Reverse sneezing and sneezing

[PushPurrCatPaws]

fodder, have you seen this web page, which talks about the importance of the involvement of polyps interacting with the ear?
Nasopharyngeal Polyps

Have your vets checked out your kitty's ears?

 

[JMJimmy]

Some things that could help me eliminate some possibilities for you:

1) What type of litter do you use?
2) What do you clean with?
3) Are there any smokers in the house?
4) Do you burn incense, plugin perfumes, spray Febreze or similar?
5) Where do you live geographically (doesn't need to be specific, just general region)
6) Has he ever had a positive coronavirus test?
7) Can you post an up to date picture of his coat, interior of his ears, his nose, and gums? (and if possible his most recent xray)
8) Other than sneezing, nasal discharge/blockage, reverse sneezing, and the abatement with antibiotics are there any other symptoms that have presented? ie: fever, diarrhea, etc? (reading through this thread in more detail currently, so if I missed something here let me know )
Edit:
9) What antibiotics has the cat been on specifically?

 

[fodder]

fodder, have you seen this web page, which talks about the importance of the involvement of polyps interacting with the ear?
Nasopharyngeal Polyps

Have your vets checked out your kitty's ears?

That article suggests it's something that happens to younger cats where as LB is almost 13 now. Stil, it is interesting. I believe the vets have checked nose, ears, throat, stomach and have done xrays which were all clear. I will have to ask my vet to be sure they checked his ears though.
I find it curious that antibiotics would help if it was a growth of any sort but at this stage i am willing to do any and everything.
Thank you very much for your advice

 

[JMJimmy]

Of my list of questions, before doing anything related to #7 answering #9 might result in a solution

 

[fodder]

Some things that could help me eliminate some possibilities for you:

1) What type of litter do you use?
2) What do you clean with?
3) Are there any smokers in the house?
4) Do you burn incense, plugin perfumes, spray Febreze or similar?
5) Where do you live geographically (doesn't need to be specific, just general region)
6) Has he ever had a positive coronavirus test?
7) Can you post an up to date picture of his coat, interior of his ears, his nose, and gums? (and if possible his most recent xray)
8) Other than sneezing, nasal discharge/blockage, reverse sneezing, and the abatement with antibiotics are there any other symptoms that have presented? ie: fever, diarrhea, etc? (reading through this thread in more detail currently, so if I missed something here let me know )
Edit:
9) What antibiotics has the cat been on specifically?

He goes to the toilet outside. There he uses clean topsoil which i make sure is kept that way.

I have tried changing all cleaning products and washing powders with no apparent changes.

No one smokers in the house. And i also have gotten air purifiers.

I don't burn any incense or anything like that at all indoors, no candles or anything.

I live in New Zealand. Very mild weather conditions here.

His coat is jet black so you wouldn't see it in a pic but it is very healthy, smooth and shiny. He is in pristine condition in that sense.

Interior of his ears are clean as i check them all the time, nothing looks abnormal to the naked eye.
His nose is never running and there is no visual signs of swelling or any abnormalities. He has also had 2 nasal flushes done in the last 6 months or so.

Don't think he has had FIP tests done but he doesn't appear to be showing the symptoms of it either. I may be wrong as i have had the vet do quite a few tests on him over the past year or so.

He recently had a resorptive lesion on a tooth that was removed and a full dental cleaning done. The vet made a remark on how healthy and clean everything was in there aside from that one tooth. Even that wasn't too bad but i insisted they remove it in case it was the cause of the sneezing.

I don't have the xrays they took unfortunately.

There appear to be no other symptoms. At first i thought he might be getting a higher temperature right before he was sneezing but now i think that was just paranoia. No other symptoms at all.

He has been on a number of different antibiotics. Every one of them worked 100%. The one he has been on the longest is clavamox.

Also he is currently on zyrtec. Not really sure if it is helping or not tbh.

