Nasal Discharge & Sneezing

[CharlesJ5]

Hello, I have a cat who has sense the day we rescued him been sneezing and at points discharging, for a lack of better words, snot balls on the walls. We have taken him to the vet and have received a medication that did not work after completing the full bottle. I don't recall the name of this medicine. My question is, are there any over-the-counter medications that we can give this poor cat so we don't have to pay 50$ over and over again to visit the Vet. Sometimes when he sneezes its almost 20 times in a row. Very very odd... any help would be appreciated.

[DeeAnneOH]

I see that this is a rather old post but I work with our local humane shelter and we have two cats with this problem. One has had it for several months and has gone through several antibiotics from several different vets and steroids as well. Nothing is working. Beautiful, pleasant cats but unable to adopt them out due to this problem.

[Mrs_Savas]

Ask your vet if it's possible that your cat has an allergy instead of a respiratory infection.  Sometimes vets assume with sneezing and congestions, and just prescribe the antibiotics.  I don't know what kind of tests your vet did, but we have a cat that had exactly the same symptoms you are describing and it turned out to be an allergy.

So, it's worth asking about.

As to OTC, there is nothing that will clear up a respiratory infection, if that's what it is.  If it's an allergy, your vet might give you benedryl for your kitty, but you need a diagnosis and a vet's dosage recommendation - you can't just pick up the benedryl and guess!

However, there is something that sometimes helps with the symptoms, while your cat is on the meds and waiting to feel better.  It's called Gentle Vapors (google it, it's a common, inexpensive pediatric product that you can get at Walgreens, or the equivelent).  It gives off a nice vapor of menthol and lavendar, that kind of thing.  All natural and it helps clear the congestion.  So does breathing steam, so if you put your cat in the bathroom, plug in the Gentle Vapors and run the shower hot and let your cat rest in there for a while.  I have found that it can really help.

Let us know how it goes.

[Encephalomalcia]

Let us know what you find out at the vet.  We have a 14 year old female cat that is sneezing a lot last year during the winter and this winter.  Last winter the vet put her on predisone and it helped.  It seems like there is a lot of mucus behind her nose in her sinuses.  The vet last year thought it was allergies or asthma.  Thinking about getting her sinus x-ray.  

[PrettyKitty1]

Yep. Glad I could help a little. Get back to us for an update!! I'd love to see what the vet told you. Good Luck with kitty. He'll be fine!!!

[CharlesJ5]

We got him back in December and I recall now that we took him in knowing that he might possibly have kennel flu. They told us it may go away by itself. His other symptoms are gone such as red eyes, however the sneezing remains. I also believe the medicine was in fact Clavamox. I don't recall the vet telling us what type of respiratory infection he has, sorry. However, I'll definitely be taking him to the vet this week knowing theres nothing OTC I can get. Thanks for the help!

[PrettyKitty1]

Your vet must have given you antibiotics. I don’t think you’ll find antibiotics for cat colds over the counter. Usually, this is how it works: The vet prescribes antibiotics, say, Clavamox (Amoxicillin) If that doesn’t work, then your vet prescribes another antibiotic.  I was hoping, while I was reading your post, that you would tell us that the only symptom was sneezing.  For your kitty’s URI, you need to go back to the vet see if they can give you something else. If ‘something else’ does not work, then it can potentially be a virus. Viruses do not go away with antibiotics. Bacteria are sensitive to antibiotics and do go away but bacterial infections are far worse than viral ones. Viruses usually go away on their own.

I had a situation similar to yours. I rescued a kitten who had a virus (common kennel flu). It went away on its own although I did give him antibiotics (a waste of money since the kitten gave URI to my older cat, I didn’t give my older cat ANYTHING and now they’re both fine) So, it may go away on its own. How long has the cat been sneezing? I know it’s sad to see them sneeze so many times in a row. Seeing that in my kitten made me pretty sad.

But you definitely want to let the vet know that treatment didn’t work. Do you remember if the vet told you what type of URI your cat has?