How long can Upper Respiratory Infection symptoms take to go away?

[W&H]

Hi everyone!

My partner and I recently brought home two adorable munchkin cross kittens - one is almost 6 months old and other is almost 8 months. They're half-sisters, who share the same father.

We love them to absolute bits, but they've certainly put us through the wringer these last few months. They both came down with Upper Respiratory Infections almost as soon as we took them home - the younger one was very, very sick and stopped eating, and the older one was much better but had an eye infection.

After some antibiotics, they both now are largely over the symptoms. However, the younger kitten does still have some cloudy eye discharge (we've got her on eye drops) and a tiny bit of nasal discharge. Today, I found a tiny blob of green nasal discharge, which almost gave me a heart attack because our vet told us that this is an indicator of the secondary bacterial infection returning. I think I'm just panicking though, as she's otherwise super happy, eating like normal, drinking like normal, and sprinting around like a kitten should.

We've had them for two months now, and my question is - how long can it take for a kitten to fully get over URI symptoms?

It feels like the younger kitten is still getting over the tail end of the viral symptoms, but it's been quite a long time, and I honestly get anxiety every time I notice anything even remotely wrong with her (even if she's acting normal) as I'm scared she's going to get as sick as she was at the beginning.

Anyone with advice / experience with URIs - we'd love your advice!

 

[Juniper_Junebug]

I'm a total newbie, so I can only report my personal experience. I adopted a 4-month old in October who had a bad URI from the beginning. She got antibiotics but I ended up taking her back in when her eye crusted shut 3 weeks later. I was worried she hadn't gotten rid of the URI, but the vet said it could take until she was a year old to fully build the immune system to get rid of it (and it can come back during times of stress). She still sometimes sneezes or sounds stuffy. I try not to worry too much, but will reasses in a few months. I would probably also take her back in if I saw signs of infection. (About a month ago, one if her neck lymph nodes ballooned so we had to go back in and get more antibiotics).

 

[gilmargl]

Oh dear! Poor cats and poor you! The kitties were no doubt sick when you brought them home. It is hard to predict when they will get over URI symptoms. You must keep up the treatment with eyedrops or ointment (whichever is easier for you) and, if things get worse, contact your vet. Cats should not be vaccinated until they are in good health. Some cats recover completely - others have relapses where their noses get blocked and they have an eye discharge. I have heard that the kitten I fostered who was very sick, still has the occasional blockage - has a sneezing fit - bringing up a lot of mucus, but is then fine again. I hope your kitties recover fully and quickly.
Good luck!

 

[W&H]

I'm a total newbie, so I can only report my personal experience. I adopted a 4-month old in October who had a bad URI from the beginning. She got antibiotics but I ended up taking her back in when her eye crusted shut 3 weeks later. I was worried she hadn't gotten rid of the URI, but the vet said it could take until she was a year old to fully build the immune system to get rid of it (and it can come back during times of stress). She still sometimes sneezes or sounds stuffy. I try not to worry too much, but will reasses in a few months. I would probably also take her back in if I saw signs of infection. (About a month ago, one if her neck lymph nodes ballooned so we had to go back in and get more antibiotics).

Ok this is super useful information, thank you! I kept seeing that the symptoms should only last about 6 weeks so was worried that something was going wrong. Agree, we're going to keep a close eye on her appetite, energy levels, nasal discharge etc and will definitely take her back if anything gets worse.

Oh dear! Poor cats and poor you! The kitties were no doubt sick when you brought them home. It is hard to predict when they will get over URI symptoms. You must keep up the treatment with eyedrops or ointment (whichever is easier for you) and, if things get worse, contact your vet. Cats should not be vaccinated until they are in good health. Some cats recover completely - others have relapses where their noses get blocked and they have an eye discharge. I have heard that the kitten I fostered who was very sick, still has the occasional blockage - has a sneezing fit - bringing up a lot of mucus, but is then fine again. I hope your kitties recover fully and quickly.
Good luck!

Thank you! It was super unfortunate - the little one sneezed maybe twice when we first brought them home, and we mentioned it to the vet (different person from our current vet) when we first brought the two in for a full health check up. Neither had had vaccines done yet as the breeder insisted it was better for the vaccines to be done when they kittens were older, and so the vet wanted to vaccinate both even though she knew about the sneezing. We of course agreed, but then both kittens came down with the Upper Resp symptoms just days later. I'm thinking we should've waited to get the vaccines done until they were more settled in our home, and until the sneezing had gone away... Oh well, it is what it is! Our current vet has advised that we should wait for them to both be 100% better before completing the last two booster shots, especially since they both clearly already have the virus.

 

[gilmargl]

Oh no! That is so unfortunate! But, as you say, it's too late to change things now. So, good luck! At least your present vet knows what he's doing!

 

[Juniper_Junebug]

There are some others war stories in a thread of mine from a few months ago:

Kitten herpes -- What to expect

 

[W&H]

Oh no! That is so unfortunate! But, as you say, it's too late to change things now. So, good luck! At least your present vet knows what he's doing!

Thank you! Yes so good to get into contact with a good vet.

There are some others war stories in a thread of mine from a few months ago:

Kitten herpes -- What to expect

Ah amazing, it's so comforting to see that other people have gone through the same thing and that it's all worked out ok! Was absolutely terrifying when our younger kitten was really sick - had to syringe feed her emergency care food every 3 hrs for 3 days before she started eating on her own again. And then the sneezing with blood started - argh.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I am so very sorry...for you and your poor kittens! But I'm gratified to see them in such loving, concerned hands. Depending on the exact nature of the URI (there are different root causes), recovery can take 6 weeks or more, sometimes involving trying different antibiotics/antivirals. Don't give up! And they are doing better, which is wonderful!