Not Sure What To Do?

[MegD24]

A few months ago we took our youngest kitten to the vet where they confirmed he had an upper respiratory infection and gave him some antibiotics and also some powdered lysine to mix with food as needed. We gave him all his antibiotics and he was doing fine and recently I noticed he’s started coughing again. At first it was just a tiny bit and I thought it was caused by smoke in the air from a fire that was close by but the wind has since blown all the smoke out of the area and if anything his cough seems to have worsened a little. I have an appointment set with our vet for as close as possible but it’s still about a weeks away and I’m trying to think of ways to help him out until then. He is a little on the chubby side which I know could be part of the problem we’ve recently started him on a bit of a diet with some daily play exorcise but is there anything I can do to help him relieve the cough until his appointment?

 

[silkenpaw]

He may have asthma. Next time he coughs, give his a steam treatment. Take him with you to the bathroom, close the door and windows and run the water very hot. The steam will make him breathe easier. If he is gasping, open mouth breathing or his nostrils flare when he takes in a breath, you need to take him to the vet right away.

You should never restrict calories in a kitten less than a year old (maybe even later in some breeds). They are still growing and need their nutrition, even if they are chubby. Exercise is great!

 

[MegD24]

Thanks I’ll definitely try that out for him and thank you for the food information I didn’t think of that. He’s still just under a year old. And yeah he gets lots of exercise now I got them new toys and he and his sister run rampant

 

[duckpond]

Its good you have the vet visit. the antibiotics may not have cleared up the infection. Or as silkenpaw suggests it could be asthma, hairballs or something else. Im not sure a bit chubby would cause a cough? If he is over 1 year of age, and a bit chubby then a slight reduction of food might be a good thing, just not too much, a cat should not loose weight fast, can cause liver problems.

I do have a cat with mild asthma. doing away with all dusty litter made the most difference with him. He cannot use any clay litter or he hacks. I now use a grass based litter, Abound that i get from Kroger, or pioneer pet that i get from chewy. I also use a littermaid walnut litter i get from Walmart. These are dust and fragrance free and have made a big difference. I also had to go to all unscented cleaning and laundry products. As well as no air freshener or candles, that kind of thing.

If its hair balls then you need to brush, daily.

Hopefully you will figure it out and he will be all better soon! Keep us updated!

 

[MegD24]

Sorry it’s been a while I was planning to update everyone sooner but life got crazy. The little guy is doing good his main issue was the return of an upper respiratory infection (he had one almost a year ago after we got him from the shelter) so he’s doing a round of antibiotics to nip it in the butt. I have changed litters and we also got an air purifier on top of not using a bunch of air fresheners which were all helping out well before the vet visit. I brought it up to the vet and she scheduled another appointment a little down the line for a check up to make sure he’s doing ok and to see if she wasn’t able to catch anything. But so far with the changes and the antibiotics I’ve only heard him cough once and it was directly after the changes were made and we still had some stuff floating around in the air.