Cat Cold

[wrenka]

My emotional support cat whom is 24/7 glued to me got sick a few days ago and the vets assured us it was a routine cold of sorts, they gave us Benadryl and some other things to get her better and said that it can last up to 10 days. Her throat hurts from coughing though so she won't drink or eat on her own. Family says I should wait until she drinks by herself - but I know how detrimental dehydration can be.

I went to petsmart and got her a heating pad, humidifyer, kitten milk replacer and a load of lickable foods like churu which I can syringe feed her with. I've been mixing the kitten milk with water for extra hydration - what else should I be doing to help her?

 

[wrenka]

Forgot to mention but she is taking the syringe, I've got about 2 tablespoons of kitten milk in her and 2 tablespoons of churu + water in her

 

[artiemom]

So glad you caught this early.. Yes, It is so frightening to hear a beloved kitty cough, sneeze.. My guy had that happen about 6 months ago.. except It was MY fault. I was desperately trying to get his chemo pill into him. I guess I was too forceful with the pill and water syringe chaser. I felt horrible.. The Vet and Tech were very understanding..
Enough about me..

Yes, I is so hard to hear sneezing and coughing.. and when you put your head on their chest, you can hear some wheezing.

I want to commend you, applaud you for taking such good care of your baby. You went out and did everything I would have done!! Buying all the correct things, going out of you way to help your baby.. Not many people would do that.
Honestly, I do not think you are missing out on anything!! You are treating your baby as a loved member of your family..


just keep her comfortable.. go at her own speed, as far as play, brushing, and hugging. Yes, I got the kitty sniffle snots all over me.. But as a Mama, this is in the job description. I would not try to force play. Go at her speed. Cuddle, and love her..
She will improve. She has a good mama..

Did your Vet give you any antibiotics? My guy had antibiotics for 10 days.. once a day. It did the trick. But my guy is much more complicated due to SCL.

I wish you luck.. any questions, just ask.. This is a wonderful forum, with wonderful people... ((hugs))

 

[wrenka]

So glad you caught this early.. Yes, It is so frightening to hear a beloved kitty cough, sneeze.. My guy had that happen about 6 months ago.. except It was MY fault. I was desperately trying to get his chemo pill into him. I guess I was too forceful with the pill and water syringe chaser. I felt horrible.. The Vet and Tech were very understanding..
Enough about me..

Yes, I is so hard to hear sneezing and coughing.. and when you put your head on their chest, you can hear some wheezing.

I want to commend you, applaud you for taking such good care of your baby. You went out and did everything I would have done!! Buying all the correct things, going out of you way to help your baby.. Not many people would do that.
Honestly, I do not think you are missing out on anything!! You are treating your baby as a loved member of your family..


just keep her comfortable.. go at her own speed, as far as play, brushing, and hugging. Yes, I got the kitty sniffle snots all over me.. But as a Mama, this is in the job description. I would not try to force play. Go at her speed. Cuddle, and love her..
She will improve. She has a good mama..

Did your Vet give you any antibiotics? My guy had antibiotics for 10 days.. once a day. It did the trick. But my guy is much more complicated due to SCL.

I wish you luck.. any questions, just ask.. This is a wonderful forum, with wonderful people... ((hugs))

Thank you so much for being so compassionate in your response, you seem very very lovely and I appreciate you for taking the time to reply, I'm sorry to hear about your boy but I am glad he's doing better, pills are very hard to get into them so I very much relate to being too forceful accidentally. If only you could just ask them to take the damn things!

Hearing that you would have done what I am doing is relieving, it's so stressful to not be able to just flick your fingers and make the cold go away, I'm used to dealing with pet wounds which you can simply patch up, never dealt with colds. I did ask the vet for antibiotics and bloodwork and the whole nine yards but they said there's no need to do so and that it would just stress her out.. I tried and tried to get them to give me something else to put in her but they insisted that it wasn't needed. Everyone calls me a helicopter parent when it comes to her, but I did manage to smoosh up some pate food with the KMR + 2 tbs water and got half of that into her via the syringe since posting, I am looking to do this every hour and 20 mins or so with the help of a digital alarm to avoid the potential of vomiting (hasn't happened yet, thank god)

Right now she is in a fox with blankets, placed in front of the big screen tv watching fish videos, with a baby-safe heating pad under her + the humidifier in front of her, she sounds god awful and every cough makes me spring out of bed to check on her but we shall chock that up to some extra-exercise on my behalf.

Were the antibiotics you were proscribed oral or did you have to use a needle to get them in by the way? And for both - how did it go? I still wish she vet would have given us some and I may ask once more in the morning if she's not eating on her own by then..

 

[wrenka]

Oh and also just for clarification, I mostly got the canned KMR as a throat soother, is that a good idea? It's the only thing aside from egg yolk I can think of to aid in a sore throat for a cat; I've stopped the egg yolk however as too much will give her potty issues and I don't want that to potentially lead to dehydration. KMR has to also be good for extra nutrients I would think but again I have no experience here so not sure, I did notice it's very low calorie, as is the churu, so I put in an order for some higher calorie Pate canned foods which she can eat less of, but get more out of if that makes sense

May try to get a mini blender off walmart with the order, if not I will just swing by target

 

[artiemom]

You are so kind with you praise! I do not deserve it.
The antibiotics were in pill form. I always keep empty gel caps in the house. I find that putting the pill in a gel cap keeps the bitterness away.
I use a pill gun for the gel cap and a 10 cc baby syringe— from human pharmacy, to give a “chaser” of water, after pulling. Give the water slowly. I do not care if I get wet. It is a tiny amount and makes the gelcap go down.

Personally, I am an anxious worry wort. If my love sounded more congested, I would be demanding an antibiotic. Either through another vet appointment or speaking to Vet in person.

No reason NOT to give one if there is congestion.
Just my opinion.

 

[wrenka]

Oh I see, I've never heard of a pill chaser before, that's interesting! Should see if we can fetch one later as the kitty in question needs her meds in a little while , I am gonna call a different clinic this evening and see who can take her in the fastest, to get her on some antibiotics or whatever else they can give to ease her pain or relieve her in some way, good news is that I've gotten a ton of water in her which I mixed with KMR, and afterwards she lapped up a bowl of mushed food w KMR and then took the leap to eat a serving of Pate on her own, so fingers crossed I soon won't be needing to syringe feed her.. She's also out of bed and walking around to look out of windows now, and seems more interested in food@

 

[artiemom]

She sounds as if she is feeling better!! Great.. Lapping up food on her own!! Wow!! Great, with a cold!!

If you have any doubts, a second opinion will never hurt. In my mind, it is worth the cost of the visit, in order to ease your mind. You are a very good Mama.... I mean it..

Pill 'Chaser' is what I call it. It is as in humans: when you take a pill, you wash it down with water.. same principle, as in animals. It keeps the pill; in my case, gelcap; from getting stuck in the esophagus. Plus, you are giving them a bit more water, which can never hurt. Just be slow with the syringe. I use a 10 cc baby syringe.

((hugs))

 

[stephanietx]

My herpes kitty would get like this twice a year. Inflammation from allergies was the culprit. She did a round of prednisone (3-5 days) and an antibiotic.