13 week old kitten with upper respiratory infection

[keridomingo]

I recently adopted a 13 week old kitten that had an upper respiratory infection when I got her.  I adopted her from a vet/rescue center and they  sent me home with an antibiotic to give to her twice a day for 10 days.  I finished giving her the meds 5 days ago and she is still sneezing and congested.  I plan on calling the vet back to see if there is something else I could give her, but I was wondering if she should be well right after the medication was finished or if it takes a few days after finishing for her to be completely well? If anyone is familiar with this please help!  Thanks a lot in advance. =^.^=

 

[catlover73]

Is your kitten still eating normally?  I would get in touch with the vet and let them know she is still congested and sneezing.  Sometimes a bad Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) will require more than one round of antibiotics.

One thing you can try while you are waiting to hear back from the vet is steam treatments.  Run the shower as hot as you can to steam up the bathroom. Take the kitten and sit in the steamy bathroom for 15-20 minutes at least twice a day. This can help break down the congestion and make your kitten feel more comfortable.  A few years ago one of my cats had a URI and he hates being picked up and carried.  He fought me when I went to bring him into the bathroom.  After the 1st treatment he asked for his steam treatments by meowing at both of us 2x a day to take him in the bathroom.  He also started sitting on the side of the tub when we would shower.  He realized very quickly the treatments were helping him feel better. Once he felt better he stopped asking for treatments on his own.

 

[keridomingo]

Thank your for your reply.  I called and left a message for my vet and am waiting to hear back from him.  I will try the steamy bathroom trick.  So cute how your cat would ask for his steam treatments.  I believe sometimes even though they may not like it at  first, cats somehow know we are trying to help them.  I suffer with migraine headaches and my two year old cat Khloe always snuggles up to me when I'm having an attack like she knows I'm not feeling well and is trying to comfort me. Are URIs contagious? Should I take my other cat to the vet to see if she caught it?  Both cats are eating and drinking normally neither is acting sick.  Especially the kitten, Sophie the one with the URI.  She is an endless little ball of energy.  The only reason I know she may still be sick is the sneezing.

Thanks! =^.^=

 

[catlover73]

Yes URI's are contagious.  Is your other cat showing any symptoms at all?  If she is not showing any symptoms than just keep an eye on her. I have a multi-cat household myself and even though URI's are contagious the other cats do not always catch them. When Starbuck and Apollo were kittens they had URI's when I first adopted them years apart and none of my other cats caught it.  However when I adopted 7 week old Casey 2 years ago he came home with a URI but did not have any symptoms right away.  He was sneezing randomly once in a while so I thought it was part of adjusting to his new home.  A week later his eyes got all goopy and he started sneezing a lot more.  He was taken to the vet right away and put on antibiotics for both issues. He shared his URI with my other 3 cats.  Starbuck got it the worst and also had to be treated by the vet.  Sonny and Apollo's were pretty mild with just some sneezing so I was able to just use the steam treatments to break up their congestion. Starbuck and Casey also received steam treatments at home as well. None of my cats ever stopped eating or acting normally.  The only exception was that Apollo became very clingy with me.  He does that sometimes randomly anyway.

It is always good to call the vet if you have questions about an illness.  You can ask your vet if he/she thinks Sophie needs further medical treatment.  You can also ask you vet about doing steam treatments and see if he thinks that will be enough. I did ask my vet if I needed to bring Sonny and Apollo in too but she told me that if the symptoms were mild to just do steam treatments to break up the congestion.  I would not have gone that route without discussing it with the vet first.  Due to Casey having the eye infection with his and a lot more sneezing he needed antibiotics.  Starbuck had a scary sounding cough with her sneezes so she went to the vet too.

