Advice needed - respiratory infection/laryngitis/vomiting

[Anna1502]

I need some urgent advice please.....
Yesterday my female fur baby (about 10 years old) lost all appetite for food and had hardly eaten any breakfast and then didn't come down for her usual lunch around noon or dinner in the evening.
I had noticed on Friday that she started to sneeze a couple of times and on Saturday, she sneezed a few more times, which she has never done before.
I carried her downstairs yesterday evening trying to get her to eat something but to no avail.
Sensing something was wrong, I managed to book the very last appointment with the vet who eventually saw her at 7:30 pm yesterday evening.
He checked her temperature and it was slightly higher than normal and then checking her mouth and throat said it looked like she had a respiratory infection or laryngitis and sore throat.
He gave her two injections, one a painkiller and another an anti-inflammatory and gave me a 5 day course of antibiotic tablets to give her twice a day from Sunday.
On coming back home from the vet, she went to her bowl and ate some of the dry food so thinking she had regained some appetite I gave her a bit of wet food. But 10 minutes later, she vomited everything up.
I then put a small amount of wet food with a small amount of dry in the timer for her breakfast this morning which she ate around 6 am but again, like yesterday, she vomited it up on the bed and carpet.
So effectively, she's had hardly anything digested in her stomach for 24 hours.
She is still coughing and sneezing a few times a day.
I rang the emergency number for the vet and he advised me to boil some fresh chicken with some rice and give it to her to eat and monitor her but not to start her on the antibiotic until this evening. He said that if she continues to vomit, to bring her in to see him as it could be something wrong with her lungs.

I gave her a tiny amount of fresh boiled chicken with rice at 2:30 pm which she ate and touch wood, hasn't vomited up yet.
She went to sleep for a few hours and has come upstairs to me now, meowing a little.
She coughed a bit and she is salivating a lot and sticks her tongue out so her throat is still probably hurting.
No watery eyes or mucus though.

I'm very worried about her. Couldn't sleep much last night. She is pretty much a 90% indoor cat (converted from outdoor) so I'm stumped as to how she caught a respiratory infection.
I don't have any other cats in the house.

Can this be serious or fatal?
I'm hoping it's not cancer or something like that.

Any advice would be welcome.
Thanks,
Anna

[lilynmitz]

Hi Anna, it's very easy to worry yourself sick about these things but for now trust the vet. It's good that she's eaten a little chicken, so try this again little and often. Keep fresh water down for her and encourage her to drink if you can, even using a small syringe if she really doesn't want to drink. But hopefully the antibiotics will start having some effect when you get her on those. It's awful seeing our friends so poorly, but just keep a careful eye on her and if it looks like she's deteriorating further, then get her into the vet again, as she may need to go on a drip.

Try not to imagine the worst, it won't help you cope with this, and it won't help her. There are lots of things that can cause these symptoms, but it's right for the vet to go for the most obvious to start with. Fingers crossed the treatment starts working soon, and that she can keep a little food down meanwhile.

[Anna1502]

One thing I forgot to mention is that neither me or my mum have ever attempted to give Binky a pill straight in her mouth before but we have been given the antibiotic tablets to give her...
The vet does it without a problem and though she doesn't like it, she doesn't struggle with him.
Me and my mum can't even brush her without a fight and I just know she will put up a big fight when we attempt to open her mouth....
I thought about hiding the pill in a meat stick when the vet prescribed the tablets but then I didn't realise she was going to vomit everything out!
She really does need the antibiotics to help her get over the infection.
Don't think she'll eat the boiled chicken with rice if I crush the tablet in it.

God, help!!!!!!

[greenkitty]

Good advice from Lilynmitz, just trust your vet. Keep giving the chicken little and often, chicken is very gentle on the stomach and in small quantities hopefully she'll be able to keep it down. The AB's they give work wonders so I'm sure you'll start to notice a difference in her. Have you checked the pills are ok to crush? Sometimes they need to be given whole. You have to be cruel to be kind with them and be more determined than they are that you're going to give that tablet to them. I always find putting it straight down is the most straight forward way.

[Anna1502]

Me and my mum managed to get the first AB pill on her tongue yesterday evening, albeit with a struggle.
We tried again this early afternoon, but she put up too much of a struggle and was becoming distressed so we resorted to hiding the pill in he boiled chicken with rice mush and she licked it off the spoon.
I did the same this evening with another tablet. She doesn't eat very much but as long as she's getting something down without vomiting, it's good enough.
Fingers crossed, it appears that she is slowly improving.
Her throat seems as if it's still a bit sore as she struggles to swallow.
Hopefully, after a few days, she'll be back to being the little greedy madam that she usually is!

