Cats and Colds

So you have a kitten who is sneezing. You figure, just like a person, he
probably has a cold that will run its course and then he will be fine. Why
take him to the vet? After all, this is the case with people, so why not
cats?

Unlike humans, cats have very small nasal passages relative to their bodies,
that fill up quickly.

Unlike humans, cats lose their appetites easily when they lose their senses
of smell.

Unlike humans, cats can get into trouble very quickly if they stop eating
even for a few days.

Why? There are many reasons I will not pretend to know all of them. One is
that cats get a lot of their moisture from food---they have different
drinking habits than we do. So they can get dehydrated more quickly.
When the do, they feel really lousy and the original problem is exacerbated
because when they feel really lousy they don't WANT to eat.

These are good enough reasons for most people who care about their cats to
take them in when they see signs of a cold or "URI" (upper respiratory
infection) so that the vet can prescribe something to lessen the congestion,
help with other symptoms of the cold, and help make sure that a common cold
does not turn into a more serious infection.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

cybercat wrote:

Unlike humans, cats lose their appetites easily when they lose their senses
of smell.

Yes, that happened to a cat of mine and I took her to the vet. She had
cryptococcus and after over a year of medicine costing thousands of
dollars she is fine.

Unlike humans, cats can get into trouble very quickly if they stop eating
even for a few days.

Yes she did stop eating, I had to syringe feed her for a month.

BUT THIS HASN'T HAPPENED TO ANY OF THE CURRENT CATS THAT ARE SNEEZING.





These are good enough reasons for most people who care about their cats to
take them in when they see signs of a cold or "URI" (upper respiratory
infection) so that the vet can prescribe something to lessen the congestion,
help with other symptoms of the cold, and help make sure that a common cold
does not turn into a more serious infection.


Well, most of the vet sites I checked beg to differ. If the cat is
eating, active, not depressed and has no thick nasal discharge they can
just be watched.


ITS ALL ABOUT GOING TO THE VET WHEN APPROPRIATE, NOT EVERY TIME YOUR CAT
LOOKS AT YOU CROSSEYED.

THATS IT WITH YOU CYBER. PLONK!

But Cybercat all that would be some what common sense or if some one that
took the time to do a little resaerch instead of comming to the groups and
making smart comments

Since they have the internet they can easily google feline sneezing and get
these results
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=feline+sneezing

or they can google feline upper respiratory infection and get these results
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...& btnG=Search

I glad people come and ask for help but when will they realize that we are
not vets and the best way to insure the health of their furballs is to take
them to a trusted vet; who are trained to evaluate and treat problems. All
we can do is give our experience with certain matters like my self who can
give experience of having a prodactyl cat, an epileptic cat and a diabetic
cat

If you own a furball it is you responsibility to make sure to take care of
them. I always love the excuse we don't have the money sometimes I can
believe that; it is the truth, but sacrifices need to be made how much did
you just spend to go out and eat or buy that 6 pack or that pack of smokes.
I make a rule even though I have enough money to pay for any vet bill that
comes up before this time I always took about $10 a cat per month and put
it away in a savings account. If I had to take a daily work daily pay job in
between my regular job I did it. I did not use that money for anything
just kept adding to it. It came in handy many of times when I needed money
and did not have extra to use. I remember many of nights eating a 20 cent
rice bag and those 5 cents noodles packs for the fur babies need to eat and
be taken care of. Maybe I am just from a different age and was raised to do
the right thing.

Matthew wrote:
But Cybercat all that would be some what common sense or if some one that
took the time to do a little resaerch instead of comming to the groups and
making smart comments

Since they have the internet they can easily google feline sneezing and get
these results
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=feline+sneezing

or they can google feline upper respiratory infection and get these results
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...& btnG=Search

I glad people come and ask for help but when will they realize that we are
not vets and the best way to insure the health of their furballs is to take
them to a trusted vet; who are trained to evaluate and treat problems. All
we can do is give our experience with certain matters like my self who can
give experience of having a prodactyl cat, an epileptic cat and a diabetic
cat

If you own a furball it is you responsibility to make sure to take care of
them. I always love the excuse we don't have the money sometimes I can
believe that; it is the truth, but sacrifices need to be made how much did
you just spend to go out and eat or buy that 6 pack or that pack of smokes.
I make a rule even though I have enough money to pay for any vet bill that
comes up before this time I always took about $10 a cat per month and put
it away in a savings account. If I had to take a daily work daily pay job in
between my regular job I did it. I did not use that money for anything
just kept adding to it. It came in handy many of times when I needed money
and did not have extra to use. I remember many of nights eating a 20 cent
rice bag and those 5 cents noodles packs for the fur babies need to eat and
be taken care of. Maybe I am just from a different age and was raised to do
the right thing.


Before you shove the innuendo around that I was not raised to do the
right thing re-read the original post. These are a stray mother and the
kittens she had on my back porch. I put them in a room in my house. I
have already had them vaccinated and spayed / neutered. So I am doing
the right thing.

I suppose I should have sprayed the garden hose on them when they were
on the porch and scared them off. Then jerks like you wouldn't be
implying that I am too cheap to take them to the vet because they
wouldn't be here. If I was cheap they would have gone to animal control
and been put down the first day I saw them.

JERK

"w"

What did I imply? Did I mention your name? or is it just your own guilty
conscience getting the best of you. I made a general view of people coming
to the group. You are not the first that has complained about money and you
won't be the last it was a generalized view but If the truth hurts that
is your own conscience winning out

And making the last comment that you made! Do you really think anyone will
really give care what you think? All we care about id the health and well
being of the furballs. If I am jerk for telling the truth than I am a jerk
and I will be proud of it.

