Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

IMPORTANT: If your cat is in any distress or discomfort, please consult your own vet as your first priority.
Post Reply
User avatar
Goobbee
Frequent Cat Chatter
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2019 6:06 pm

Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

Post by Goobbee »

Our wonderful orange tabby boy Tiggee was just diagnosed with a severe upper respiratory infection. He has been deteriorating for several days but because of Covid restrictions our vet could only see him now. Tiggee was severely dehydrated and was given IV fluids and antibiotics and was sent home. He usually has such a wonderful singing voice and is my therapy cat but now he is so sick.

Is this really serious? Are there things we can do at home for him? We have 2 other cats so I guess we should keep them away from Tiggee. Thank you.
User avatar
Ruth B
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 1998
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:31 am
No. of cats in household: 3
Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

Post by Ruth B »

It is always a worry when they get ill, in the end it depends on what he has and the treatment available, did your vets take any swabs to send off for analysis. If it is definitely a respiratory infection then it is either bacterial or viral. If it is bacterial the antibiotics should clear it up, if it is viral he will have to fight it off by himself, but the antibiotics will stop any secondary infections taking hold while his body is busy fighting the main infection. Either way he has been seen and has been given medication. Dehydration is one of the biggest dangers for him, normally cats get a lot of their liquids from food, but with a respiratory infection he probably doesn't feel like eating which is why he became dehydrated, hopefully once he starts feeling better he will start eating and drinking by himself. Alternatively you can always try and get a little liquid into him yourself if you have a syringe available, or some people can even manage it with a teaspoon, even a little water would possibly help him feel a bit better. one way of checking his hydration levels is to take pinch a piece of skin up and if it goes straight back down he is fine, it it goes back slowly then he is a bit dehydrated.

My own Tiggy, was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection about 3 years ago, antibiotics never really cleared it up and as she was already in her late teens we decided to not have any invasive tests done to see if there was any other cause. She still has the infections, and some days are worse than others, but we concentrate on getting her to eat well on good days and do the best we can for her on bad ones. She is on Bisolven powder to help break up the mucus so she can breath a bit easier and she will sometimes have massive sneezing fits, but generally she manages and sometimes can still get up to mischief.

I'm sure with some TLC your Tiggee will soon be back to his normal self.
User avatar
Goobbee
Frequent Cat Chatter
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2019 6:06 pm

Re: Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

Post by Goobbee »

Thank you so much Ruth for your helpful reply. We just got Tiggee back from the vet but they did not test him for the cause of the infection. It was a real madhouse at the vet as Ontario is closed down and this vet is the only one open for a hundred miles though no one can go in with their pet. Our Tiggee is 8 years old. We rescued him as a kitten here on our farm along with our other 2 cats. We rescue and socialize one or two cats a year and then adopt them out to good homes but these 3 are our lifelines!
The vet gave us Lysine to give to Tiggee twice a day. She also injected a long-lasting antibiotic (Covenia?) and hydrated Tiggee. We also have a probiotic and some wet food (Royal Canin Recovery) that the vet gave us. Tiggee also sneezes a lot now and is in so much discomfort.
Should we keep our other cats away from Tiggee so they don't catch it?
Tiggee loves to drink the juice from my tine of salmon I make every day for my lunch. It has salt in it so is this ok to give him if he will take it?
Thank you again and we wish your Tiggy well.
Howard and Cathy ( Bognor, Ontario - 100 miles north of Toronto)
User avatar
papa cat
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 198
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:48 pm
No. of cats in household: 0
Location: Elham, Kent

Re: Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

Post by papa cat »

Goobbee wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 9:06 pm Tiggee loves to drink the juice from my tine of salmon I make every day for my lunch. It has salt in it so is this ok to give him if he will take it?
I think you should stop that, or switch to giving him the juice from salmon in water without salt.
Something like this from Walmart (Canada)
https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/gold-seal- ... 0199039929
6000200364776.jpg
6000200364776.jpg (7.63 KiB) Viewed 1136 times
I doubt that you personally will notice any difference in the taste !

