Cat with sneezing fits?

[WrenandBoo]

Hi! I have a 6th month (ish) kitten, and we will be taking her to the vet tomorrow. But, until then I was wondering if anybody has experienced anything like this before. Ever since we got her, she has had these weird sneezing fits where she’d sneeze over and over nonstop until she gets a HUGE amount of snot out, and most of the time it’s accompanied by a very large and very hard booger that sometimes has blood on it, which I think is because of how big and hard it is for her little nose to handle. I can’t even believe the size of what comes out sometimes. The only reason we didn’t take her before was because when we got her, she had this along with other symptoms so we took her to the vet and she was treated for a URI. After that it seemed to go away, or at least become WAY less of a big deal (two-three sneezes in a row with little to nothing coming out, only like once a month -if that. ) but the past few days it’s been bad again. Like, sneezing nonstop for 20 seconds and then boom, a huge chunk comes out. Other than this she seems 100% healthy. Her eyes are also completely fine, not runny or crusty at all. She’s just stuffed up! I have a video of her doing it and a picture of what comes out to show the vet. Just looking for any ideas right now before the we go to vet tomorrow. I wish and know we should have taken her to the vet for this sooner, but it really did become a rare occurrence and we thought it was stopping.

 

[nurseangel]

That's brilliant to have a video to show the vet. Elsie has a lot of sneezing and scratches constantly (even though she doesn't have fleas). We are planning to take her to the vet soon to see if she needs allergy medication. I hope everything goes well and please keep us updated on what the vet says about your kitten.

 

[stephanietx]

I have a snotflinger! Ask the vet to do a culture and sensitivity test on the discharge to find out if you're dealing with a secondary infection. The culture will determine if there's a bacterial or fungal infection and the sensitivity test will tell the vet which med(s) will best treat it. Other than a secondary infection, it could be that her URI didn't clear up completely.

 

[basscat]

I've got one like that. Exact same deal. Had it her whole life and she's 7 now. Been treated for URI several times and allergies several times. "Seems" like the allergy shots slow it down for about a month....a little bit...maybe....but then it's back.
Only think I know for certain is cat snot is the stickiest substance on the earth.

 

[stephanietx]

We also give our kitty lots of supplements to help keep the snot at bay. Hannah's is triggered by seasonal weather changes. After we got her psuedomonas infection under control, colloidal silver has been the best thing we've done for her.

 

[sabian]

Manny has always had a problem with sneezing. I wouldn't call it excessive but he does have times where he'll sneeze 6 or 7 times in a row. Sometimes it's just once or twice. He doesn't have the problem with discharge or sneezing out a big chunk of anything. Sometimes he does seem stuffy after he wakes up but, once he gets moving around it seems to go away. He seems perfectly healthy otherwise. I talked to the vet about it and they said he probably just has an allergy of some sort. He may go 2 or 3 days without sneezing at all. I've also noticed it seems to happen when we first go outside for his walk. It seems to be a seasonal thing too.

stephanietx How do you give your cat colloidal silver? Do you put it in her water bowl?

 

[Landon&Lucasmom]

You need to give your cat Lysine, which you can buy on Amazon or your local pet store. It will help keep your cat from sneezing.

 

[stephanietx]

sabian , we add to wet food and mix in.

You need to give your cat Lysine, which you can buy on Amazon or your local pet store. It will help keep your cat from sneezing.

Sometimes this is not true. I give my girl 500mg lysine 2x a day and she still is very sneezy and snotty. Sometimes the excess sneezing and snot is from a secondary infection or allergies.

 

[kashmir64]

The cat I just adopted in Feb. has this. He will be fine for awhile, then he has sneezing fits, flinging snot. He also vomits quite often. The shelter vet said he has allergies, no infections going on. Problem is, I can't figure out what he's allergic to.

 

[RangersMom]

Cetrizine (generic Zyrtec) is safe for cats in low doses. I have a cat who sneezes a ton and flings snot (she has feline herpes). And I give her half a cetrizine tablet a day (5mgs). You can give them the half pill, or smash the pill with a spoon and put it in food.

 

[kashmir64]

Cetrizine (generic Zyrtec) is safe for cats in low doses. I have a cat who sneezes a ton and flings snot (she has feline herpes). And I give her half a cetrizine tablet a day (5mgs). You can give them the half pill, or smash the pill with a spoon and put it in food.

But only after you run it by your vet.

 

[GreyLady]

Grey cat has sneezing fits pretty often but his boogers are normal sized. More in the summer than in the winter. I feel bad for him when he's all stuffed up. I have been told he has allergies... I am always cleaning his boogers off the window and suddenly trying to move myself or my food out of the way of his sneezes. Yuck!

 

[sivyaleah]

sabian , we add to wet food and mix in.



Sometimes this is not true. I give my girl 500mg lysine 2x a day and she still is very sneezy and snotty. Sometimes the excess sneezing and snot is from a secondary infection or allergies.

This!

Lysine has been proven not to be effective. It won't hurt, but more often the reason the cat gets better is because the illness has just taken it's natural course and leaves on it's own accord.

Lysine supplementation is not effective for the prevention or treatment of feline herpesvirus 1 infection in cats: a systematic review

Not sure why vets continue to recommend using it. There really is no actual studies that support positive results.

 

[sabian]

stephanietx Just wanted to drop back in and thank you for the colloidal silver suggestion. I started giving it to Manny and his sneezing and stuffy nose has all but stopped! He seems to be continuing to improve too. I've only been giving it to him for maybe 2 weeks. I still get an occasional sneeze from him but, he's gone 2 days with nothing at all and no sneezing fits at all.

 

[kittyluv387]

Sounds like could be herpes. What's more effective than lysine is lactoferrin, the bovine kind.

Stubborn herpes infection? Add Lactoferrin in addition to Lysine

In researching proactive methods of slowing down the progression of Chumley's FIV, the FIVtherapy site had quite a bit of information up on the anti-viral properties of Lactoferrin. There are a number of both in vitro and clinical studies of Bovine Lactoferrin for various things: one of them is...

thecatsite.com

 

[Xraystyle]

I recently adopted a sneezer. Was told it was probably herpes and the stress of being adopted caused it to flare up. His (Puar) former owner gave me pills and Colostrum supplement. The vet gave me eye drops and antibiotic pills but if Puar gets a taste of those, he throws up. He otherwise seems fine. A little scared of me now because of the eye drops, but eating, drinking, sleeping, and using the bathroom. The boogers though. I used to have a cat with hairballs, so I think I prefer the boogers, but I'm dreading finding a dry crusty one on my clothes! I am somewhat lucky, perhaps. He seems to like eating his boogers. Don't know if that's bad for him. Earlier, he had a long one hanging off his whiskers and he winged it around until he got it in his mouth. Can't tell if that's cute or gross...or not healthy?