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Persistant Respiratory Infection

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trevorhammond@gmail.com - 11 Dec 2005 23:01 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
Dr.Carla,DVM - 15 Dec 2005 09:02 GMT
I spent 2 weeks at the Chicago Anti-Cruelty Society.
Cats from shelters commonly get URI.  The staff tries very diligently to get
new cats out before they get sick (cats most often start showing signs of
URI after they have been at the clinic for 3 days.
Cats that get sick are treated for much longer than 7 days.  Usually it
takes at least 3 weeks on Clavamox to clear the URI.  The reason it takes
longer is because the shelters will have a more resistant strain so it takes
longer to clear it.  The Chicago ACS has a policy that if any of the cats
they adopt out become sick with a URI within a specific time period after
their adoption, they will supply the antibiotics free of charge until the
infection is cleared up.
I don't know where you adopted your cat from, but it might be worth it to
call the shelter and ask the staff to let you know the treatment protocol at
the shelter (which antibiotic they use, and the average number of days they
treat), and they may (or may not -- depending on how well funded they are)
have a similar policy as the Chicago Anti Cruelty Society.
Thank you for giving Bogart a home!
>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
Upscale - 15 Dec 2005 10:16 GMT
"Dr.Carla,DVM" <Dr.Carla@insightbb.com> wrote in message
> Cats from shelters commonly get URI.  The staff tries very diligently to get
> new cats out before they get sick (cats most often start showing signs of
> URI after they have been at the clinic for 3 days.

Definitely. When I was ready to adopt my Deetoo, Toronto Animals Services
told me she'd contracted URI. I had to wait almost two weeks like a worried
father for them to clear up the infection before they let me have her.
 
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