Persistant Respiratory Infection

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trevorhammond@gmail.com - 11 Dec 2005 23:00 GMT

I have a four year old male cat (Borgart) whom I adopted from a local
shelter 7 days ago. He developed URI symptoms the second day I had
him. he began sneezing and I noticed very mild congestion. The biggest
sign of illness was the fact he was uninterested in food or water as
well as very tired.

I brought him to the vet on the second day and the vet prescribed an
antibiotic (zithromax) for 7 days. Poor Bogart has had a fever of
103-104 for about a week now. The sneezing subsided about a 3-4 days
ago and he is now just stuffed up. In the last 48 hours he has begun
discharging a lot of yellow/green muscous from his nose.

In the beginning I had to force feed him with a syringe. He is now
eating slightly over a can of Hill's Prescription Diet each day with my
encouragement (no force feeding, but he won't he on his own). He still
is not drinking water on his own, but the vet said I shouldn't be
concerned about dehydration as long as I get the prescription food into
him as it contains about 80% moisture.

He saw the vet 48 hours ago right around the time he began discharging
from the nose. During his last visit he tested negative for both FIV
and FELV. The vet suspects a rhinovirus (herpes infection).

Bogart finishes his antibiotics tomorrow and is still running a fever.
I have read it can take several weeks to recover from a URI, but should
the fever persist this long? How concerned should I be for the life of
Bogart if I continue ensuring he is receiving as much nutrition
possible?

If you could email me your response it would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Trevor

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~*Connie*~ - 12 Dec 2005 01:12 GMT

i recently had a set of foster kittens with fevers in the 106 range (the
thermometer didn't go any higher) he was lethargic, didn't want to walk,
didn't want to eat, etc. We did zithromax for a few weeks, and eventually
the fever did go down.

Go back to the vets for some more zithromax, and ask about sub-Q fluids..
This will ensure he is properly hydrated (not a major worry if he is getting
enough wet food) AND help bring the fever down. the key is make sure he's
getting enough.

If the congestion is severe, you can give some decongestant, but it needs to
be ONLY decongestant (aka sudafed) no pain relievers or anything else. The
dose is usually an obnoxious 1/8th of a tablet once per day, but I feel it
is worth it for the cats that are so congested it hurts to look at them.

Good luck with him, and feel free to offer him treats.. anything that will
get him eating is a good thing. meat baby food is usually irrisitable to
cats (meat and broth only) Yogurt is good (plain and full fat) ice cream
might make him feel better too (again, plain vanilla) The advice on table
food is mixed.. but when they are ill, its better that they eat "junk" than
not at all.

a side story to that, the shelter fostered out a cat that was so bad they
put a feeding tube in her. Well it helped, and she was feeling well enough
to catch and eat the foster parent's pet bird. It was heart breaking, but
it was nice to know the cat was recovering..

>I have a four year old male cat (Borgart) whom I adopted from a local
> shelter 7 days ago. He developed URI symptoms the second day I had
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
>
> Trevor

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trevorhammond@gmail.com - 12 Dec 2005 18:12 GMT

Bogart's (my cat) fever has never gone beyond about 104.1-104.5.

He seems to have more energy in the morning, usually by late afternoon
he begins looking stuffed up and ill. I am starting him on Lysine today
to hopefully curb the herpes that caused the URI. I will also seek an
extension on the anti-biotics from the vet as the fever is still
present as well as "infected" yellow discharge from the nose.

I noticed in the last few days his sneezing has become very infrequent,
as has his deep snuffling he would do occasionally. He just seems
sleepy and has a very runny nose.

He gets excited about food in the morning and late in the evening. He
meows, tries to jump on the counter to get at the food, etc...

Even at his worst (in the evening) I wouldn't describe him as listless.
He responds to any loud noise and when I shake his treat bag he
immediately comes over. I guess that is a good sign.

I am just not used to having sick animals I guess and everything
symptom looks extremely serious. The sneezing started last Sunday
slightly, I noticed he was ill Monday morning. So it has not even been
a full week since he started the meds and treatment. From the
experiences others have shared the worst can last from 7-15 days, and
he could still be affected up (tired, congestion) to several weeks
after the worst is over.

The vet has never recommended keeping him at the hospital, but he did
suggest it was too early at this stage to condemn him. As he doesn't
appearing to be suffering any more than a person with sinusitis would
and he has no terminal illnesses I don't even consider euthanasia an
option.

>From your experience have you ever seen a case of a young adult cat

dying from a URI? It is a thought lingering in the back of my mind. But
in many of the stories I have read regarding URIs I have learnt that
the symptoms can be much worse than I am experiencing (thick discharge
from the eye, complete refusal to eat, ulcers and lethargy to the point
of not moving). And like you describe most of these extremely ill cats
did eventually recover....albeit with the potential to have occasional
flareup for life under times of stress, etc...

Thanks for your feedback!
Trevor

> i recently had a set of foster kittens with fevers in the 106 range (the
> thermometer didn't go any higher) he was lethargic, didn't want to walk,
[quoted text clipped - 56 lines]
> >
> > Trevor

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