Decongestant Nose Drops?

[furrypurry]

My Jaspurr is fighting a flare of herpes following a course of steroids he had to have for asthma/bronchitis. He doesn't seem sick - no fever, no loss of appetite, etc. - but he is SO congested I feel sorry for him. I got some of the children's decongestant nose drops, but am afraid to use them. I know you are only supposed to put ONE drop in their nose per day, but how do you do that? The bottle they are in is like a spray bottle. I'm afraid he's going to fight me and I'll end up putting too much. Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

He's going to fight you like a tiger, but it can be done. Purchase an eye dropper from any pharmacy (and some grocery stores), open the bottle and draw a tiny amount into the dropper. Place it against the nostril and dispense. Do this with each nostril. I've seen where one vet recommended children's Afrin, but I know adult afrin can cause dependence if used more than 4 days in a row. I use it 4 on, 3 off with no issues.

You will be doing this with a wriggling, squirming, screaming, clawing rabid beast, of course. If you can get him into a cat burrito with only his head exposed, this will help. Or call the National Guard, which might be a better bet if he's anything like my cat!

 

[furrypurry]

Thanks for responding. I have two very docile Himmies, so I won’t be torn to shreds, but it’s almost impossible to use any kind of nose drops because he will protest by turning his head so quickly that most of it will end up on his face instead of in his nose. I have tried to get saline in there without much success. So I doubt I will have any success with any kind of nose drops. He needs the decongestant kind badly right now. I will see about getting a nose dropper today. I am just worried about accidentally giving him too much.

His brother gets saline every day without putting up much of a fight!

 

[cheeser]

Our FIV/FHV kitty was semi-feral when we took him in, so learning how to medicate him has been quite an adventure!

I finally figured out that for Buddy, it's easiest to administer nose drops if I sit on the floor and gently wrap my legs around him with him facing me. Then I tickle him under his chin so he reflexively tilts his head back, and administer the drops as quickly as I can. The biggest problem I have with that technique is getting up off the floor. I'm not as young and agile as I used to be.

 

[furrypurry]

I have always held my two like babies in my lap when I clean their faces, turned over on their backs facing me. Neither one will fight me and act like they enjoy their face washes. But, let me get that nose drop bottle and Jaspurr starts getting a look of terror in his eyes! And it deteriorates from there. Funny how his brother got used to it almost immediately and hardly flinches anymore.

 

[cheeser]

I have always held my two like babies in my lap when I clean their faces, turned over on their backs facing me. Neither one will fight me and act like they enjoy their face washes. But, let me get that nose drop bottle and Jaspurr starts getting a look of terror in his eyes! And it deteriorates from there. Funny how his brother got used to it almost immediately and hardly flinches anymore.

As the saying goes, "Cats are like snowflakes. Some are just flakier than others."

It's funny how what works for one cat won't work for another. In Buddy's case, he does NOT like to feel like he's lost control over a situation. So it's easier for me to administer his meds if I'm on the floor with him at his level.

Then one day I had to medicate our other cat, and thought, "Hey, no problem. I've gotten this down pat." Oops!

 

[furrypurry]

Maybe I'm not fast enough! He always figures out what I'm about to do before I do it!

 

[cheeser]

Maybe I'm not fast enough! He always figures out what I'm about to do before I do it!

In our case, one thing that can help is letting Buddy 'keep his eyes on the prize.'

He knows he always gets a goodie after he gets his morning and evening meds and supplements. So if he has been less than cooperative lately, I'll put the bag of treats where he can see them, and that distracts him long enough for me to do my thing.

Sometimes cats are just too smart for their own good.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I wonder if you could use one of those medicated humidifiers...I know Vics makes one for their products. You could just tuck him a bathroom with it for awhile. He'd hate it, but he'd have to breathe at some point!

 

[furrypurry]

I finally figured out how to deal with this. At least it worked once. Don't know if that was just luck. I put Jaspurr in my lap on his back like a baby. I put ONE DROP of the nasal spray on my finger and then carefully without losing the drop put it up against his nose. He inhaled and WAH LAH- he got some decongestant. LOL Not sure he got as much as he would have if I had used a dropper, but anything is good at this point. I have been so worried about him because he has asthma issues, which is why he has this. We had to give him steroids because he had an asthma flare. The steroids cause the herpes to flare. It's like a vicious cycle. I know there are a lot of people on this forum who've dealt with that. The asthma attack was a bad one so the vet told me to up the steroid dose and this is what we got. I should have known better. The good thing is it's really only been congestion and sneezing that I can see. I don't think he's had a fever and he's eating and drinking well and seemingly feels OK. He's carried his toys around a couple of times. I worry that maybe I should be giving him an antibiotic but that's hard on him, too, so I only want to do that if necessary.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

That was a bit of genius! And he got the meds in!