URI for 8 weeks

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jmurphy2005 - 12 Aug 2006 16:27 GMT

We adopted a 2 month old female feline, "Moxie", from a local shelter 8 weeks
ago and noticed that she was sneezing and sounded wheezy sometimes. Plus her
left eye had some kind of infection. So we took her back and she was
diagnosed with an Upper Resipitory Infection and conjuctivitis and given
antibiotics and an eye cream. After two weeks, her eye infection was gone
and her URI seemed to be gone, so then they went ahead and gave her the
rabies shot that was due. A week later we took her back to the Vet as the
URI came back and came back worse than before. The vet said that the rabies
shot weakend her immune system. So they put Moxie back on the antibiotic
that she was given before. But after another week, she didn't improve so we
took her back and they put her on a different antibiotic (as now she also had
a fever of 104) and we were instructed to give 3 times, but only every other
day. She seemed to improve, but only worsened a week later. So we took her
back again. They took an x-ray of her lungs and said they were clear, her
fever was gone, and that there was nothing else we can do but wait it out.
Another 4 weeks of doing nothing has gone by and her congestion & runny nose
have worsened. She is still eating, playing, and using her litter box, she
just can't breathe through her nose. She sounds awful. She slurps and
snorts when trying to clean herself and can only sleep well when laying or
sitting certain a way and snores like an old man. Is this normal for a URI?
Does it take this long for a URI to clear up? Should I be worried? I know
our local shelters were quarantined for several weeks as this URI was going
around and they had to put 12 animals to sleep because of it. I have
scheduled another appt at the shelter for her to be looked at again by their
Vet on 8/14. I just want to be more knowledgable about this before I take
her to the Vet again. Also, the last visit they charged us for the medicine?
Is this normal? We were also told by the Vet that our adult cat will not
catch the URI from our kitten as it is just a kitten thing and that all of
the shots she has had will prevent her from getting it. Is this true?

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Rhonda - 13 Aug 2006 02:17 GMT

Hi there,

Four weeks sounds pretty long for a URI. Do you have another vet of your
own you could take her to for a second opinion?

She's pretty young and you have to really watch those infections in
kittens. That's great that she's eating.

Have they checked her mouth and teeth? Sometimes a tooth infection will
give the same symptoms as a URI.

Good luck,

Rhonda

> We adopted a 2 month old female feline, "Moxie", from a local shelter 8 weeks
> ago and noticed that she was sneezing and sounded wheezy sometimes. Plus her
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
> catch the URI from our kitten as it is just a kitten thing and that all of
> the shots she has had will prevent her from getting it. Is this true?

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jmurphy2005 - 13 Aug 2006 16:41 GMT

Rhonda,
Moxie has an appt with the shelter on Monday and I'll have them look for a
tooth infection. And if they don't help us anymore, then we will definitely
take her to our family vet.

Thanks for the advice and I'll let you know the outcome. I never would have
though about a tooth infection.

Thanks,
Jan

>Hi there,
>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>> catch the URI from our kitten as it is just a kitten thing and that all of
>> the shots she has had will prevent her from getting it. Is this true?

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friesian@zoocrewphoto.com - 14 Aug 2006 12:50 GMT

I would take her to your own vet. The shelter vet may be a bit biased
or protective of the shelter and not want to admit that it transferred
a virus.

The runny eye and conjunctivitis sounds like the herpes virus, common
enough, but you haven't been given the supplement for it.

My vet prescribed Enysil which is a paste form of Lysine. It was given
in addition to an antibiotic and eye ointment (I received Terramycin).

My vet took one look at her goopy eye and conjuctivitis and said it was
herpes. He found a temperature too, so he added the antibiotics. But it
seemed pretty obvious to him on first glance. Your description sounds
identical, and it is very common for cats going to new homes,
especially from shelters since herpes flares up with stress.

My cat had immediate improvement with treatment. It did start up again
after the first month, but not as bad as before. And the stress wasn't
gone (she was having problems with another cat).

My sister also recently had a cat with a URI. She's not in the same
house, so the problems are not related. Her cat had a runny nose, not a
runny eye. Her vet gave antibiotics and Lysine (capsul form to be added
to canned food). He cleared up right away.

It sounds like you have to been to the vet a couple times, and he has
looked for more complicated causes, but skipped over the most obvious
problem. I would definitely try another vet for a fresh look on the
situation.

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jmurphy2005 - 14 Aug 2006 13:32 GMT

Thank you friesian. I had actually done some research on the internet and
wondered if Moxie might have Herpes. The shelter has only given us Panalog
Terramycin Ointment (Nystatin) for her eye, which by the way, the pupil of
that eye is dramatically smaller than her other eye and does not dilate.
Even though the infection seems to be gone from the eye, the pupil has stayed
small. The shelter Vet seems to think that it will continue to improve with
time. The other antibiotics given to her for the URI were Clavamox and
Zithromax. Maybe the Enysil is the answer since nothing else has worked. I
have read message boards where that is what was used for other kittens with
URI and it seemed to work. I have shut Moxie in the bathroom after steaming
it up by running a hot shower and then leaving her in there for awhile with a
vaporizer. It seems to only help for a short while. The poor thing can't
breathe through her nose at all! Thanks for the advice. We will definitely
look into it. :)

>I would take her to your own vet. The shelter vet may be a bit biased
>or protective of the shelter and not want to admit that it transferred
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
>problem. I would definitely try another vet for a fresh look on the
>situation.

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friesian@zoocrewphoto.com - 15 Aug 2006 00:02 GMT

> Thank you friesian. I had actually done some research on the internet and
> wondered if Moxie might have Herpes. The shelter has only given us Panalog
> Terramycin Ointment (Nystatin) for her eye, which by the way, the pupil of
> that eye is dramatically smaller than her other eye and does not dilate.
> Even though the infection seems to be gone from the eye, the pupil has stayed
> small.

That sounds very worrisome. Kira had the goopy eye and wouldn't hold
the eye open as well. It would be about half closed. And her inner eye
lid was in too far. But her actual eye has looked fine. Never any
problem with dilation.

That doesn't sound normal for a simple infection at all.

Kira receieved clavamox the first time and a different one the second
time. I can't remember the name.

She just developed a snotty nose today. But it's a different issue. She
has anemia, and the treatment for that is to wipe out her immune system
since her own immune system is destroying red blood cells. She is
showing good improvement after only a week of prednisone, but my vet
did say she would be susceptible to colds right now.

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jmurphy2005 - 15 Aug 2006 02:25 GMT

Moxie sounds a little worse tonight. She has an appt tomorrow @ 3:00 with
the shelter's vet. We are giving them one more chance. If we don't feel
comfortable with them after that, then we are heading straight to a normal
vet. She really is worrying us and I have a feeling that we will be given
some bad news.

I hope Kira's condition improves. Is the anemia something she will have the
rest of her life?

>> Thank you friesian. I had actually done some research on the internet and
>> wondered if Moxie might have Herpes. The shelter has only given us Panalog
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>showing good improvement after only a week of prednisone, but my vet
>did say she would be susceptible to colds right now.

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