But it looks like my words by your comments already did more good than you
will ever let on.

"w" wrote in message
news
cybercat wrote:

Unlike humans, cats lose their appetites easily when they lose their
senses of smell.

Yes, that happened to a cat of mine and I took her to the vet. She had
cryptococcus and after over a year of medicine costing thousands of
dollars she is fine.

Unlike humans, cats can get into trouble very quickly if they stop eating
even for a few days.

Yes she did stop eating, I had to syringe feed her for a month.

BUT THIS HASN'T HAPPENED TO ANY OF THE CURRENT CATS THAT ARE SNEEZING.





These are good enough reasons for most people who care about their cats
to take them in when they see signs of a cold or "URI" (upper respiratory
infection) so that the vet can prescribe something to lessen the
congestion, help with other symptoms of the cold, and help make sure that
a common cold does not turn into a more serious infection.

Well, most of the vet sites I checked beg to differ. If the cat is
eating, active, not depressed and has no thick nasal discharge they can
just be watched.


ITS ALL ABOUT GOING TO THE VET WHEN APPROPRIATE, NOT EVERY TIME YOUR CAT
LOOKS AT YOU CROSSEYED.

THATS IT WITH YOU CYBER. PLONK!



ow

lol



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Matthew" wrote in message
...

"w"

What did I imply? Did I mention your name? or is it just your own guilty
conscience getting the best of you. I made a general view of people
coming to the group. You are not the first that has complained about
money and you won't be the last it was a generalized view but If the
truth hurts that is your own conscience winning out

And making the last comment that you made! Do you really think anyone
will really give care what you think? All we care about id the health
and well being of the furballs. If I am jerk for telling the truth than
I am a jerk and I will be proud of it.

But it looks like my words by your comments already did more good than you
will ever let on.


Have you figured out what kind of help it wants? It clearly said, "HELP" in
the original post. That is all I asked it. Sheesh, people are so touchy.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

cybercat wrote:

These are good enough reasons for most people who care about their cats to
take them in when they see signs of a cold or "URI" (upper respiratory
infection) so that the vet can prescribe something to lessen the congestion,
help with other symptoms of the cold, and help make sure that a common cold
does not turn into a more serious infection.

I wish vets could help with the congestion.

We've gone through bouts of URI viruses here, and the scariest is when
they can hardly breathe and can't eat. The vets (including the emergency
vet) have never prescribed a decongestant -- I thought it was because
there is not one for cats. They have always told me the virus has to run
it's course and we just have to try to strengthen the immune system. We
had to buy the stinkiest food imaginable and tackle it that way.

For kittens and older cats they have prescribed antibiotics in case it
was traveling into their chests, and we have at times done antibiotic
eye drops when their eyes get infected.

I never know what to do about the congestion. Vets have told me to put
them in the bathroom while we shower. When our diabetic cat stopped
eating (which nearly gave me heart failure) I spent lots of time with
him under a towel, the both of us over a boiling pan of water. I ended
up force-feeding him for days.

If anyone knows of decongestants for cats, I hope I never have to use
them but I would love to know.

Rhonda

"Rhonda" wrote

I wish vets could help with the congestion.

We've gone through bouts of URI viruses here, and the scariest is when
they can hardly breathe and can't eat. The vets (including the emergency
vet) have never prescribed a decongestant -- I thought it was because
there is not one for cats. They have always told me the virus has to run
it's course and we just have to try to strengthen the immune system. We
had to buy the stinkiest food imaginable and tackle it that way.

For kittens and older cats they have prescribed antibiotics in case it was
traveling into their chests, and we have at times done antibiotic eye
drops when their eyes get infected.

I never know what to do about the congestion. Vets have told me to put
them in the bathroom while we shower. When our diabetic cat stopped eating
(which nearly gave me heart failure) I spent lots of time with him under a
towel, the both of us over a boiling pan of water. I ended up
force-feeding him for days.

If anyone knows of decongestants for cats, I hope I never have to use them
but I would love to know.


Maybe Phil--your favorite guy--has some ideas. I know that when I
give Gracie Chlortrimeton for her allergies, the "thickness" in her purr
decreases--after she wakes up from sleeping 26 hours a day instead
of 23! But I am sure it would not work the same for a UTI.

It seems to me there must be a down side to using decongestants
on cats. Because lungs are lungs, you know? But then, I know cat
physiology is very different from human physiology.

On Sun 01 Jul 2007 01:35:02p, Rhonda wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav :

For kittens and older cats they have prescribed antibiotics in
case it was traveling into their chests, and we have at times
done antibiotic eye drops when their eyes get infected.

Same here - Rhett and Scarlett had a couple of rounds of
antibiotics but only if the nasal discharge was ? Clear? Yellow? I
can't remember which, but I tend to think yellow. Other times, no
antibiotics at all, but yes on the eye drops or more commonly for
them, ointment.

I never know what to do about the congestion. Vets have told me
to put them in the bathroom while we shower. When our diabetic
cat stopped eating (which nearly gave me heart failure) I spent
lots of time with him under a towel, the both of us over a
boiling pan of water. I ended up force-feeding him for days.

I know how scary that can be and it takes a lot of dedication to
get them through that!

If anyone knows of decongestants for cats, I hope I never have
to use them but I would love to know.

Our vet prescribed Chlor-Trimaton several times, even for kittens.
Just a very small dose 1x per day until the breathing clears. It
worked wonders. For Bonnie, who sometimes gets a runny nose this
time of year, she will get an injectable antihistamine from the
vet. Fast-acting and seemingly long-lasting for her. It only takes
one shot when it happens.

--
Cheryl