A "real' question. really...What could I be sick with , that is also affecting my cats?

Question

it started out as me,sickly. respiratory stuff. I thought it was the cronic...
but it got worse. Much worse , on that rainy tuesday.

one my kittens got sickly ..snuffly ..sneezy on Saturday, and by
Monday it had spead in varying degrees to all my kittens (5) . I brought the Original sickly one in to the vet and he sez "cold" or resp infection, and gave me Zithromax (Cherry flavored -WTF?-but that's besides the point.)to give to them. that was a couple days ago , and there is still no improvement. they are congested and you can hear the fluid in there , even tho the vet says the lungs are clear.

starting last night my older cats began comong down with it. and by this morning , my poor thomas ia Wheezy/snuffling as bad as the kittens do.

Could it be Mold. we were drying birdhouse gourds inside.
I put them out in the shed, and i hope that's it, but i'm still worried.

we also had brought in a hollow stump for he kitts to play in? it had dead poison ivy on it...

... and we pulled it off, but do you suppose that the ivy 'dust' could be getting into our systems, somehow.

I got rid of the stump already, too.

does anyone have any ideas as to what else this might be?

sometimes it sounds like they are 'stuck'in a mid inhale. like they are so congested that they can't get air. it really bothers me. they have such tiny little lungs.(they're 10 weeks) they also have almost no immune system,because they were separated from the mother (not by me) too soon.
way too soon.
They arrived with umbilical cords.
I'm calling the vet ,again.
No. should i? how long does it take Zithro to Kick in?

oh thats right , make the worried girl ,trying to fix things, feel even worse about herself. thanx a lot ,elvo. i'll be sure to add you to my contact list. not.

Answer 1

Most likely you all are suffering URI's..

It could be mold, yes.
I have not heard of poison ivy going respiratory so you might want to ask a vet about that.
It could also be local pollution. Where are you? Here in California they were spraying some areas up near San Francisco without people knowing..something about brown moths..and people and pets were getting bad respiratory problems..

Answer 2

One of the several things you listed could cause this reaction in animals and people. Not very many actual colds/infections will pass from human to cat to dog. It is probably something in the environment. Ask your vet about giving something for allergies, and try taking a dose of Benadryl for yourself. If it improves with allergy meds, then you can be sure it is something in (or that was in before) the house. The sound you hear in the kittens is coming from the nasal passages, so the lungs would be clear even though you hear rattling sounds. It can turn into a more serious problem involving the lungs, if you can't get the drainage stopped.

Answer 3

there are actually very few zoonotic diseases out there - zoonotic means things that effect both animal and human. and URI really isn't.

Allergies - mold - maybe.. or it could be a huge co-incidence. Youn kittens are very very susceptible to getting URIs, and it probably has nothing to do with what you have.

Zithromax is a great medication for URI in kittens.

If you could "hear the fluid in their lungs" when the vet examined them, then I'm going to suggest you are hearing them rasp when they breathe because of the congestion in their nose, not because their lungs are full. If this is a new development, I would recommend you bring them back to the vet for more treatment.. cause once it truly is in their lungs they are in SERIOUS trouble.

You can try hot steam.. bringing them into the bathroom. Running a humdifier to help lessen the congestion. Saline drops help flush out congestion too - just be aware they are going to start sneezing snot everywhere. For the worst cases I use pediatric nose drops. one drop per kitten per day.

There are decongestants out there, but I'm leary to suggest them to someone who is not used to dealing with kittens. Call your vet for their recommendations.

You can also look into L-lysine. This is an amino acid which interferes with replication of the herpesvirus, thereby keeping the virus in check which is often responsible for URI in kitties.

Answer 4

Well it is not uncommon for animals and people to share colds and sicknesses. I know that Zithromax is used to clear up pneumonia and bronchitis so it probably is some sort of respiratory infection in the kitties as well. If you are hearing mucous and seeing it that is a good sign because it means that it is getting out of their lungs. But keep them warm because that will help the yucky stuff to drip out and if it continues to worsen go back to the vet.

Answer 5

you have a cold. not getting them sick. they have a URI - upper respiratory infection. if you really wanna get rid of it, ask your vet if you can put them on fluids. that will help flush the infection out. most likely their lungs are clear, you're just hearing the bubbles in their noses, lol. it's a slow process clearing up this kind of infection though it doesn't really hurt them unless it gets so bad that their eyes are gummy and they lose weight.

Answer 6

Mold could be causing all of you to have respiratory problems. For crying outloud, why would you knowingly expose your cats to poison ivy. Do you deserve to have animals? Take you cats to a vet. You owe it to them, since you have exposed them. Go to a vet that is familiar with cats. Call another vet and be sure you are giving your cats appropriate medicine. You can kill them with many medicines that are meant for humans, or other animals.