Sneezing After Rabies Shot?

[dkb817]

We got Simon on Saturday; He had some minimal sneezing (maybe three times a day, if that, and it was never forceful, if that makes sense), but I generally wasn’t too concerned with him having been in the open cat room at the shelter.

At his first vet visit yesterday, he was given the one-year rabies vaccine (the vet wanted to wait 10 days to give him a booster for the other vaccinations).

Now, the minimal sneezes have gotten much more forceful and frequent. He also seems less interested in dry food (but has gobbled down the wet food I’ve been tempting him with today, no idea if he was ever given wet food in the shelter)

I don’t remember my previous cats having issues, but is it possible that the increase in sneezing is from the rabies shot?

 

[BlueJay]

I would call your vet, I know mine said that if there were any issues after vaccinations that I should contact them, as some cats can have allergic reactions. It could just be a cold running it's course, I'm not sure. Lucky for me calling the vet to ask if it's time to worry yet is free

 

[neely]

I agree, always contact your vet if your cat is showing any unusual reaction after a vaccine. Here is a helpful article about the benefits and risks:
Feline Vaccines: Benefits and Risks

Do you know if Simon received the Purevax vaccine which is a safer version? Here is an excellent Article about it:
Do Indoor-only Cats Need Rabies Shots?

Fingers crossed that Simon feels better. Please keep us updated on his progress.

 

[dkb817]

I'm not entirely sure what kind of rabies vaccine that Simon received, other than that it was the 1-year version. I wouldn't even have worried about getting it for him since he's going to be a purely inside only cat, but our area recently changed the laws and now require cats to be registered (It was previous only law for dogs to do this).

We ended up with an emergency vet visit this afternoon, after I noticed that he was struggling to catch his breath after these sneezing fits (Tomorrow will be the one month mark since we had to euthanize my last cat, so I'm already on edge).

The vet ended up checking his temp to discover that he was running a slight fever of 102, which is up from 100.3 yesterday (though she said that could be from the vaccine). He got a shot of antibiotics to hold us over until we can pick up a prescription tomorrow, and a shot of steroids. She wants me to bring him back in for an exam in 10 days, which works out perfectly as we already had that appointment scheduled for the remainder of his vaccines (though that will be on hold, if he's still sick).

He has been sleeping since we got home, so hopefully the medicines are doing the trick (or if this is all side-effects of the vaccine, that they're finally starting to pass)

 

[dkb817]

Well, a few days later, and things haven't improved drastically.

Simon is still sneezing like crazy, and making other noises that I can only compare to when a human would try to clear mucus from their throat (I keep calling it a hack, but even that doesn't adequately describe it, IMO). He isn't open mouth breathing anymore, but took a step back and now is very raspy when he's taking his regular breaths. I heard a noise earlier and realized upon kneeling down by Simon that it was him taking regular breaths.

He's really not active at this point, spending the majority of his day sleeping (when, prior to illness, he was all about playing and seeking out attention). When he finds a spot, he will stand there for a few minutes just staring at the ground. Even when he decides to sit/lay down, his head tends to hang down, staring at the ground.

I'm not even going to try taking his temperature myself, but his head still feels fairly warm to the touch. The cat that would slam his head into yours to get headbutts (the loving little bonks that all cat owners know) is now refusing to let me touch his head for more than a quick second, which is a bit concerning.

He is eating his dry food again, though, and occasionally drinking water - but with the other symptoms as well as the new ones that seem to show up daily, I'm not experiencing a whole lot of relief on that front.

I'm really beginning to fear FIP, as one would think that an URI would be improving, not getting worse. I'm going to call the vet in the morning (or maybe even leave a message on his answering system, as he's really good at calling back first thing if I've left a message while they were closed).

 

[stephanietx]

Most likely, he picked up an upper respiratory infection from the stress of going to the vet. The sound you're hearing is called reverse sneezing. It's very possible he has an ear infection which could be causing the hesitation to move. You can use an ear thermometer to take his temp. It's not 100% accurate, but close enough. The cat-only vet I've used previously uses these for routine visits. I'd get him back to the vet for a check up and meds. If he's got a secondary infection going on, then the combination of the shot and the stress of the visit may have triggered something more severe.