 

[JMJimmy]

I'd really need the specific names of all the antibiotics he's been on to help - there's a wide range of them with different effects on different bacteria

 

[fodder]

I believe doxycilin and clavamox are the two he has been prescribed over the past 7+ months. Both worked 100% with in 2 days and both lasted roughly 10 after stopping them each time.
He also had a steroid of some sort to reduce any swelling that might have been occuring but that seemed to do nothing at all.

 

[JMJimmy]

OK - I might have a solution for you!

Ask your vet for an Orbax prescription. If that doesn't work, Zeniquin should. These are not commonly prescribed due to resistance factors and cost but since it's been going on for so long your vet shouldn't have an issue prescribing one of them. They've proven effective in eliminating many of the bacteria that can cause chronic sneezing symptoms in cats.

 

[fodder]

Ok great. I will do that asap. Thank you very much for all of your help. It would be fantastic if one of them were to cure him I have many sleepless nights worrying about him. I need to try to get some sleep now so i may not reply but thank you again so much for all of your help. Me and LB really appreciate it

 

[JMJimmy]

Glad to help - hopefully this is the answer!

 

[nese]

Hi,

I also have sneezing and reverse sneezing problem with all my three cats since 1 year. I have read your topic and wonder if you have found a solution.
It is really devastating and heartbreaking not knowing the cause and the cure.
Here is my topic, I will appreciate any ideas
Allergy, Sneezing And Reverse Sneezing

 

[fodder]

Not really any resolve yet for my guy but Zyrtec did seem to improve his condition after a 2 week dose. I have not yet given him the above mentioned antibiotics as he has improved to the point where it is probably better not to be on any antibiotics.

He still sneezes daily but rarely reverse sneezes now. To be honest i have tried some other things as well...
I have fully removed any chicken from his diet.
My other cat has asthma so once in a while i give him a dose of her inhaler. It seems to help even though i have had him tested for asthma and the tests were clear. I only give it to him if i notice a reverse sneeze occur but it really does seem to help him for a few days/weeks at a time.
After the improvements i have seen in him i am thinking he most likely has some sort of allergy. Even though my vet was adamant that wasn't the case

In your case it seems to have spread from cat to cat. I have another cat that is always in the same room with my sneezy guy and she has never shown signs of it herself so it could be a different issue. One thing that can cause a lot of sneezing, coughing and other flu symptoms and is also transferable between cats is FHV(Feline Herpes Virus). It is very common in cats. Maybe mention it to your vet and see what she thinks.

If there is anything else you would like to know i will do my best to answer.

 

[nese]

Yes, I was also suspecting feline herpes. Our rescue kitten was sick when we have found her and she was sneezing, had fever, her nose was runny and had no apetite. I suspect she had FHV, and after her recovery still carries it, since once you get FHV, you always live with it.
I guess it spread to others. However, our two cats (this rescue cat, and our other previously very healty cat) lived together, eat and drink from same bowls for 7 months. First time after 7 months, our other cat also started to sneeze. If it was FHV spread to each other, I couldn't explain why there was no sypmtoms for 7 months?
Yesterday we went to another vet, I explained everthing in detail. They took a lung x-ray, which seemed fine. They couldn't find anything wrong nor they couldn't answer my questions... They said on Sunday a specialist will be there, we will go again on Sunday. In the meantime, I am trying to catch videos to show what they are actually doing. Some vets even do not know about reverse sneezing

 

[Vazimmy]

Just letting everyone know about my cat who suddenly had chronic reverse and regular sneezing fits after getting some sort of gastric virus. Thousands and thousands of dollars later they biopsied his nose and found an infection that was best treated with Orbax. 5 days on it and his symptoms have almost completely gone- this is after MANY courses of other antibiotics, and vets who said it was just chronic rhinitis and nothing would help. I’m grateful to finally seem to have helped him! I hope this helps someone else whose cat has chronic reverse sneezing.