Sneezing and head itching

[Evi]

Hello everyone!

Me and my partner adopted a cat from a shelter a month ago. She's probably a street cat and got there after an accident with a head trauma and lost her sight completely and she's blind and about 4-5 years old.

Since we got her she's sneezing few times a day and scratching her head/ears. She also coughed few times and we took her to the vet where she got a
Steroid injection
Azithromycin syrup antibiotic treatment we gave her for a while.
The coughing stopped
Later on she got an ear wash an antibiotic cream to the ear.
But she's still sneezing and her head and ears are itching. Besides that, she very playful, eating, drinking, using her toilet and meowing when around us and at night.

Any ideas what other direction I should try? I thought it might have to do with her head trauma but the at shelter they said they didn't notice any of those symptoms while there.

Hope you have any ideas, thank you in advance.
Evelyn

 

[molang]

Maybe you should call your vet. These symptoms can be due to allergy or more serious illness. My cat used to sneeze a lot, he was seriously ill. So, I would suggest you to contact your vet sooner rather than later.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. You might call the shelter and find out what she was eating there - and, then give her that food should this be related to a food allergy. You can always change it later. The other thing to consider is an environmental allergy, so it could the litter you are using - another thing to ask the shelter about.

Additionally, she might have an allergy to something in your home - even dry air/dust can cause such a reaction. If you live in a colder area and are using heat, that can dry out the air and also exacerbate dust in the house. A humidifier might help if you think that might be the issue. Any new furniture or carpeting, rugs, etc. that could still have fabric protector treatments on them? And, things like air fresheners, candles, perfumes, soap, lotions, and so on can cause an allergic reaction in a cat.

You can check out resolutions to the above potential sources for an allergen, but you need to let the vet know that the treatments they have tried so far isn't resolving the sneezing or itchiness.

 

[MissClouseau]

I also think allergy maintenance route is the first thing you should try. Get rid of everything with a scent, change the litterbox material to a hypoallergenic one.

Is there something like a robot vacuum that works every day? That might cause sneezing in some too.

I assume they checked her mouth? Sometimes when there is a dental problem they sneeze and scratch their head too but in my experience there are additional symptoms when that's the reason like drooling/oversalivating, opening and closing their mouth as if something is stuck there, etc

 

[Meauxmeau]

Hello everyone!

Me and my partner adopted a cat from a shelter a month ago. She's probably a street cat and got there after an accident with a head trauma and lost her sight completely and she's blind and about 4-5 years old.

Since we got her she's sneezing few times a day and scratching her head/ears. She also coughed few times and we took her to the vet where she got a
Steroid injection
Azithromycin syrup antibiotic treatment we gave her for a while.
The coughing stopped
Later on she got an ear wash an antibiotic cream to the ear.
But she's still sneezing and her head and ears are itching. Besides that, she very playful, eating, drinking, using her toilet and meowing when around us and at night.

Any ideas what other direction I should try? I thought it might have to do with her head trauma but the at shelter they said they didn't notice any of those symptoms while there.

Hope you have any ideas, thank you in advance.
Evelyn

Hi Evelyn,
I too have a cat that has chronic "itchy ear" issues.
I adopted an old fella, and like your rescue, eats like crazy, plays (at 14 yrs. old), but his ear issues (itchy, excessive yawning, sneezing) remains chronic.
When I adopted him a year ago, I took him to his original vet that the previous owner had gone to. In the files were 3 notes that described my cat: Ear issues, skinny, and cranky. lol The vet seemed non-plussed about my cat's ears.

I had 2 vets check for mites, which they found none. That leaves (like others mentioned) 1.) some sort of allergy/intolerance to the environment/food/litter, etc., 2.) bacterial infections, and 3.) fungal or yeast infections. (probably the latter if you are not seeing as much discharge). The vets told me that they will have to test the ear matter in order to find out if it is bacterial or fungal. I have to do the same and if I get a diagnosis, I'll let you know what they prescribed.
For now, until I go to the vet, I'm will be trying (organic) coconut oil in the cat's ears as it has natural anti-bacterial properties and has been known to treat fungal infections. Having said that, of course homeopathic treatments take longer. I also should mention that one of the vets prescribed an antibiotic solution, but that showed little difference.