sneezing & stuffy nose in cat

Yet another question from me. It's about Simon, who had surgery early
Thursday morning after swallowing a needle and thread. He's been home
since Friday and was doing well, but last night I noticed he was
sleeping more and he didn't eat as much as he normally did. His temp
was 102.1 so I wasn't too worried, but he did start sneezing and having
a runny nose. He doesn't have any other symptoms.
Can the sneezing possibly be due to the surgery? If Simon stops
eating altogether, do you think his tummy is okay to handle milk or
chicken broth? I've hand fed cats with a cold before when I had to, but
Simon just had surgery and is on a bland diet I don't know what is okay
to feed him.

And before anyone bitches at me for not calling the vet, I *did*.
More than once. First, the student working on Simon is gone for good,
although we were told he was the one to call with questions. Can't call
him if he's not there. Next I left a voice mail with the resident who
signed Simon's paperwork and she never called back. I tried calling a
third time and the newbie at the front desk can't figure out how to
transfer me to the resident's voice mail. God, they *suck*.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Stacia

Get him to the vet asap but I recently used a garlic and honey mix on a
coughing kitten that didnt respond to 2 different antibiotics (while still
on the antibiotics-if your vet hasn't given you any after surgery, don't
ever go back there, and get him to another vet asap to ask for some as with
the symptoms you describe it's unlikely he will do well without them. The
honey/garlic mix soothes cold symptoms and boosts immunity, as well as baing
anti-viral and anti-bacterial. cut up 2 cloves garlic, add 2lge Tablespoon
honey and 2 lge tbsp of water. You'll need a syringe and towel, wrap him in
the towel and syringe a good 3ml down his throat several times a day. If
this is too hard on him, crush the garlic and add it to his wet food. Hope
he's ok, best of luck with the vet.
"Stacia" wrote in message
...
Yet another question from me. It's about Simon, who had surgery early
Thursday morning after swallowing a needle and thread. He's been home
since Friday and was doing well, but last night I noticed he was
sleeping more and he didn't eat as much as he normally did. His temp
was 102.1 so I wasn't too worried, but he did start sneezing and having
a runny nose. He doesn't have any other symptoms.
Can the sneezing possibly be due to the surgery? If Simon stops
eating altogether, do you think his tummy is okay to handle milk or
chicken broth? I've hand fed cats with a cold before when I had to, but
Simon just had surgery and is on a bland diet I don't know what is okay
to feed him.

And before anyone bitches at me for not calling the vet, I *did*.
More than once. First, the student working on Simon is gone for good,
although we were told he was the one to call with questions. Can't call
him if he's not there. Next I left a voice mail with the resident who
signed Simon's paperwork and she never called back. I tried calling a
third time and the newbie at the front desk can't figure out how to
transfer me to the resident's voice mail. God, they *suck*.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Stacia

"Stacia" wrote in message
...
Yet another question from me. It's about Simon, who had surgery early
Thursday morning after swallowing a needle and thread. He's been home
since Friday and was doing well, but last night I noticed he was
sleeping more and he didn't eat as much as he normally did. His temp
was 102.1 so I wasn't too worried, but he did start sneezing and having
a runny nose. He doesn't have any other symptoms.
Can the sneezing possibly be due to the surgery? If Simon stops
eating altogether, do you think his tummy is okay to handle milk or
chicken broth? I've hand fed cats with a cold before when I had to, but
Simon just had surgery and is on a bland diet I don't know what is okay
to feed him.

And before anyone bitches at me for not calling the vet, I *did*.
More than once. First, the student working on Simon is gone for good,
although we were told he was the one to call with questions. Can't call
him if he's not there. Next I left a voice mail with the resident who
signed Simon's paperwork and she never called back. I tried calling a
third time and the newbie at the front desk can't figure out how to
transfer me to the resident's voice mail. God, they *suck*.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Stacia


Sounds like he picked up an upper respiratory infection. Did they send you
home with an anti-biotic after the surgery? If not you'll have to get a vet
to prescribe some. In the mean time if you have to, steam up the bathroom
and put him in there to help keep his nose open or put him in a room with
one of those cool mist humidifiers if you have one. If he can't smell, he
won't eat and that's a problem particularly this soon after the surgery. It
helps to warm the food a bit to make the smell of the food stronger. You
could also pick up some nutri-cal and give him some of that. It's calorie
dense so he doesn't have to eat a whole lot to get the needed caloric
intake.

