Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

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melshop
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Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

Post by melshop »

I posted last year about my cat with a severe Upper respiratory tract infection, he was very poorly, but eventually recovered, only to get another 6 months later as we were about to fly out to Spain, followed by another starting this past Wednesday. He has not eaten since then and only started drinking a small amount today. Due to this he had to be put on an IV yesterday at the vets. He has had blood tests which were fine, subcutaneous fluids on Thursday and Friday, and today, more perky but still wont eat, and is breathing through his mouth as he has a blocked nose, probably why he is not eating. He has FIV, which is probably why it takes longer for him to recover. Appetite stimulants have not worked either.

He is an ex semi feral rescue (5 years ago), will not be force fed with a blunt syringe as I can see others have done. Has anyone else had experience of a cat with this and how long it was before they started to eat, as the vet bills are going up everyday, and he is very unhappy. We also don't want to book any holidays or days out only to have to cancel them as he is ill as he needsso much care, if anyone else has had this problem I would love to hear from you.
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Janey
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Re: Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

Post by Janey »

We had a cat with nasal problems and he was always very sniffly and blocked up and had a bad chest a lot of the time, and the vet gave us some Bisolvon powder which I used to add a pinch to his water each day (to help keep the mucus thin). It may help to also raise your cat’s food and water dishes so that he’s not spluttering so much when trying to eat if he’s snuffly at all. I bought some raised food dishes which really helped. You can just put the dish on top of something sturdy though I am sure it will help. My cat also used to love me feeding him when he didn’t eat, I used to take his food to the sofa and give it off a spoon and encourage him. Foods which have a strong smell often help, such as mackerel or sardines. You can also ask for some of the a/d food from the vets which has lots of calories and most cats like it, although I had a very poorly cat who wouldn’t eat for a week the other week and tried her with some of that but she wouldn’t eat it! t’s worth a try though. Also my vet told me to put a small drop of Olbas Oil on a tissue nearby so he could inhale the vapours, so used to tuck it behind a cushion near where he was on the sofa so it wasn’t too strong. I hope your cat is feeling much better soon, poor lad, it’s awful when you see them poorly and you can’t help them. Sending in get well snuggles xx
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Crewella
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Re: Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

Post by Crewella »

Janey has more experience with this than I do, but I can absolutely confirm the fact that warming food so they can smell it better and feeding something with a strong smell can help tempt a cat to eat. I've also found that several of mine will take a something like chicken from my hand when they'll just ignore a bowl put down. When all else fails I've been known to give them pieces of ham and processed chicken slices - neither are ideal foods as they're full of salt and goodness knows what, but when all else fails you just want to get something, anything, down them and hopefully kick-start their appetites again. I really hope he picks up again soon. xx
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Re: Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

Post by Janey »

Yep, warming the food and packet chicken/ham does help too (forgot those). I did exactly that, a couple of weeks ago when Tasha wouldn’t eat and it helped, anything with some nutrients, is better than nothing sometimes.
melshop
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Re: Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

Post by melshop »

Thanks for your replies.

Just back from the Vet's, and I have been told he is very dehydrated and needs 3 days on an IV, with me bringing him home every evening. They are very good there and I know they are not trying to make money from me, he is really ill with this infection.

I had the Bisolvon powder, but as he is barely drinking, he wont take it.

He wont eat the food if it is warmed up, or from my hand, stinky fish, processed ham or chicken which he loves normally, food put on a plate raised up etc. This all started last Wednesday, and it's frightening how quickly he went downhill, first thing Wednesday morning he was his normal shouty self, then within an hour, he was ill and hiding away. He just sniffs at food, then sneezes, and walks away.

I am just hoping in the next few days he starts to eat, and recovers.
melshop
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Re: Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

Post by melshop »

Well, another day on the IV, a steroid injection, and painkillers, and he's back this evening and eating and drinking. He seems to have bounced back a bit. I gave him some salmon fish skins and sliced beef. Fingers crossed this will last.

