Children's Dimetapp for Chronic nasal congestion?

[lgerkin]

Hi - my 3-yr old cat Otis has chronic nasal congestion with lots of sneezing. I've tried Claritin, Doxyclyline, L-lysine and a liquid steroid. The Claritin made him so drowsy and didn't really help the sneezing. No luck with the other treatments and my vet is out of suggestions as well. I had him tested for allergies and he is not allergic to grasses, weeds, trees, mites & mold, but dust/dander (which falls under mites & mold), may be irritating his nasal passages. A friend said she gave her cat a small dose of children's Dimetapp and I wondered if anyone had ever tried that.

I appreciate any suggestions!

Lea Ann

 

[daftcat75]

I would not do this. I would not give your cat any human even children's medicines unless your vet specifically said it was okay.

While I couldn't find anything more specific, this should be warning enough:
Dangers Cold and Flu Medications Pose to Your Pet - VRC

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Our Vet suggested we give one of our furbabies children's Benedryl for itching. Not exactly the same thing, but she thought that would be fine to give.

 

[sanfran_kitty_lady_21]

I'm not a vet but, since you're asking for other ideas, sharing my experience.

My cat started sneezing a lot so I took her to the vet. The vet's thought was that it could be 2 things: a respiratory infection or allergies. Their course of action was to rule out the viral (infection) cause and put my cat on antibiotics plus some supplements to help her immune system. If that didn't work, then we'd treat it as allergies and move forward with an appropriate plan. In my case the antibiotics + supplements did the trick.

So maybe worth exploring an infection with your vet?

Also, just want to +1 daftcat75 around using human meds. I'm assuming you're running all this by your vet?

 

[game misconduct]

i wouldnt you might kill your cat not only that how would/could you even calculate a correct dosage? aside from the chance any one of the ingredients used in the medication could be fatal to cats/small animals etc.

 

[daftcat75]

A couple of things that concern me about Dimetapp specifically is that they are all combination products. You don't know if scaling the dose of one drug will scale the other drug to a safe level. There may not be a safe level depending on the drug. The second thing that concerns me is the flavoring. Safe for children does not mean safe for cats.

Has he had X-rays or MRI? He could have a polyp or a tumor in which case you're meowing up the wrong tree with allergy meds. If the steroid didn't work, then it's probably not allergies but something anatomical (like a polyp or a tumor.)

 

[lgerkin]

Thanks for all the replies. I would definitely check with my vet first. He's had blood work but no x-rays. He came from a hoarding situation and the vet thinks it's likely he had an upper respiratory infection that wasn't treated when he was a kitten, which could have damaged his nasal passages. It's triggered when there is more air flow (ceiling fans or air conditioning especially), so it's not exactly something I can stop doing. As far as supplements, I'd love suggestions - other than L-lysine that didn't seem to help.