 

[dkb817]

stephanietx - That's what we've been operating under the assumption of this all being, just an Upper Respiratory Infection, but one would think that by the 7 day mark, it would be getting better, not worse.

As far as potentially having an ear infection, He's had approximately 7-8 doses of the amoxicillin (including one via shot at the vets office). I just tried to give him his nightly dose mixed in with his wet food, and he is barely touching it because he's having so many issues.

Now, his eyes are super watery and he sounds super congested in his nose (neither of which he had been prior to now).

I'm going to be leaving a message for the vet to see what he thinks.


-I realize it sounds like I'm leaping from 0 to 90 in bringing up FIP, but it is honestly insane how quickly Simon has gone from a lively cat to a sick mess. The difference between then and now is night and day.

 

[stephanietx]

When I brought Hannah home 13 years ago, she was very sneezy and had a runny eye. Woke up the next morning to her having terrible diarrhea. Took her to the vet for a meet and greet and to get something for the diarrhea. Got that taken care of and also got meds for her sneezes. Woke up the next day and she was worse. Back to the vet where she ended up staying for a WEEK because she had pneumonia. They later told me that they didn't expect her to make it through the 1st night, that's how sick she was. It took her a MONTH to get better. Fast forward 2 years and she starts a cycle of URI, meds, get well. Found out she had a psuedomonas infection that was off the chain. The vet surmises that she's had it all this time and that's what caused her terrible pneumonia 2 years prior. Have you considered testing any discharge to look for underlying issues? You can run the PCR URD test to check for other respiratory issues as well as a culture and sensitivity test to see if there's a bacterial or fungal infevtion going on.

 

[dkb817]

The vet still seems to think that this is just a tough URI and that the fact that Simon is developing new symptoms on a what-seems-to-be daily basis is just the natural progression of the virus (I trust this vet, so I don't doubt it). He wants to try Clavamox for a few days - which should be interesting, seeing how as I'd have to directly syringe it into his mouth which he is NOT a fan of. The vet said (and this is paraphrased as I had just woken up after 2 hours of sleep when he called and can't remember the exact wording) "I wouldn't expect to see any results on day one, maybe but not likely on day two, by day three we will know if it's working or not"

We've more or less set a deadline for Wednesday, when the vet said he'd have a tech or someone call to check in. If Simon is still seriously sick on Wednesday, then the recheck appointment we originally had set for Thursday will become the day he is put to sleep.

All I keep remembering is what this same vet suggested when my last cat was sick: Make a list of activities that the cat loves and when they can no longer do those things (or the majority of those things), it's time to make that call for them. Simon loved to give headbutts - and is no longer doing that. He loved to explore - and is no longer doing that. He loved jumping up into my egress window to pretend he was king of the castle - and is now either too scared or in too much pain to do that.

Is there a likelihood that Simon would get over whatever virus this is? Sure. Can I watch him struggle while knowing that financially, I'm almost at the end of my rope? Not really, no. I have extreme panic disorder and the stress of watching him struggle day in and day out is taking its toll on my own health, both physical and mental.

I realize I sound like a cold hearted witch here (and I promise that I'm usually not - I love cats! The three weeks prior to adopting Simon was the first time I had been without a cat in 21 years), but I simply cannot watch him continue to struggle under the hope that he will eventually get better.

Financially, mentally, I cannot do it.

I guess I was just really hoping that maybe someone else had to make this call for something like a URI too, but I can see that isn't the case.

 

[dkb817]

I’ll be calling the vet in the morning for our check-in phone call - but things still aren’t great. Sorry for any spelling or typing errors, typing this from the iPad.

Simon tolerated the Clavamox much better than a previous cat (which is a HUGE relief), but I have yet to see any improvement whatsoever. His eyes and nose are still super runny, he’s still sneezing (I counted during one of his fits today; he sneezed over 10 times in a row. This happened at least three times today) and hacking. His breathing has worsened to the point that it sounds like he is snoring while he is awake and will wake himself out of a sleep by hacking/coughing. He stopped eating wet food entirely (regardless of if it was warmed or not), and is eating a significantly lesser amount of hard food (usually he’ll eat about a cup a day, yesterday he ate less than 1/2 cup). I have no idea if he even drank any of his water or not. He urinated, but that could be remnants of fluid from his last bit of soft food. Simon is still pooing fully formed stools once a day.

