Sneezy kitty -- when to take to vet?

[DorkFish]

Is she just sneezing or is there nasal discharge?

[DorkFish]

My opinion is no discharge, no vet. And trust me, if she had discharge you'd know it. A foster of mine had green snot like a human would get. It was always noticeable.

[kellbell191]

I would start giving her lysine or lysine treats now in an effort to help her immune system out; if she is eating and drinking ok, no discharge from eyes or nose I would wait it out a week. A lot of our fosters come with upper respiratories and most vets wont prescribe antibiotics until they're pretty sick, our vet said its normally viral and will clear out on its own.

[kellbell191]

Oh and I don't think I've ever seen sneezing as a food allergy....

[shellfish26]

We use the Vetoquinol brand called Enisyl-F. We buy the paste (tuna flavored) from Amazon.

In addition to the advice above, I would also recommend you remove any air freshened plug-ins in the house. Those were a huge trigger for my cat. Also, keep a close watch on her eyes. If they are running, she might rub them, causing scratches.

[polarbearfans]

At this point I would be at the vet. Our male cat just stated having sneezes. We took him in around day 4 and he was prescribed lysine I believe. He cleared up in a week but had to take the meds two weeks. He also got a shot of some sort while at the vet. I prefer not to medicate unless necessary and lysine is an antiviral

[kellbell191]

We use the vetri lysine treats, but we order them online (they're food allergy friendly). We've never needed a prescription for it.

Polarbear, the injection would have been an antibiotic and our vet won't prescribe antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. Viral infections they don't work for, so usually he waits to see significant symptoms or symptoms that persist for a week or more.

[polarbearfans]

May 16, 2012 9:42:42 GMT -5 kellbell191 said:

We use the vetri lysine treats, but we order them online (they're food allergy friendly). We've never needed a prescription for it.

Polarbear, the injection would have been an antibiotic and our vet won't prescribe antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. Viral infections they don't work for, so usually he waits to see significant symptoms or symptoms that persist for a week or more.

It was an antibiotic. While our vet is usually cautious about doing antibiotics the baby had recently been in for a rough procedure with his anal glands and was having trouble breathing. We were no longer in the wait and see time frame. Lysine makes my one cat very ill so it isn't something I wound start using without having talked with my vet first.

[SpicedApplePie]

Most sneezing is viral. Without any eye or nose discharge or other symptoms (lethargy, not eating, vomiting), I would not go to the vet. Viral URIs cant really be treated but sometimes a secondary bacterial infection develops. Usually the first sign of a bacterial infection is eye/nose discharge or a cough that sounds "wet" (I dont know how else to describe it). The rescue I work with gives lysine to all foster cats and recommends it when there is a viral infection to help with boosting the immune system. They have some white powder the gets sprinkled on the food. Just dont overdo it, only a little is needed.