[lilynmitz]

Well done getting the pills inside her. How's she doing now?

[meriad]

Anna, last year one of my cats wasn't well and two or three visits to the vet later he was diagnosed with the feline equivalent of tonsillitis! He was on AB's for about 2 weeks once he was diagnosed but he did make a full recovery.

Fusses to your girl and I hope she feels better very soon as well - it took my Monty about a week to start becoming his normal self again

[Anna1502]

She improved a bit yesterday and ate some of the boiled chicken and rice mush but has totally gone off it today sadly.
I can feel her throat is quite warm so the infection or virus must still be hurting her.

After eating a very small amount of boiled chicken and rice mush this morning, she refused to eat anything afterwards all day despite all efforts to coax her to eat.
I think her sense of smell must have gone but I know she won't eat really smelly fish like sardines or mackerel.
She did however, concede to eat the Webbox lick-e-lix with chicken and yogurt.

An attempt to get an antibiotic pill into her mouth this evening proved the hardest struggle ever.
I tried to hide the pill in the yogurt but she licked the yogurt and left the pill in the spoon.
I then tried to hide the pill in a Webbox stick but she wasn't interested at all in the stick, whereas usually she loves it.
Eventually, between me and my mum, we tried several times to lift her up and wrap her up in a towel and try to force her mouth open a bit but she put up a big fight. A few times, the pice of Webbox stick with the pill inside went in her mouth but as her tongue was in the way, it came out from the side of her mouth...
After several failed attempts, she was getting distressed, we decided to take the soggy pill out of the meat stick and try to put it directly into her mouth.
On the final attempt, I managed to get it on her tongue and I think she managed to get it down...
Afterwards, I gave her the rest of the Webbox lick-e-lix, two fish fingers (minus the bread coating) and a little bit of yogurt.

There are still 5 pills left. I just can't go through the same distressing ordeal that I experienced this evening....

Can someone please give me some advice as to how to tackle getting her to take the rest of the pills???
I'm at my wits end.

[geckodiva]

I'm sure that mine have had antibiotic injections that last a few days. And these have been offered as an alternative to daily pills. It depends whether a trip to the vet would be less stressful but you could ask if it is an option.

I think you should persevere with the pills. It does take practice and confidence especially if you are not used to it. The technique my husband and I use is this;
1. He sits the cat next to him so she is wedged between his body and arm.
2. Curl arm over the cats front legs so that they can't be lifted up for scratching.
3. Using other hand he pushes the cats head back so the nose is in the air but top of head is pushing against husbands armpit so it can't be moved away.
4. I then with one hand push my finger gently into her mouth from the corner of her mouth. This usually causes the cat to open their mouth.
5. Next part needs to be done quickly as soon as mouth is open. Using my other hand with pill between thumb and forefinger place the pill as far back in the mouth as possible. I try to get it in the throat.
6. Again quickly, force he mouth closed and hold shut. It's important to keep the cats head tilted up. Holding the mouth closed stops the cat flicking the pill back up with Its tongue.
7. Gently stroke the throat as this is supposed to stimulate swallowing.
8. Most important part. lots of fusses.

Don't be frightened of using slightly more force than you think you should be using to hold them still. I know it's worrying but I have found that the complaining is mostly just for show. Cries from pain are usually very different from cries of 'get off me'.

I hope you can understand my description and it is of some use.

[Crewella]

I do similar to the above, but kneel on the floor with them backed up between my legs, wrapping one arm around the chest and using that hand to hold the head back and open the mouth, and the other hand to drop the pill as far back as I can. I make sure to wear long sleeves, just in case, but I used to find that wrapping in a towel seemed to cause more stress than just handling them directly.

Hope poor puss feels better soon.

[Anna1502]

Many thanks for all the advice guys.
After the big struggle we had giving her the pills a couple of days ago, thankfully she has regained her appetite so yesterday, managed to hide the pill in a piece of Webbox meat stick and give it to her that way.
This morning with the first piece, the pill came out of her mouth straight afterwards but on the second attempt, she ate the piece with the pill inside and nothing came out and then I fed her her normal lunch.

So fingers crossed, she appears to be making a recovery.....
The only concern now is that she hasn't been for a poop since Saturday, 5 days ago, during the visit to the vet where she pooed on the examination table having also gone the day before.

Am hoping she goes by tomorrow. These past 5 days have been so worrisome!

[Walesgang]

Anna,

I have been so wrapped up in my concerns about two of my own cats I have missed this.

We are having similar problems pilling Tips.

Normally we pill together. One gets het into a hold, the other pops the pill but it is hard work.

I can manage a 7 KG male alone, but a 4k female .......what a nightmare.

But we must persevere for our furbabes. Hope yours is on the mend soon.