Help With Cat That Has Had Sinus Problems For Years

[sburton13]

My kitty (Montana) has had bouts on and off her whole life with runny nose, sneezing with discharge, and coughing. When she was young we thought it might have been seasonal allergies and the vet gave us Benadryl. The first pill didn't go down and she drooled for 30 minutes all over the house. After that, we thought it was something we could live with.

As she has gotten older, (15 now) it has seemed to come on more often and last longer. Over a year ago the vet gave her a Convenia injection and it cleared up for 3 months! So the vet decided to just put her on that as necessary. Well it seems she has developed an immunity to it, because she started getting the injection every 2 months, then 6 weeks and now once a month and it is not entirely alleviating the symptoms anymore.

I might ad, she is a VERY wild and active cat. So whatever she has does not make her feel bad or lethargic in the least!

Anyone with similar experiences that can give me some advice on what to try next? The vets next step is obviously tons of tests costing hundreds of dollars (she has had blood tests already which didn't show anything).

 

[Furballsmom]

Let me ask, how dusty is the litter you're using? Are you using spray, and/or very strong smelling, cleaning products? Frequent trips to the dry cleaners--they use chemicals? Pardon the question but is the house dusty? I open my windows and things get dusty quickly. Is there lots of pollution in the air where you are? Is your laundry soap strong smelling? Your shampoo, bath soap, you see where I'm going with this. Scented candles? Some of these things you might be able to change or adjust. Thanks for caring so much and hang in there! Oh one last thing, if nothing else, try a change of food, maybe do that anyway. Best of luck!

 

[catsknowme]

You can ask your vet about using Chlortrimetron or Claritin (loratadine) which do not cause that scary drooling and frothing that Benadryl does.

 

[sburton13]

Let me ask, how dusty is the litter you're using? Are you using spray, and/or very strong smelling, cleaning products? Frequent trips to the dry cleaners--they use chemicals? Pardon the question but is the house dusty? I open my windows and things get dusty quickly. Is there lots of pollution in the air where you are? Is your laundry soap strong smelling? Your shampoo, bath soap, you see where I'm going with this. Scented candles? Some of these things you might be able to change or adjust. Thanks for caring so much and hang in there! Oh one last thing, if nothing else, try a change of food, maybe do that anyway. Best of luck!

Over the years we have changed food (due to other cats health issues) and that has never made a difference (we use Muse and Blue soft/hard foods now). We do use a dusty litter but that doesn't explain why her symptoms come and go and why the antibiotic worked so well in the beginning. Other than that, we don't use anything strong (soaps, candles, etc.)

 

[sburton13]

You can ask your vet about using Chlortrimetron or Claritin (loratadine) which do not cause that scary drooling and frothing that Benadryl does.

Never hurts to ask the vet, but it doesn't seem seasonal of cyclical so I don't think it is allergies.

 

[Furballsmom]

Maybe consider a switch of litter, just to test the theory. My big guy's sneezes and the one watery eye decreased to nearly nothing when I added a corncob litter to the clumping litter. So, I haven't eliminated sodium bentonite clay dust, (which can cause issues), entirely but reduced it quite a lot. Best of luck!

 

[catsknowme]

Never hurts to ask the vet, but it doesn't seem seasonal of cyclical so I don't think it is allergies.

I use loratadine and/or chlortrimetron as an off-label decongestant even though most u.r.i.s in cats are viral. I had read here about using benadryl but my vet warned me that the foaming and excessive drooling is very scary for many cats.