His newest “symptom” began just a few moments ago. He’s now choosing to lay in his litter box rather than in the soft bed where he has spent the majority of the last week (they’re just a few feet apart). I know that cats typically only lay in their litter boxes when they are stressed or sick, so needless to say, I’m firmly in the “concerned” category. He also isn’t really grooming himself, I don’t think, as his front leg fur feels stiff, for lack of a better word, from him constantly sneezing and hacking on himself. It happens faster than I could even try to clean him up myself.

I cannot tell if he is still running a temp or not. When I lifted him onto my bed earlier for his nightly dose of the antibiotic, his abdomen area (more towards his back legs than in the middle of his body, if that makes sense) did feel swollen or distended, but since I am not a vet medical professional, I don’t know if that’s normal or not. I’m still used to lugging around my last overweight 20 lb cat, so this little 10 lb ball of fluff is quite the adjustment.

I’m just getting progressively more concerned. My vet didn’t seem too worried, said that the progression of symptoms sounded like it was just the URI running it’s course, but one would think that after 7-10 days, he’d be getting better, not worse (especially considering Simon has been on some form of antibiotics for 7 days now). The poor guy just looks and acts tired and miserable.

We have literally only had Simon for 12 days, and he has been seriously sick for 8-9 of those days. I hate to already be thinking euthanasia, but honestly am at my wits end here (not to mention the fact that our vet money fund was tapped clean when trying to save the cat that we had to euthanize in September). He’s counting on me to make him feels better, but it seems like everything I can afford to do is just falling flat.

Have any of y’all struggled in this boat?

Does it sound like this is the beginning of the slippery FIP slope rather than a run of the mill URI?

 

[dkb817]

Talked with the vet (who we will call Dr. R for ease of conversation), who was just as confused as I was that between the amoxicillin and clavamox that nothing was knocking this illness back at all; He was especially concerned with the fact that Simon slept in his litterbox last night. He apparently spoke with a colleague (who is a vet that does work with the shelter I adopted Simon from) and said that sometimes cats with non-responsive URIs can be treated with Zithromax or Aycylavir - either of which Dr. R was willing to call into a pharmacy for me.

We're going to wait until the appointment tomorrow, so he can see Simon (though this is honestly more for my peace of mind, so the vet can see how bad his breathing is and how downhill he has gone since this vet saw him last week).

I mentioned euthanasia since financially/mentally we're all tapped out around here, and he said that he totally understood if we wanted to go that route (This vet has been absolutely amazing with both of my cats, and never criticizing me for saying 'enough is enough'). He suggested contacting the shelter we adopted Simon from to see if maybe we could return him, have them treat him - but I know that it's a kill-shelter and with Simon being so sick, they'd probably euthanize him before trying to treat since sick kitties require time/money/attention that an already-crowded shelter can't really spare.

If that's the road we end up going down, I'd rather he go knowing that he is loved and cared for, rather than his last feeling being one of abandonment yet again (he was originally dropped off at the shelter's gates, abandoned by his first family).

If that's what we end up doing, that's it - Simon will be the last animal we take in for the foreseeable future.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Did you discuss psuedomonas as a possiblity with your Vet? It's something that someone posted on your other thread as something that their kitty had that is similar to what's happening to Simon and requires a specific antibiotic to cure. Also, I'm sneezing up a storm myself with allergies. I wonder if Simon could have allergies on top of a URI which might explain why he seems worse ? Just tossing around a couple of thoughts.

As far as getting him to eat, perhaps try warming up some of the stinkiest wet food you can find (usually some fish flavor) and see if that helps. He may be so congested that he can't smell his food. Also, you might try putting him in a steamy bathroom for 10 - 15 minutes to help break kup any congestion.

 

[dkb817]

I haven't discussed that with my vet - though I do think tomorrow, I might approach the possibility of at least getting blood work, so that we have a baseline to work off of.

Unfortunately, our vet fund was pretty much wiped clean after dropping over $1000 in the last six months or so trying to save our last cat (that we had to euthanize back in September). We really can't afford anything beyond basic blood work and maybe a prescription. I know CareCredit is out there, but with making just $500 per month from disability payments and having extensive student loans knocking at my door, I just cannot afford another debtor coming after me (We had experience with CareCredit when a brother needed a TMJ mouthguard; It did a lot of damage to his credit after just 1-2 late payments. I'd like to avoid using CareCredit unless it's for a human family member and even then, only as a last resort)


He's still eating some dry food, which I guess is better than nothing - but I haven't seen him even approach his water bowl today, which is concerning since he is no longer getting the added water from eating wet food.


