My mother in laws cat has severe allergies, can she give her cat benadryl or other form of the medication?

Question

Her cat has severe nasal blockage and when it gets too bad she sneezes out huge amounts of mucus, dark green in color, just like when a person has an upper respiratory invection.

Answer 1

Animal's allergy symtoms differ from that of humans. Our (and horses) histamine is concentrated in the respiratory tract thus causing sneezing, coughing, watery eyes, etc. Cats and dogs histamine is located primarily in their skin and digestive tract. Cats and dogs will exhibit itching (licking) when exposed to allergens. This itchiness is primarily concentrated in the face, ears, armpits or axila region, groin, feet, and rump/perineum. Many dogs that have atopy (allergies) will also have chronic ear infections and can have chronic anal gland problems.

So now that we know the clinical signs associated with allergies of cats and dogs, does it still sound like your mother-in-law's cat has allergies? I would say no.

It sounds more likely that her cat has an upper respiratory infection that can be caused by a plethera of viruses, many of which most are vaccinated against (calicivirus, chlamydia psittaci, and rhinotracheitis). The most dangerous virus being panleukopenia. If ocular discharge is also present, it could also be herpes virus, of which cats can be carries their entire lives and only have outbreaks every once in a while.

The other possibility could be cancer - most commonly squamous cell carinoma. If it were present in the nasal sinus, it could cause a secondary bacterial infection.

Needless to say, your mother in law should take the cat to a veterinarian for diagnosis and proper treatment.

Answer 2

The dose is 1/2-1 mg of Benadryl (ONLY the original kind, not extra strength or with sinus meds etc) per 1 pound of cats body weight. 1 pill is 25mg, so 1/2 pill is for a 12 lb cat MAXIMUM. Better to underdose than overdose. Completely cover the pill with some cheese or bacon fat or other food that your cat likes since it is very,very bitter. However, this is not a medicine you give more than a few times. Its not the same as a human taking it.

Answer 3

If you have gone to the vet and you know that it is allergies, then it's okay to give your cat Benadryll, that's what the vet told us to give our cat. **Make sure you know how much to give your cat...it's not a full dose...your vet can tell you how much is okay**

Another thing that really helped our cat is giving it Omega 3, or Fish Oil. You can buy gel tablets for humans in the vitamin secton of most stores. All you have to do is break one gel tablet over the cat's food and the cat will love it and it will help the cat. It builds up the immune system and is great for humans as well!

Answer 4

You should never ever under any circumstances give your pet human medicine. It is HUMAN medicine, that should be enough reason not to give it to a cat, do you want to kill the cat? You could well do that if you give it human medicines. Don't take the risk.

Answer 5

Human Allergy medications would kill an animal...especially a cat. Benedryl itself is powerful enough to knock out a human...imagine what it could do with a cat....call the cats veteranarian

Answer 6

NO, she should NOT do that. If the discharge is colored it indicates a bacterial infection and the vet will give antibiotics for that.

Answer 7

no, the vet. can give it shots for it. my Friend had a long hair cat who was allergic to it's own fur. craziest thing i ever saw! :)

Answer 8

You can give her medication, but i'd say that the safest is peptebismo, since we did that for our dog when she was sick, then she got all better!!!

Answer 9

dont assume medicine intended for humans will work on non human species

Answer 10

ALWAYS TAKE THE ANIMAL TO A VETDO NOT RELY ON OVERTHE COUNTER MEDICATIONS,