We adopted our cat on Saturday and her cold has been getting worse each day. We put her in the bathroom with the bath steam on to get some moisture into her nose. She's wheezing/gasping for air, and sneezing/coughing almost constantly. She's lethargic and sleeping a lot. She's not eating much. We have a call to the vet but would like to know about other remedies/OTC medicine we could try to help her.
2007-02-26 04:56:40 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Cats
no there are no home remedies, your cat probably has kennel cough or bordatella which leads to upper respitory infections, she needs antibiotics like amoxy, take her to your vet or call the shelter you adopted her from, in fact they should have sent her home with medication and because the didnt your cat is in pain. please dont look for a cheap way out of this, your cat is suffering
2007-02-26 05:03:12 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There's nothing OTC you can use, sorry. She needs the right kind of antibiotics. The steam is a good idea, though. Just don't do it for too long.
If you have trouble getting a hold of the vet, you could try contacting the shelter. Since UTIs are contagious, she's probably not the only cat from there who has it, so they might be able to check her out and give her some meds. (Some shelters do this with newly adopted cats.)
2007-02-26 05:01:58 · answer #2 · answered by Ms. S 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The most likely cause of URIs is feline herpes which is fairly common in shelter cats. There's not much that can be given OTC, and stay away from human medication as a lot of OTC meds can cause kidney or liver failure in cats.
If it is feline herpes, you can add an L-Lysine supplement which is OTC to her food, but wait for a diagnosis and dosage instruction from your vet as you don't want to harm her by overdosing, or by medicating something that isn't feline herpes.
The most you can do is to keep a careful eye on how much she is eating/drinking and eliminating. Try to keep her hydrated by hand feeding plain water with a clean syringe/eyedropper or by offering a pungent wet food like Fancy Feast.
Also, you can use Little Noses NON MEDICATED saline drops to help with the congestion, if you can manage to get some up her nose (Good luck!) It is important to get the non medicated, plain saline formulation, with no active ingredients.
2007-02-26 05:30:42 · answer #3 · answered by El 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Its a cold. She will be miserable just like you would be with a bad case of the flu or cold. Yes if she stops eating and drinking all together you should see vet....But if she is eating and drinking you may continue what you are doing with a little warm chicken broth and other goodies to keep her strength up.
Antibiotics are not for viruses just like if you get a bad cold see how hard it is to get your doctor to prescribe an antibiotic. Many vets give Clavamox since cats are not able to blow nose and keep the sinus clear so secondary bacteria infections can happen but not necessarily.
It will take about 10-14 days and then she should really be showing sign of improvements in about 7 days, if not or she stops eating maybe see vet for meds.
2007-02-26 05:32:51 · answer #4 · answered by KittyCondos 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I don't know how old your cat is but sounds like this may not be a simple case of "a cold". Cats can get what is called Feline Leukemia which has these very same symptoms. If that is the case, and in any case, your cat needs a vet PRONTO! OOps sorry i see you said the cat is 2..very possible then.
2007-02-26 05:05:10 · answer #5 · answered by Shar 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Now is not the best time to experiment. You need to talk to that shelter and get her fixed up. It seems like there is always a post on here each day about someone who adopts a cat at a shelter and then they take it home and it gets sick. You should stick to veterinary medicines for cats only. Human meds such as some pain relievers can be deadly to them.
2007-02-26 06:22:18 · answer #6 · answered by ineeddonothing 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Don't put her in the steam, it doesn't help. She needs medication (antibiotics), Baytril or doxcycycline may work, but you must consult the vet first and give her a blood test, because she may have other conditions or diseases that the antibiotics may aggravate. I recently tried to treat a feral cat in my neighbourhood from a bad respiratory infection, and it turned out she had a kidney failure, and the medication worked for her infection but killed her because of the kidney problem. I feel really guilty, so please please take the kitty to the vet.
2007-02-26 05:09:30 · answer #7 · answered by cpinatsi 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
These kinds of infections are nothing to fool around with in cats. They can die from them. Please take your cat to a vet. I most likely needs medication. OTC is not going to do it. The poor baby could have caught something from where ever you adopted it from.
2007-02-26 06:14:02 · answer #8 · answered by SHAy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You need to get her to a vet asap. Nothing otc will help. some of these symptoms could be more serious than just a "cold". She needs a vet to help her.
2007-02-26 05:58:54 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
get her an appointment at the vet as soon as possiable. you can give her 12.5 mg of benadryl twice a day. but she needs antibiotics inorder to get better.
2007-02-26 06:07:09 · answer #10 · answered by macleod709 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