I have also bought some L lysine chews for him to try and prevent this from happening.
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Re: Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

Post by Crewella »

All paws here crossed that he continues to eat. :)
melshop
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Re: Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

Post by melshop »

Well after several days on an IV, four in total, he bounced back from it and a week later he is eating his favorite chicken again not quite as much as normal but it's something. This is the worst he had been yet, I assume due to him having FIV. I am trying to get him to eat l-lysine snacks to help. It is frightening, because each time he gets it, it gets worse. Does anyone on here have experience of FIV cats with this, I am worried we wont have him for long now due to this.

Also we dont want to book any holidays now, which we normally do at this time of year, due to the amount of care and vet visits he needs when he gets sick, and how much it cost us when he got ill before our last holiday in terms of cancelling and rebooking things, as well as the worry about loosing him. I have even bought a camera I can watch on my phone while I am out to check on him I am so worried, luckily I work from home so can monitor him closely, but he gets ill so quickly, one minute fine, next minute very ill.
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Re: Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

Post by Crewella »

I'm glad to hear he's better. I have an FIV+ cat, but not one with a recurring infection, so I'm afraid I have little to add to what you're already doing, and doing very well. xx
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Re: Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

Post by greenkitty »

I really feel for you, I battled with these respiratory infections for 8 years with my beautiful Hector. Do you know if he has the Calici (FCV) or Herpes (FHV) virus as well as FIV? Hector had both (although he didn't have FIV) and very little in the way of an immune system (he's the perfect advert for why it's important to vaccinate a cat) and was both FCV+ and FHV+. For the FCV we found Interferon squirted into his mouth every other day helped, plus Enisyl squirted onto his food for the FHV. He was also on a very low dose of steroids which also helped. His nasal bones were in very poor shape due to the constant infections and there was constant inflammation there and the steroids did help this. I also made the decision to keep him indoors and he adapted well.

I understand syringe feeding him isn't an option but this really helped Hector as did syringing small amounts of water every hour or so. The appetite stimulants also helped kick start although sometimes it would take a couple of doses before it kicked in. Bisolvon really helped too.

Have you tried smearing mashed up food onto his paws or around his mouth, more often than not they will lick it off. I tried every type of food (pilchards with the tomato sauce washed off were his favourite), sometimes I'd just feed him treats as that was all he would etc. I just gave him whatever he wanted to ensure he ate something.

The vet nurse told me that when they have a very congested cat in they do the following: take an empty, clean litter tray and fill it with hot water, put the cat in a carrier and put the carrier over the hot water (obviously not in or touching the water) and cover the whole lot with a blanket and let the steam seep up. In very bad cases they would do this 3 times a day. I only tried it once with Hector, he got so stressed in the carrier I decided it would be counterproductive.
melshop
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Re: Persistant Upper respiratory tract infection

Post by melshop »

I have not had him tested for FCV or FHV, we took Sooty in as a stray in our road, already infect with FIV knowing nothing about his past, whoever had him before us had not even bothered to neuter him, and we estimate he was about 1 year to 18 months old when we got him, really annoys me how people had him and didn't bother to look after him properly, which is why he ended up like this so I totally agree about vaccinations etc.

I will ask the vet about having those tests done, I assume it is herpes related due to all the reading up I have done, and that it keeps coming back. At least if we know more we may be able to get medication for it as you did.

He is back to eating his cooked chicken thighs now and improving, but still sneezing alot, but when he gets ill, as he cant smell he just wont eat anything, even his favourites.

Appetite stimulants used to work, but this time didn't, so I am petrified of the next time he comes down with it, as even though I give him the best care possible, I don't know if he will get through it.

I will remember the litter tray trick, with all the vets visits he has had recently he has become more comfortable getting into his carrier so that could work, and hope if we know exactly what it is we can give him something to help.

Thanks :)
Mel
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