# Chronic nasal congestion? URI not clearing up?



## Nyxi (Jun 14, 2010)

I rescued a small, 7-8 month old female cat about 2 and a half weeks ago. She was sneezing and white, stringy mucous was coming out. The white mucous eventually turned to dark yellow/greeny. She went to the vets, they diagnosed her with a URI, most likely the herpes virus and put her on clavamox for a week.

She got considerably better in that week but there was still sneezing and snotting. She went to the vets again last week, after her week of clavamox to get vaccinated, but my vet said she was still congested so instead of vaccinating her we'd just giver her another week, without antibiotics to get it out of her system.

Today is the end of that week and she's still sneezing occasionally. I'd say anywhere from 5-10 times a day, mucous coming out and coughing once in awhile. I phoned my vet to let her know before our appointment today that she's still sneezing so she wants to put her back on clavamox for another week. At the end of this week, regardless of whether she's still sneezing or not, she will be vaccinated.

My vet warned me that this is something that she could have for her whole life. I've been hoping this wasn't the case as one of my other cats has chronic-gucky eyes from a severe URI when he was a kitten and was wondering if there's anything I or my vet can do to lessen the amount of mucous, ease this condition for her, fix it completely?


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

If it is herpes, which is likely since almost all cats are infected with herpes, she will have it for life (herpes is incurable). In most cats, the herpesvirus lies dormant in their systems and only flares up into its active state when the cat is stressed or physically vulnerable in some way. Because it is a virus, antibiotics have no effect on it. However, vets generally prescribe antibiotics to try to prevent a secondary bacterial infection from occurring while the cat is fighting off the herpes flare-up.

The best ways to help your girl combat a herpes flare-up are to keep her as relaxed and stress-free as possible, and to give her 500 mg of L-lysine a day (this might be a good idea for your other cat, as well, since herpesvirus affects both the respiratory system and the eyes). You can buy L-lysine anywhere vitamins are sold. If you buy it in tablet form, just crush a 500 mg tablet and mix it into a canned food meal once daily. L-lysine inhibits the herpervirus' ability to replicate, which makes it easier for the cat's body to suppress. You can give L-lysine indefinitely (it's just an animo acid), though most folks only give it when their cat has an active herpes flare-up.

I would not recommend vaccinating your cat until the herpes flare-up has subsided and she's healthy. If you vaccinate her while her immune system is fighting an infection, the vaccine may not be effective. Worse yet, it may make her feel even sicker.

You might be able to help drain her sinuses by putting her in a steamy bathroom for 15 mins, twice a day. Just stick her in a carrier on your bathroom floor while you run hot water in your shower.

Laurie


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## Nyxi (Jun 14, 2010)

I'll definitely go out to our local health food store to see if I can find lysine. Will it interfere with the clavamox that she started today? 

My vet doesn't believe that she's still sick because of the herpes virus, if that's what it is. She believes it's_ possible _that she will always have a runny nose, that no amount of time will completely rid her of this ailment.

How long can it take to recover from a URI?

We got her (found her in our front yard rather) on the 4th.
-she went to the vet on the 7th, was put on clavamox, 2x day, 10ml
-went to the vet on the 14th for vaccinations, she was still congested when the vet listened in on her lungs and chest, so we made another appointment for a week later to do the vaccinations and were to just give her another week

Which brings us to today, the 22nd, still congested, still sneezing, so another week of clavamox. This friday she's been in our care for 3 weeks. She's not a stressed out cat. From day one it's like she's lived her forever, she's always been comfortable, even when we started letting her loose in the rest of the house. She never hid behind anything, just took up just like our other cats. Very playful.

After doing some reading online, I'm worried that perhaps it isn't a URI, rather some time of nasal disease.  Is it possible for a URI to take this long to clear up?


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

RescueKitties said:


> I'll definitely go out to our local health food store to see if I can find lysine. Will it interfere with the clavamox that she started today?


You don't have to go to a health food store for L-lysine. You can pick it up at any drug store, K-Mart, Walmart, etc. L-lysine won't interfere with clavamox at all.

Be forewarned that many cats don't tolerate Clavamox well and will develop digestive upset (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea) and/or inappetance while taking it and possibly for a week or two afterwards. If those symptoms should occur with your cat, contact your vet and ask about switching to a different antibiotic. It's a good idea to give your cat a probiotic like acidophilus during and for a week or two after antibiotic therapy to help repopulate the beneficial gut bacteria killed off by the antibiotic.



> How long can it take to recover from a URI?


Depends on the URI, the treatment, and the ability of the cat's immune system to fight it off.



> She's not a stressed out cat. From day one it's like she's lived her forever,


That's great, but she still may have picked up something from one of your other cats, esp. the male with the goopy eyes (which may very well be herpes).



> After doing some reading online, I'm worried that perhaps it isn't a URI, rather some time of nasal disease.  Is it possible for a URI to take this long to clear up?


If the nasal discharge doesn't clear up in a couple more weeks, you may want to consider bringing her to a veterinary specialist or university vet school clinic for more diagnostics to determine the source of the discharge and appropriate treatment.

Laurie


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## Leesa (Jun 13, 2010)

This is so weird.............I had a stray come to my porch about two weeks ago approx. 5-6 months old black male w/ a horrible sneezing problem w/ lots of discharge. i took him to the vet ........guess what they put him on...........CLAVAMOX, 1.0 ml 2 times a day. And his last dose was sunday and hes still sneezing w/ the dicharge but not as much. Hes suppose to be nutured within 2 weeks!  Let me know how u mnake out!!! My vet never said anything about herpes!! 8O


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## Nyxi (Jun 14, 2010)

Leesa, from my understanding Herpes isn't herpes like with people. There are a few different "strains" of URI's and herpes is a very commonly seen one. It is a funny coincidence though isn't it? I'm in Ontario, Canada, maybe their littermates! lol

Little Nyx is still sneezing with large amounts of discharge. I just don't know what to do from here.  I've had her for 3 weeks, she's been to the vet 3 times, gotten 2 bottles of medicine, I've been feeding her the best food I can, she has everything she needs but she's still not getting better. I've ordered L-lysine, I should have it in a few days.

I don't know what else to do for her! I really need her to get vaccinated as I want her spayed badly and at this point I think she'll just always be sick.


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