I am fostering two kittens for a local shelter. They were brought into the shelter on October 13 and their date of birth was estimated as September 6. They had a URI and were treated with eye drops and nebulization for 5 days. I brought them home on October 19. They were still sneezing occasionally (once or twice per hour) and had a little eye discharge (nothing green or yellow). I reported this back to the shelter and was told that as long as they're eating, playing, and using their box normally, there was no need to bring them back in to see a shelter vet.
I took them to my personal vet on October 26, just for my own peace of mind. Their temperatures were normal. They are negative for FIV and FeLV and their fecal tests showed no parasites. (I had dewormed them with Panacur and Ponazaril given to me by the shelter.) My vet didn't seem concerned about the sneezing or slight eye discharge, with the same caveat the shelter gave - as long as they're eating and playing, don't worry...
They are eating quite well (canned food) and play with lots of energy. They're gaining weight, averaging 1/4 pound per week, and their bowel movements are solid or very close. But they're still sneezing and have slightly goopy eyes. They actually got a bit worse after our vet visit, but I wrote that off to stress. No real difficulty breathing, but they definitely seem stuffed up. Some days they seem better, but the next day it seems like they're back to square one. My questions are:
- Is it normal for URIs to linger three weeks or longer? Should I take them to a different vet for a third opinion? I hate to stress them out again if it isn't really necessary.
- What are the chances that this is feline herpes or calici virus instead of a more garden variety URI germ? If they were only ~5 weeks when they got the URI, wouldn't they have still had some immunity from herpes/calici from their mother?
- If they do have herpes or calici, and if I end up adopting them (highly likely [emoji]128512[/emoji]) what are the risks to my older, vaccinated cats?
- Does this sound more like allergies? What would be the likely suspects for allergens?
Thanks for reading this, and I appreciate any wisdom anyone could share.
Suzanne
I took them to my personal vet on October 26, just for my own peace of mind. Their temperatures were normal. They are negative for FIV and FeLV and their fecal tests showed no parasites. (I had dewormed them with Panacur and Ponazaril given to me by the shelter.) My vet didn't seem concerned about the sneezing or slight eye discharge, with the same caveat the shelter gave - as long as they're eating and playing, don't worry...
They are eating quite well (canned food) and play with lots of energy. They're gaining weight, averaging 1/4 pound per week, and their bowel movements are solid or very close. But they're still sneezing and have slightly goopy eyes. They actually got a bit worse after our vet visit, but I wrote that off to stress. No real difficulty breathing, but they definitely seem stuffed up. Some days they seem better, but the next day it seems like they're back to square one. My questions are:
- Is it normal for URIs to linger three weeks or longer? Should I take them to a different vet for a third opinion? I hate to stress them out again if it isn't really necessary.
- What are the chances that this is feline herpes or calici virus instead of a more garden variety URI germ? If they were only ~5 weeks when they got the URI, wouldn't they have still had some immunity from herpes/calici from their mother?
- If they do have herpes or calici, and if I end up adopting them (highly likely [emoji]128512[/emoji]) what are the risks to my older, vaccinated cats?
- Does this sound more like allergies? What would be the likely suspects for allergens?
Thanks for reading this, and I appreciate any wisdom anyone could share.
Suzanne