<snip>

Our Sushi had a respiratory thing when we got her from the shelter, and
it sounds like she was similar to your cat - playful, good appetite, all
normal kitten things, but with a bit of congestion and sneezing. (She
never coughed, though.)

The vet did a chest xray and made sure there was nothing wrong with her
lungs, and said it was probably herpes and not all that uncommon, esp in
cats who've been in the shelter a while. Vet said as long as she's
eating normally and playing and not acting sick, not to be too worried.

She suggested giving Sushi 250 mg of Lysine (an amino acid) daily for 3
- 4 months and *maybe* it would help. In Sushi's case, it did seem to
help. We could only find 500 mg tablets, so we cut them in half and used
a mortar and pestel to grind them into a powder, which we sprinkled on
her food. It's tasteless (I tried some) so she didn't even notice it. We
gave it to her for the 3 - 4 months the vet recommended before we
noticed a significant improvement. We stopped giving it to her but will
start it up again if it seems she needs it.

I'm not a vet and don't even play one on t.v., so I'm not saying it will
work for you but it's worth asking your vet about. Try Googling herpes +
cats + lysine and you'll find quite a bit of info about this.

Good luck,
Irene
Sushi grooming her dog:
http://good-night-irene.com/temporary/04AprStudioPets02.jpg

Hi Julie,
It sounds like she possibly has a respritory infection.
Unfortunately these can be very common in cats.
I would look into going to another vet. I would think that  They should at
least have given you antibiotics just in case - that's what my vet does
anyway.
And since it sounds like it's contageous, other than the kitty that is
coming down with this virus, if you have any other cats, I would quaranteen
them from these two cats. My Vet recommended I do that, even with my other
pets. Or you may have a house full of sick pets.
Keri

cat colds  

Group: alt.pets.cats Date: Wed, Jan 19, 2005, 12:00pm From:
me@nowhere.com (Julie)
Hello,
Have any of you taken your cat to the vet because it had a cold? Did
your vet give the cat anything to help it get over it? I took my kitty
to the vet for a cold and the vet told me it was a virus and there was
not much to help it, I should just run the vaporizer and make sure she
eats and drinks and wait for it to pass. It has been 3 weeks now and
she's still coughing and sneezing a couple of times a day... I was
thinking of taking her to another vet, but I don't know if it would be a
waste of time, money and stress to the cat or not.   She doesn't act
sick... she plays, cuddles and eats fine, but she is sneezing and has a
runny/snotty nose. I have another cat who started sneezing this morning
too.
Julie

2 out of 5 cats I have ended up with upper respitory infection.4got what
the vet told me it was. Rhinitis which one of my other cat had. He had
to have 2 teeth pulled out but the 2 I'm talking about were sneezing & I
took them to the vet in time &  I remeber right I did get some kinds of
meds for them. I got something for their ears & I believe some liquid
meds I had to use a dropper with. I'm sorry I 4get easy now. Guess
that's what happens when you turn 62. Ahh why should I blame my age. I
always been 4getful. It's my nature. But I didn't 4get my name. I know
it says WEEniE but it's really Irene. So this Irene to the other Irene.
"Hi there"