Starbuck actually scared me when she caught Casey's illness.  I came home from work and she was coughing and wheezing.  She sounded like my old roommate when she had an asthma attack.  I had no car access at the time and it was rush hour.  I tried to call for a cab but the wait was 2 hours.  Uber did not exist yet in my area.  My hubby was on the train and I would not have been able to guess where he parked the car in the train parking lot.  Huge lot and we had a very common car.  When I called to make the vet appointment they took me even though they were really busy and I was new.  The vet I had been using was getting ready to close when I called. I  called everyone I knew and no one was close to me.  One of my friends was on her way home from work and headed to my house in case she could get here before my hubby. They got to the house at the same time.  I called the new vet's office back panicking because she sounded so bad.  The receptionist actually put one of the vet's on the phone to listen.  This turned out to be the same vet I had an appointment with.  The vet told me to due a long steam treatment with her immediately to see if I could get the coughing to stop.  She also told me to just come in as soon as I had transportation instead of waiting for the appointment time.  Once I sat with her in the bathroom the coughing stopped.  When we got to the vets I brought the paperwork showing that Casey was sick.  Even though the steam treatment helped the vet gave her antibiotics.  Thankfully her and Casey only required one round of antibiotics.

I too suffer from migraines.  I was in bed all day yesterday with a bad one since I was off work.  My cats all kept me company.  Every time I woke up they were curled up by me.  Sonny would start grooming my face if I woke up. Casey actually got under the covers and stayed next to me.  He usually hates being covered up.  Apollo was sleeping on top of the blankets near Casey.  Starbuck slept on my pillow next to my head.  Sonny normally sleeps near my feet but he came and slept on one of hubby's pillows right next to me.  Starbuck usually leaves when Sonny does this but she just stayed where she was and ignored him.

 

[keridomingo]

I know this should probably go in the cat behavior section, but you seem to have a lot of experience with cats so I thought I'd ask you for some advice. I've done the introductions of two yr. old Khloe and 13 wks. old Sophie slowly as advised by articles on this site. They are to the point of supervised interactions. The problem is the two yr. old is very laid back and would prefer to cuddle and lounge around. While the 13 week old is extremely rambunctious and constantly wants to play. When I let them have time together the kitten gets overly excited and pounces on and chases Khloe the entire time. I know this is normal kitten behavior, but it seems to be too much for my 2 yr. old. I feel sorry for her because I know this must be aggravating, so after a while I wind up putting the kitten back in her safe room. This leaves me feeling bad for both of them because I know Khloe just wants peace and the kitten is only doing what come naturally to her. I've tried leaving them together as long as I can (supervised of course), hoping the kitten will eventually get tired but she never does. If you have any suggestions I would be willing to try anything. Can't wait when the time comes to give them both time together with me to all snuggle on the sofa and peacefully watch a movie or all sleep together at night. =^.^=
Thanks!

 

[catlover73]

I would go ahead and start a new thread in the behavior forum since this is a totally different issue. I think you will get more advice having the introduction issue in it's own separate thread.

One thing I did not see you mention in the post above is doing separate play time with the 13 week old. Is this something that is being done? When I adopted 6 week old Starbuck with my two senior boys my hubby and I did separate playtime with her to wear off some of her energy. We were lucky that my seniors were still very active at that point. One of them took on the role of teaching her boundaries with play. To me it does not seem like right now your two year old wants to take on this role. We used wand toys with feathers. We also gave her toys she could play with on her own. This might be a starting point for you.

Here are some articles that may be helpful to you.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cat-play-the-rules-of-the-game

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-successfully-introduce-cats-the-ultimate-guide

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/beating-boredom-what-indoor-cat-owners-need-to-know

This is not something I have a lot of experience with. I was very lucky that my introductions have always gone smoothly.

 

[keridomingo]

Thank you for directing me to these articles, they were very helpful. I do spend time playing with Sophie by herself with toys. She especially loves her wand and feather toy. I also have one with a mouse, this seems to be her favorite. I also got them a three story cat tree. They both love it. I think my older cat likes the fact that she can climb to the top and my little one can't reach her way up there just yet. The problem is no matter how much I play with the baby she never seems to get tired. As soon as I stop playing with her she goes after the two yr. old and wants to continue playing with her. I really want them to be able to be together full time. Maybe I am rushing things and the baby will calm down as she gets older. I'm going to go to Petsmart today after work and see if I can find more interactive toys that Sophie can play with by herself.
Thank you for your help!!! =^.^=

 

[catlover73]

That may help keep Sophie distracted so she spends less time annoying your older cat.

Sophie is still young so that is why she has so much energy.

If you need ideas for toys just let me know and I will post links from my desktop. I am using my phone right now.