# new kitten now sneezing with nasal discharge



## thundercat (May 4, 2008)

Well our new ragdoll now seems to have a cold or sinus infection. We just got an 8-wk old ragdoll kitten on Friday, May 2nd. We took it to the vet and they indicated a touch of ringworm and prescribed a medicated shampoo. I bathed the kitten on Saturday afternoon with my kids and we did get some shampoo in the kitten's left eye. I rinsed the eye out with cold water but the eye has been watering since. The kitten is sneezing today and some yellow or yellowish-green discharge was observed. Kitten is not very playful and somewhat lethargic, but it did play some this morning and it purs a good bit. It is eating and drinking well and is using the litter box. The left eye will matt shut still and the kitten is now sneezing. What should I do? I have been told that the kitten is too young to have been sold to us by the breeder, but there is not much we can do about that now. I just want the kitten to be happy and healthy.


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## thundercat (May 4, 2008)

I took the kitten to the vet AGAIN. It does seem to have a cold which is affecting the eye and nose. The vet prescribed an antibiotic. Also found out the kitten has tapeworms and got treated for that too. Whew. That breeder I used really didn't have it going on I think.


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## NineLivesOfFun (Jun 25, 2007)

Aww, how sad! I hope your kitty gets better soon. When we first got Garth he had a sinus infection and he would sit there with his mouth half-open all the time, wheezing.


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## nanook (Jun 12, 2005)

Sorry your kitten isn't feeling well. I don't have a lot of experience with breeders (I would hope kittens don't come with ring worm and UTIs!) but it's common from the pound.
What really helped my kitten when he had an upper respiratory infection was steam therapy! About 3 or 4 times a day, I would steam up the bathroom really well and then sit (with him :roll: ) in there for 15-20 minutes. It made a huge difference. I'd just make sure to keep him warm when I took him out. The danger with an UTI is that they get so stuffed up they stop eating. You want to try to avoid that and steaming will help. The antibiotics will not effect the UTI at all, they just give that to try to avoid any secondary infection. He should be feeling better in a week or so. Just make sure he's eating and well hydrated. Wet food would be a good idea.
As for the ring worm, be a little careful as it can be transmitted to people, especially kids. It's not a big deal but, I'd keep an eye out.
Most reputable breeders will not adopt out kittens until 12 weeks. I would certainly inform them of the health issues your kitty came with. At least they should know before they adopt out anymore sick kittens
Pictures?!


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## thundercat (May 4, 2008)

Thanks all. Kitty is eating well and playing with a piece of ribbon I just gave it. All pics are on my wife's camera, wherever that is. :?:


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Ah, well that explains why he's been kind of quiet. I agree with Nanook's advice.

The kitten should not have come from the breeder with ringworm. Probably can't avoid the possibility of UTI. And she obviously allowed the kittens to be exposed to fleas and never de-wormed them. I would certainly make sure she knows about this. Did she provide any health guarantee? She should have. Is the kitten registered? If yes, then I would report her to the governing agency, she is not running a healthy cattery and does not have the best interests of her kittens and cats at heart.

ETA: Be careful of ribbon...if it's wide material type ribbon it's fine. But if you're talking about gift wrap curling ribbon, cats tend to chew it and eat it. It can get caught up in his digestive tract and cause some really big problems.


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## Pugzley (Mar 11, 2008)

I've been reading about the steam therapy on here and today I tried it out on my Persian who has been sneezing (clear snot) and red, watery eyes.

Kitty was in bathroom 2 times with steam today. (during my shower time and my husbands shower). Also I have been using the 1/4 tsp sea salt with 1 cup of water mixture on his eyes for the past 2 days.

Tonight he has all but stopped sneezing, his eyes look better than they have in a long time. He's no longer squinting and all that's left is a litte snort here and there out of his nose. The redness around the eyes is almost gone and they are big and round again! Yippeee! 

He was feeling pretty wretched this weekend, sleeping all the time. Now he's waaay better! This kitten is 10 mos.

Thanks for that info.


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## thundercat (May 4, 2008)

Okay. The kitten still has nasal discharge and it was getting worse (and the kitten was actually coughing) until I took it to the vet AGAIN last week. Now we are on two antibiotics and still using the antibiotic eye ointment cuz the left eye is still squinting. The coughing cleared up almost immediately after taking the new antibiotic. Now the kitten sneezes a little (discharge is yellow) and still has squinty eye. It eats like a horse, is playing a lot and has normal bathroom habits. I think I'm gonna start steam therapy and the salt-water-in-the-eye technique. I have non-iodized salt cuz I keep fish.

Any more advice is appreciated.


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## Pugzley (Mar 11, 2008)

Well, kitty did better for a couple of days and seemed to have relapsed. Ended up getting really worried about him, he just didn't look right and took him to the vet again, got anti biotics and he's now ok. Just waiting for the next bout with this URI infection. (This was over a weeks ago now that I took him to the vet this time, he's still on the antibiotic until I run out of Clavamox, eye ointment and ear drops.) Ended up going 2x and had subcutaneous fluids both times. He went downhill fast when he started going. Had a fever and that dehydrated him.

Sooo... after all I've read and researched, I put cat on lysine as well. So I am hoping that stops some of this mess. This cat has had bouts with URI's ever since the breeder vaccinated him the day he left the cattery. I think the vac is what has made him susceptible to this stuff, but of course, I can't prove it. Here's why I think this. The breeder said he might get a "kitty cold" in a few days from that shot. Well, he did and he's had one off an on ever since, then this last one was a doozy. When I heard that, I went oh boy, here we go. What's this about and sure enough...

Now he's on raw food, with small amounts of kibble and I hate giving him the kibble. Trying to stop that entirely and supplement with canned catfood for the water content in it. The dry stuff supposedly dehydrates them. And from what I've read and heard from the vet, dehydration really messes them up and contributes hugely in making them sicker. Dehydration in a cat is a very serious condition.

Vet showed me dehydration in my cat by pulling up on the scruff of the cat, it didn't bounce back, it just kind of stayed loose if you know what I mean. Now the scruff is tight and you can't hardly pull it up at all. 

Check out the l-lysine for keeping the outbreaks of URIs down.

p.s. In the future I will use the steam baths and the saline solution in the eyes as supplemental treatment (unless he's on eye ointments). I think they did do my cat a great deal of good, his infection was just too far gone for it to cure him at that point, that's what I am thinking anyway.


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## thundercat (May 4, 2008)

The salt did the trick on the eye. Now if I can get him to quit sneezing! I may go with l-lysine and Willard's water.


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