Upper resperatory issues

[Mjh30a]

My 14 year old kitty for the pasy year has had itching and sneezing up blood issues. He's been on and ogf 3 different meds with no relief from the bloody sneezing. Time to see a specialist or any ideas? Same dry cat food and variety of quality canned food which he only gets a tbsp/night.

 

[GoldyCat]

Where are you located? If you're in a dry climate that could be contributing to it. Or it could be all the sneezing is irritating his nose enough to make it bleed. Has he been tested for allergies? Which medications have you tried?

Sorry, I have more questions than answers for you.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Those would have been my questions, as well, since there are so many factors that could contribute to this. And yes, you may want to consider at least a feline specialist at this point. Your own vet should have no issues with that.

 

[stephanietx]

Ask the vet to do a culture and sensitivity test of the nasal discharge. This will help the vet know what kind of infection you're dealing with, viral or bacterial. The sensitivity test will tell the vet which antibiotic will best treat the problem. If the test shows nothing, then I would ask for a specialist to do some kind of scope of the nose.

 

[GoldyCat]

Ask the vet to do a culture and sensitivity test of the nasal discharge. This will help the vet know what kind of infection you're dealing with, viral or bacterial. The sensitivity test will tell the vet which antibiotic will best treat the problem. If the test shows nothing, then I would ask for a specialist to do some kind of scope of the nose.

If it's viral antibiotics will have no effect.

My old guy (approx 15-16 years old) has had chronic herpes for years, with the main symptoms being sneezing and drooling, and yes his sneezes do sometimes get bloody. He's been managed well with steroid shots 2 or 3 times a year with oral prednisolone daily for maintenance.

 

[stephanietx]

GoldyCat , you are correct, but if it's bacterial, the sensitivity test will help. Better than throwing antibiotics at it and not seeing any long-term improvement. I also have had good results with L-Lysine and colloidal silver.

 

[BlackCatOp]

Unfortunately, culture/sensitivity/cytology testing of nasal secretions is generally unrewarding due to the fact of low sensitivity and specificity. The normal bacterial flora of the nasal passages is diverse and secondary bacterial infections are common. Thus, one cannot rule in or rule out disease based on a "snot culture." Even finding fungal spores within nasal discharge does not indicate cause of current symptoms. (It is why URIs are so difficult to diagnosis and treat and why most are treated symptomatically. I have a chronic sneezing cat who is symptomatically managed. No true diagnosis was ever made as I did not have the $$ for a CT scan and other additional testing.)

If you want a true definitive diagnosis, I would suggest making an appointment at a veterinary school hospital with an internal medicine specialist - understanding that it will probably be a costly adventure.