Too much salt is not good for any animal (including humans)
User avatar
Mollycat
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 2705
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:58 am
No. of cats in household: 1
Location: UK

Re: Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

Post by Mollycat »

That's interesting, although as Papacat says this is too much salt for a cat to be drinking on a daily basis, it may be Tiggee is trying to alleviate his own symptoms. Saline wipes, inhalation and mists can all be used to help respiratory conditions. People being the snobs we are think you have to use Himalayan pink salt or Dead Sea salt but it's not true, take a bath with a handful of any unrefined sea salt in the water and you can feel it helping your breathing even if there's nothing wrong with you.
User avatar
fjm
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 1675
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 6:11 pm
No. of cats in household: 1
Location: North West England

Re: Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

Post by fjm »

My Pippin has been suffering from a mild snuffle. I have found he needs really smelly foods to want to eat, and he is particularly enjoying Felix cat soups - not a complete diet, but a good way of getting some fluids into him. Home made chicken stock - just chicken and water with no salt or vegetables - also got him drinking even when he was bunged up.

I believe the advice is to separate cats that might be infectious if you can, but if the others are going to catch it they probably have already.
User avatar
Goobbee
Frequent Cat Chatter
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2019 6:06 pm

Re: Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

Post by Goobbee »

Thank you Papa Cat, Molly Cat and fjm for your help. We all had a tough second night with our Tiggee. ( I will post a photo of my cuddle bug later). His breathing is so verylaboured. WE got some fluids in him with a syringe. We can tell he wants to eat and drink but his nose is so stuffed that he seems to not know how to use his mouth and tongue or maybe he has a very soar throat. But strangely he has no drainage from his nose.
We will go now to get him a vapourizer to help him breath and the no-salt pink salmon - thanks for the ideas. We don't want to take him back to the vet as they will just put him on an IV and stick him a cage. He is happy at home. We are all so fortunate to be cat lovers - what a blessing for us all. Thanks again.
User avatar
Goobbee
Frequent Cat Chatter
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2019 6:06 pm

Re: Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

Post by Goobbee »

Tiggee is doing a little better today but he still has problems swallowing water and food. It is like he has a bad sore throat. We did get some food and water in him using a syringe. He seems brighter and more active but sounds terrible. We have a vapourizer running for him and got some cat soup but even though he wants it and is very hungry he cannot seem to get his tongue working again to pick up the liquid.
I hope you like our avatar. The top photo os our first cat rescue 9 years ago - our little calico girl Gabbee. Below her is our therapy cat and current patient Tiggee who came up our driveway 8 years ago. Also that year our very handsome young man ,Goobbee, our alpha male tuxedo cat. We are so blessed!
User avatar
papa cat
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 198
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:48 pm
No. of cats in household: 0
Location: Elham, Kent

Re: Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

Post by papa cat »

I found this website that might help

https://cat-world.com/how-to-treat-nasa ... 20nostrils.
User avatar
jennij001
Returning Cat Chatter
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri May 07, 2021 9:15 pm

Re: Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

Post by jennij001 »

I hope you and your cat will be well
User avatar
Goobbee
Frequent Cat Chatter
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2019 6:06 pm

Re: Our Tiggee was just diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection

Post by Goobbee »

Thank you and thanks papa cat for the link - it was very helpful.
Tiggee is doing a little better but he doesn't want to drink at all. I think it is because his nose is all stuffed up so he does not recognize the water as safe. I got some chicken broth (no salt) and heated it on a saucer and he did like that the first time but now he won't drink again. Strangely though he likes to eat his hard food but not his wet food. We need to get more liquids into him. We find that Friskes Ocean fish can has lots of liquid and he will drink that from a saucer though the ingredients are not good for him. Thanks for all your help and good wishes. So far our other cats have not caught it and we keep our fingers crossed.
Post Reply