Lucy and Linus need your advice!

[pat1066]

Once again, Lucy, Linus and I need your help. The story is long and involved, and I apologize for taking up so much space and your time, but we really need advice.

When the kitties came to use they were 13 weeks old. Lucy seemed especially small, but Bessie, my last female Siamese had always been small, long and lean, so I didn’t think much about it. Lucy did, however, seem to have a cold, so I called the breeder. She said as long as Lucy was eating and active, I didn’t have to go to the emergency vet, but could wait until our vet saw here for her first check-up the following week.

By the time we got to the vet, both cat’s had colds. We found, as well, that Lucy only weighed 3 lbs.(!) and was pretty sick. Both had severe upper respiratory infections.

Antibiotics didn’t seem to help, and they were sneezing and slinging green mucous all over the place. Tests were negative. More antibiotics. Nasal vaccines. Green mucous changed over to yellow, then clear, then more or less disappeared. We finally tried VIRALYS twice a day. It is supposed to bolster their immune systems. It certainly give them energy! I wouldn’t have thought it was possible for them to be more active, but now we call the “kamikaze cats” as they race around the house!

The vet said they have chronic rhinosinusitis, or rhinotracheitis, passed on to them from their mother. It doesn’t seem to be feline herpes, because the eyes are not involved. All lab tests were negative. Sneezing has stopped, but they still get congested and have to clear their throats several times a day, and that’s pitiful to hear. When they do sneeze now, (this is gross) they catch it in the air or clean it off their faces, either their own or each other’s. He said they will have this forever. It will be dormant for a while, then flare up and need antibiotic treatment. They should never go near any other cats. That’s a pain in the neck because we had planned to take them with us when we visit our children, but they have cats of their own so we can’t expose them to Lucy and Linus.

Does any of this make any sense to anyone on PT? I’ve been all over the net researching this on every vet site I could find. It’s only served to get me more confused. Any information or advice from you all would be much appreciated.

Fondly,
Pat

[jenluckenbach]

I have not dealt with this problem before, so I don't really have much to offer. but one thought is, could they have allergies? Allergies might make their problem seem even worse.
We (at my grooming shop) had a cat customer who must have been afflicted with this same problem, and I can vouch that it IS truely gross.
Hopefully there is some help to keep their problem to a minimum.

[Medusa]

My Pidgie has sinusitis but I don't know if it's the same as rhinosinusitis. She was put on an antihistamine which made her quite jittery and caused her to wail, so I took her off it. My vet also gave me Viralys and he told me to buy some saline solution and squirt it into her nostrils. Pidge's got so bad that she had a couple of nosebleeds and it all started from a paint allergy, so Jen may be on the right track. Good luck w/this and perhaps give the saline solution a try. Keep us posted.

[pat1066]

The vet gave me some antihistamine early on. It didn't work, but that was when they were deep in the throes of the secondary infection, so it probably wasn't a good test. I'll give it a try. Thanks for the suggestions.

Mary - Does Pidge still have sinusitis?

Fondly,
Pat

[Medusa]

Mary - Does Pidge still have sinusitis?

Yes, she does. According to my vet, she'll always have it. Right now she's doing ok, no sneezing and mucous flying everywhere, thank goodness, because she's on meds for her heart and I don't want to give her another one if I can help it. As for antihistamines, there are various ones you can try so, if one doesn't work, then try another. Some are gentler than others.

[Barbara]

I am sorry to hear these two cuties are sick. I don't have much advice- but I think if they can gain a little weight and get more stable their immune systems will be better with fighting the symptoms.
Sending all my best thoughts.