropper. You can use pedialite and dilute it 50% with water to help rehydrate.
And like another posted noted, a steam shower works wonders to help clear up the nasal passages. If she will allow you to hold her and comfort her, it may help her to relax and get rest afterwards.
Our vet also recommends pediatric (baby) nose drops and in kittens it is one drop each nostril. It works wonders, as well.
Canned food warmed up will have a stronger odor and may help her with the desire to eat.
URI's are no fun. I hope she is feeling better soon.

Thank you all so much for your ideas. I called the vet this morning and they advised me to force feed, they never mentioned changing her antibiotics which scares me just that if she gets worse then I can drop her off with them and they can mend her. I'm just about to call another vet to see if they can suggest a different antibiotic.

The specific antibiotic is secondary right now, you haven't even given the clavamox a chance to work. Clavamox is the standard antibiotic for adult cats with a URI, and while getting a second opinion is fine, dont start switching vets just because someone on the forum posts something about alternative antibiotics.

The cat's biggest problem right now is not eating, get that fixed and give the cat a week to see how she responds to the other treatments. Antibiotics aren't miracles, and they will not make your cat well overnight, in fact they don't generally address the URI directly at all, since most URI's are VIRAL and do not respond to antibiotics. The anitbiotic is to prevent secondary *bacterial* infections from taking hold, which they often do it cats.

Clavomax also often gives a cat a upset stomache. Just like any med they all have minor side affects. So with the URI plus a antibiotic and most antibiotics due have the chance of stomache upset. Your cat just has no appetite.Long as though shes getting fluids and some food. Just give it some time to get the URI cleared up and off the antibiotics. Often it just takes patience. Of course if shes worse or showing signs of being dehydrated get her back to the vets.

Hello everyone, Well the force feeding is honestly the worst thing I have ever had to do. She doesn't love me right now but I'm glad she ate something. As well as I was feeding her she started grooming herself and the spots were food landed on her so I decided that putting some food in that area wouldn't be the worst thing, so she ended up eating more food by this method. Thanks to another poster i wouldn't have even thought of doing this. She's eaten a bit and hoping that this will trigger her appetite. Thanks for all your ideas and I will keep you posted.

Originally Posted by Lala_lee_lou

Hello everyone, Well the force feeding is honestly the worst thing I have ever had to do. She doesn't love me right now but I'm glad she ate something. As well as I was feeding her she started grooming herself and the spots were food landed on her so I decided that putting some food in that area wouldn't be the worst thing, so she ended up eating more food by this method. Thanks to another poster i wouldn't have even thought of doing this. She's eaten a bit and hoping that this will trigger her appetite. Thanks for all your ideas and I will keep you posted.

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Good job in getting her to eat! I agree with StephenQ to let the Clavamox work. Also remember antibiotics can sometimes upset the stomach, and even change taste...but still give her the full course of Clavamox. Unless the vet advises you to discontinue it, stopping it may cause a worse flare-up of symptoms.

Here's the update, little Ashabella threw up last night a little bit after giving her pill. Will she still get some nutrients from her food that I forced her to eat? I was thinking maybe I gave her too much food and her stomache couldn't handle it? I dunno what else to do except for bring her back to the vet and let them hook her up to an IV and mend her... Maybe I'm being too much of a worry wort.

same thing happened to my bengal kitty....she went 2 days w/o eating and I tried EVERYTHING! I took her to the vet on the 2nd day and they said she was extremely dehydrated and they kept her overnight on some IV fluids and antibiotics...I got her back the next day and she was back to her old self again. However, I had to feed her tuna for a few nights (per the vet) so she would build her appetite back up. I would take her back to the vet. I'm a big worry wart too. but better safe than sorry! good luck!

Well I'm a happy Momma... Ashabella ate a tiny bit last night and is slowly getting back to her old self. She's doing much better now. Here's a photo of her taken last night with her Daddy.

She's beautiful!
Glad she's feeling a bit better.

Do keep us updated.