Hello,

I am considering purchasing a pedigree siamese kitten.

For the past two weeks the kitten has had flu and has had a runny nose and sneezing but no sickness.

The vet has said it was well enough to have its first set of inocculations yesterday and to have the second lot in 3 weeks time.

It still has very mild flu.

The question I have is, should I be wary of purchasing the kitten due to health problems, and could the kitten be prone to infections, health probs being so young?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If the kitten already has cat flu I would walk away now. There really is no reason a properly reared pedigree kitten should get flu as both parents should be up to date with inoculations. Kittens should not be reared in an environment where they are at risk of exposure to the virus from other cats.

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How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. - Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.lambchopsiamese.webs.com

I would walk away as the implications of having flu young seem to last a lifetime, I took on two rescue kittens and they showed signs of flu from the start and ended up with a six week course of eyedrops and a two week battle of daily antibiotics and now at nearly two the have just had major dental work (one lost 13 teeth and the other 16 ) as it can cause ulcerative gingivitis and my two have just run up a £1000 vet bill for last month and they will probably go on to lose the rest of their teeth at a young age, I wouldn't be without them now but had I of known the heartache they have caused I'm not sure I would have taken them on.

I sure there is a healthy kitten with your name on it out there, but I would not take this one.

It could be herpesvirus, probably is and the mum's a carrier but then it could be a number of other viruses for which there is no vaccine. Without testing there's no way of knowing but the advice to walk away is sound. If it is herpesvirus then the kitten will be a carrier for life too.

Cat 'flu' is one of the most misleading terms as it's used to refer to any flu-like symptoms which may or may not be possible to avoid, or at least ameliorate, with vaccination. I'm amazed the breeder didn't have the kitten tested when it became ill. If it happened to me I couldn't stand not knowing.

Hello,

Thank you all for your answers and advice. It is gratefully appreciated.

I think you have really confirmed what I and my husband were already thinking.

It is upsetting because we were so looking forward to bringing this little kitten home and our children were so excited.

Sorry to ask this question but does the kittens mother pass the virus to the kitten through birth?

The breeder said her friend has kittens who have flu and the breeder visited her friend but didn't go in her house, but did walk on her friends driveway and that's how the breeders kittens have now got flu. (through the virus being on the breeders shoes from the friends driveway!) Could that be possible?

I think we shall now start the search over again

It is possible - don't know if it's probable but these viruses can be frighteningly contagious. Impossible to say without knowing what the kitten has as there's no such disease as 'cat flu'. It may well be a URI which will cause no future problems - and it may well not. I believe herpesvirus can be transmitted from a carrier mother but the kittens also get her antibodies so it makes sense to me that they wouldn't show any signs until that maternal antibody protection starts to wear off.

Thanks everyone