Allergies VS Upper Respiratory Issues?

[mfoehrer]

After bringing home a kitten about 2 months ago. Both the resident cat and kitten seem to have been passing some sickness back and forth. After medicine and two weeks of being separated they seemed to be fine. Now After about a week of being together they are BOTH occasionally sneezing. The kitten has always sneezed a little bit here and there since I got her. My resident cat was sneezing and had yellow eye discharge. Now post two week separation and medication. There is only clear eye discharge (smaller amounts) that dry into brown crust around the eyes, but as of today she does sound congested. Allergies are bad where I live this time of year and I have been feeling it as well.

The main thing is that I'm just hoping it's allergies and not another respiratory issue. Really don't want to have to put them both back on medicine for another 2 weeks. Will need to call the vet Monday regardless, but looking to see if there is anything else I can check to see if this might just be an allergy issue this time?

 

[di and bob]

It could be either but I have a feeling it is feline Herpes Syndrome, a virus that cats often get and pass on readily. The common kitty cold. NOT transferrable to humans. Antibiotics wouldn't help unless it turns into something bacterial like and eye or lung infection. My cats used to get that all the time. Mainly because they were indoor outdoor. now they have leukemia and are strictly indoor, an infection could kill them. i started giving them DMG, available online at Walmart, Target, and Amazon. It builds up their immune systems. they haven't had a kitty cold since! I tried L-Lysine several times and it didn't work for them, That is what is usually given. I would try that for a week and see what happens!

 

[lisahe]

It can very difficult, even almost impossible, to sort out the causes of respiratory symptoms, even with lots of diagnostics!

I agree with di and bob says about herpes: we've been through numerous flareups of various severity with cats, too. We've never used DMG but L-lysine did seem helpful the last time we saw a flareup.

One of our cats seems to have allergies, though she also has apparent asthma (and uses an inhaler for it) so it's hard to know exactly what makes her cough when the pollen count is high. Allergy pills do seem to help some, so you might want to ask your vet about dosage and which to try.

One other factor to consider is wildfire smoke, which can cause similar symptoms. We've been having trouble with that, toom humans and cats.

Good luck!