Hope your kitty is feeling better soon.

W

"Wendy" writes:

Sounds like he picked up an upper respiratory infection. Did they send you
home with an anti-biotic after the surgery? If not you'll have to get a vet
to prescribe some. In the mean time if you have to, steam up the bathroom
and put him in there to help keep his nose open or put him in a room with
one of those cool mist humidifiers if you have one. If he can't smell, he
won't eat and that's a problem particularly this soon after the surgery. It
helps to warm the food a bit to make the smell of the food stronger.

I heated up his bland diet and he ate a couple of tablespoons, so that
made me feel better. A vet actually called me back late this evening
(almost 8 PM) and said they think Simon's herpesvirus has been triggered
from stress. One of my cats was exposed to the virus years ago and now
all of our cats probably have it, which I didn't even know until last
year.
They're going to have some antibiotics ready for me tomorrow, partly
for a preventative measure, but also because Simon apparently has an
overabundance of some kind of bacteria in his tummy. They just
discovered this from a biopsy they did during surgery. We were told to
keep monitoring his temp and if he stops eating or if his temp is up, to
bring him back.
Thanks to everyone for the advice!

Stacia

"Stacia" wrote in message
...
"Wendy" writes:

Sounds like he picked up an upper respiratory infection. Did they send you
home with an anti-biotic after the surgery? If not you'll have to get a
vet
to prescribe some. In the mean time if you have to, steam up the bathroom
and put him in there to help keep his nose open or put him in a room with
one of those cool mist humidifiers if you have one. If he can't smell, he
won't eat and that's a problem particularly this soon after the surgery.
It
helps to warm the food a bit to make the smell of the food stronger.

I heated up his bland diet and he ate a couple of tablespoons, so that
made me feel better. A vet actually called me back late this evening
(almost 8 PM) and said they think Simon's herpesvirus has been triggered
from stress. One of my cats was exposed to the virus years ago and now
all of our cats probably have it, which I didn't even know until last
year.
They're going to have some antibiotics ready for me tomorrow, partly
for a preventative measure, but also because Simon apparently has an
overabundance of some kind of bacteria in his tummy. They just
discovered this from a biopsy they did during surgery. We were told to
keep monitoring his temp and if he stops eating or if his temp is up, to
bring him back.
Thanks to everyone for the advice!

Stacia


You might want to give him lysine. It can be gotten at health food stores. I
have 500mg pills so I break them in half, grind them up with a pill crusher
(available at pet stores) and mix them in with wet food. It must not have
much flavor because I haven't had a cat refuse to eat the lysine laced food
yet. This can help get a herpes flare up under control. It's supposed to
keep the herpes virus from replicating. There also is a flavored lysine
paste that's available through the vet.

W

meeee wrote:
Get him to the vet asap but I recently used a garlic and honey mix on a
coughing kitten that didnt respond to 2 different antibiotics

Um...

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer...e=pro_apcc_dyk

"Animal Poison Control Center
....

Did you know - Onions, garlic, chives and other species of the plant
genus Allium can be potentially toxic to pets?

Allium species contain sulfur compounds known as disulfildes, which if
ingested in large quantities can cause gastrointestinal irritation and
could even result in damage to red blood cells. While cats are more
sensitive to disulfides, dogs and other species of animals are also
susceptible to Allium poisoning if enough plant material is consumed.
Therefore, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center advises companion
animal owners to avoid feeding pets onions, garlic and other Allium
plants."

Thanks for that Jennifer. It seems I have been misinformed, so I really
appreciate you setting me straight on this.

"Jennifer" wrote in message
ups.com...

meeee wrote:
Get him to the vet asap but I recently used a garlic and honey mix on a
coughing kitten that didnt respond to 2 different antibiotics

Um...

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer...e=pro_apcc_dyk

"Animal Poison Control Center
...

Did you know - Onions, garlic, chives and other species of the plant
genus Allium can be potentially toxic to pets?

Allium species contain sulfur compounds known as disulfildes, which if
ingested in large quantities can cause gastrointestinal irritation and
could even result in damage to red blood cells. While cats are more
sensitive to disulfides, dogs and other species of animals are also
susceptible to Allium poisoning if enough plant material is consumed.
Therefore, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center advises companion
animal owners to avoid feeding pets onions, garlic and other Allium
plants."