Cat Chat Feline Forum

We adopted a cat at the local refuge at the weekend and he came home with the start of a virus which we think is the Coryza virus. There was an epidemic at the refuge which they knew about and he was checked for before adoption by the vet as he had a fever. Luckily we have caught it early but I am not sure whether to let our other cat mix with him. The vet this morning said it is contagious and even just stroking him and then touching something else is a problem so trying to protect the other cat isn't really a problem if she is vaccinated from this virus which she is every year. He has had a wander around the house today whilst Gemo was sleeping as like the vet said his symptoms are mild but is hard separating this virus indoors from other cats. Has anyone else had experience of mild Coryza? thanks in advance. Sounds very common.

I confess I actually had to Google the name, but with a household of six cats, all going out, I'm very familiar with a 'cold'. All but one of mine have just been through a phase of 'the sniffles' which included a couple of days of sneezing and snuffling before they started to perk up again. It happens most years at around this time of year in this house and some seem to get it worse than others but none of them seem poorly enough to really worry about, so I don't. For this most recent bout, nobody even went off their food, though I did warm it for them a little when they were at their snuffliest.

Ha ha. I have actually just come on to the forum to add "Feline Rhinotracheitis Virus Infection (Rhinitis)" to the forum title. Maybe Coryza is a french name for it. Our cat has had mild symptoms of runny eyes and the odd sneeze since we adopted him last week so may of been longer. I wasn't sure with treatment how long it takes to go. He has an antibiotic, eye drops and an antiinflammatory I think. I go back next Tuesday to see the vet but these things seem stubborn. Sounds common, with yours too but yours seem to shake it off on their own.

As it's a virus, antibiotics aren't going to do anything - when we have sneeze kittens we use a supplement called Flumax, which contains l - lysine to boost their immune system. My current fosters are on eye cream because one had a really swollen red eye but for watery eyes I'm not sure how much benefit there would be.

My understanding is that if caught early enough and treated it will help the recovery. He has a fever, which he had at the refuge but the vet there gave him something for this but also another drug that apparantely (as a side effect) surpresses the immune system which our vet probably wouldn't of done, hence the fever is back. I am trying to reduce his stress levels as he is taking eye cream which is stressing him as he is a real wriggler and being in a new home cannot help. he is good with the tablets as they go in his food. I would like to introduce him to the exisitng cat but am worried that them growling behind closed doors now may erupt into something nasty if they come face to face. He has been here 5 days and they are aware of each other but both growl at each other. Do they need more time or are there any good techniques on their first meeting. The food thing doesn't seem to distract them enough. Atm the new cat is out in the house whilst Gemo is outside or asleep so they have not really met fully yet.