We're just going to have to wait and see how tomorrow goes. I want the vet to take a look at his abdomen (which does honestly feel a little swollen to me, but I'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to feel; It's just weird that he's skinny enough to feel his ribcage at 10 lbs, but has a rounded out belly just beneath that) and I'm curious as to if he's lost weight or is still running a fever.

I don't want to "take the easy way out", so to speak, and just jump right to euthanasia - but I also can't keep forcing medications into a cat who is clearly miserable and not improving at all.

 

[dkb817]

Simon did very well at the vet today!

He started acting a little better yesterday (wednesday), but did still have a really strong sneezing fit that ended up with him trying to vomit on my floor.

In the car on the way to the vet, he had another where he sneezed 21-23 times in a row and it ended up being some bloody discharge - but the vet thinks this is just from the continued irritation of his nasal passages from being so sick for 10+ days now. He lost a tiny amount of weight, but his fever is completely gone now (down to 100.3 from the 103.5 that it was at the last appointment).

We're going to keep up with the Clavamox for a few more days and go back to the vet on Monday. If he gets any worse or if it's still not entirely cleared up, we may consider doing a round of Zithromax, but we'll have to play it by ear.

 

[stephanietx]

This sounds soo much like my Hannah with the excessive sneezing! She was finally diagnosed with a psuedomonas infection after a culture and sensitivity of her mucus. That was 11 yrs ago. She still sneezes, but it's much less severe. When she was really sick as a kitten, we used Gentamicin drops in her eyes and nose. Something that we've started recently with her is colloidal silver. I add to her wet food.

 

[dkb817]

I figure that will probably be the next step if he's still sneezing on Monday (though now we don't have to go in, the vet tech is just going to call to check in)

Energy level wise, he is light years better than where he was a few days ago. Simon's back to jumping up in the egress window since I have a basement bedroom (and then promptly being terrified when my neighbor walks by and seems like a giant ). He got to meet my 18 month old niece who is a little ball of very high pitched energy and didn't swat, didn't growl, nothing - He was a perfect gentleman lol

stephanietx do you think the lysine powder I see recommended on here a lot would do any good in trying to keep the sneezing to a minimum? I might try and get some on my next payday, if it'll help at all.

 

[stephanietx]

I am sooooo glad he's feeling better and some of his former self is starting to show. Lysine takes about a month to start seeing the effects. It wouldn't hurt to try.

 

[ZepMom]

How's Simon?

My little guy is prone to URI. It can make them so sick. Even once they're on meds, it can take awhile to see improvement.

Hope he's on the mend.

 

[dkb817]

Sorry for the delayed response!

Simon is doing much better - still has some minor sneezing, but is lightyears better than he was to begin with. Apparently, I just need to learn patience and to know in the future that his URI's just tend to last a little longer (and react better to Clavamox than just amoxicillin). His appetite is doing great, and we've since learned that he is a HUGE fan of Fancy Feast wet food (he's not getting it on a daily basis, but it's a nice treat).

My next "concern" is that he is itching his ear quite a bit, but since my last cat had chronic ear gunk (not really mites, just a lot of gunk that made her itchy), I'm well-equipped to handle it.

 

[dkb817]

Well, the vet wasn't terribly worried about his ear - but said that it would be okay to use a small amount of the Epi-Otic ear solution that I had to use on my last cat. I haven't yet, because he stopped going nuts about his ears the same day that the vet called back.

However, I fear that we may be back-sliding. For a few days, he was down to sneezing 4-5 times per day - but the last couple of days, he's been sneezing a lot more again. When I looked at his wet food plate earlier, it looked like it had a little blood spot on it, as if he sneezed himself right into a bloody nose again (He's had minor ones off and on since the URI; If I sneezed non-stop for almost two weeks, though, I'd probably have a bloody nose too)

If it keeps up tomorrow, I'll be calling the vet to see what he thinks. I just don't know about keeping him on antibiotics long term, but I also can't just watch him get bloody noses and sneeze like crazy for the longterm either.