Did Ollie catch my cold??

[Hellojosie]

Yesterday morning I woke up with a terrible cold (thanks to a lady at work who's been coming in hacking every day this week). When I got home from work, it took Ollie a little longer to come greet me- usually he's waiting right by the door. All night long he seemed a little more tired than usual. Around 10 pm which is wet food time, he vomited. Usually his vomit is just clear liquid, but last night it was solid- almost looked like poo. He wouldn't eat anything at wet food time, which in 5 years of having this cat, I have NEVER seen him not eat wet food. He only gets a teeny bit as a special bedtime treat, so I know he looks forward to it every night. This morning I found him curled up under my bed, and he is not a hider. I could tell something was still wrong- he wouldn't let me touch him, kept backing away. Finally he emerged a while later and when I picked him up to snuggle him I noticed his little nose was completely blocked by snots. I washed it off and he slinked away, back under the bed.

Now I know I am feeling horrible, so is it possible that Ollie is suffering from the same kind of cold I am? Can kitties get our germs?? I feel so bad for him...if he's still a mess tonight somehow I'll drag him and myself to the vet.

[columbine]

It sounds like he's got a bug, but I don't think cats can catch human bugs. Definitely bring him to the vet - it sounds like he needs some help.

Love, Columbine

[critter crazy]

I am pretty sure that cats cannot catch human Colds. But he definitely sounds like he has something wrong, sounds like a Possible URI. I would definitely egt him to the vet. Feel better soon Ollie, and you too of course.

[Hellojosie]

I did some more reading on it and yep, sounds like he definitely has a URI. If he still looks terrible when I get home tonight I'll pack him up for the vet, who thankfully is there til 7 pm tonight. Poor little guy. From what I've read it's highly contagious to other cats too, so I don't want our other cat, Stewie to get infected.

And thanks...I hope we both get better soon too!! I have a trip planned next week and I wouldn't want to leave Ollie in this condition...nor would I want to get on a plane with a fever and cough. The other passengers would just LOVE me.

[Babyboonie]

I agree, it does sounds like a URI. There seems to be a lot of it going around at the moment....well there is in my house anyway!

Firstly my youngest cat Tigger came down with it, then my husband came down with a flu, then our eldest cat Louie came down with the URI, then our hamster had it and now after running around looking after all that lot i've now got it....I think my house needs fumegating!

Hope Ollie gets on at the vets ok...keep us updated.

[Hellojosie]

Sorry I haven't been on to update, it's been a rough couple days! I've been very, very sick and so has Ollie. On Thursday night I came home from work to find Ollie huddled up in a corner, one nostril all clogged up. So even though I wanted nothing more than to huddle up in a corner myself, I stuffed him (gently, of course) into the carrier and off to the vet we went. Dr. Price immediately took his temp and it was 105!! Very sick kitty. She did a temporary IV on him and told me to try to get him to eat ANYTHING that night, even something special off the table. If he didn't get better by morning I was to bring him back in. I figured he'd eat tuna no problem as it's his favorite thing in the world, but nope. We tried several times to get him to eat and he wanted nothing to do with it. The best we could do was use an eyedropper to squeeze some water into him. The next morning he looked no better and still wouldn't eat, so back to the vet we went. They kept him for several hours hooked up to an IV and started him on another antibiotic. Thankfully this one worked and I was able to pick him up about 6 hours later. He finally ate some tuna at home too, and has now been eating wet food every now and then too. I don't think he's touched the dry stuff, but that's ok, as long as he's eating something!!

I just posted in Cat General too- now our other cat, Stewie, hates him! He growls & hisses any time Ollie gets near him. I'm hoping that this is just because he stinks like the vet's office or sickness...but I hope he gets over it soon! Not that they've ever been the best of friends but I've never seen this kind of behavior either.

Thanks for all the well wishes! Ollie is just about back to normal now- he's even back to snuggling up with me at night instead of hiding under the bed. Yay.

[Babyboonie]

Ahh, i'm really glad to hear that Ollie is much better...but how about you?? I hope you are feeling better now too.

As for Stevie...it will pass. Cats tend to have this knowledge of the "vet smell". Maybe you could try putting some perfume on your hand and then rubbing it on Ollie...or maybe something else to get rid of the smell? Maybe something like dryer sheets (i've heard other people doing this and it hasn't caused any harm to the cat)?

[Hellojosie]

Ollie and I are both doing much, much better! He took his last antibiotic this morning and is finally starting to act like himself again. He's still not eating a whole lot- I think we threw off his schedule by giving him a little wet food at different points throughout the day, so we went back to just at night time last night. He didn't lick his bowl clean, but he ate a majority of it. Thank goodness!! I wish I could bulk him up somehow though- he's down to about 6 lbs and just looks sooo skinny.

And Stewie is finally getting along with his stepbrother again too. By Sunday the growling & hissing had stopped, and they could be in the same room without getting upset. We actually did rub Ollie with a dryer sheet on Saturday morning too, which may have helped a bit.

Thanks again for all the well wishes! It's so hard when these guys get sick- Ollie is my "kid", and I hate when he's feeling bad!!