I adopted a 3 month old kitten from the S.P.C.A. on the 10th of January, and the day after she began sneezing, just a little bit. The next day she was sneezing more frequently and began to not drink as much water. The day after that she became a lot less playful, stopped drinking as much water and began sneezing a lot more. My parents were away and so I was stuck for vet care, but they returned and we took her to the vet yesterday.

The vet gave us antibiotics which we must give her twice a day. She had her first dose yesterday morning and her second a couple of hours ago. She's still sneezing but I've noticed her eyes aren't oozing as much fluid as they were before.

So I know I should've asked the vet this but I just wasn't thinking at the time If anyone can answer some questions it would be greatly appreciated.

Why does she keep opening her mouth? Whenever I look at her she opens her mouth a little bit and shuts it. It's like she wanted to make a little meow but couldn't. She did this multiple times even when she wasn't looking at me? I'm guessing she is having trouble breathing through her nose and is opening her mouth to breathe?

How long will it take her to recover with the antibiotic treatment? She is always warm, with food and water accessible and I'm usually always in the room with her.

Unrelated to her flu, she has a lump on her stomach from where she has been desexed. The lump is a bit smaller than the top half of ones thumb. When I asked the vet about it he said it was normal and just the sutures deeper in, but he didn't look at the lump at all.

Anyway heres a photo I snagged of her with her tongue out
SP_A0125.jpg

Sorry to rabble on with questions which probably seem stupid :/ I'm just worried. Thanks in advance if you can answer at all!

It does sound like she is mouth breathing.

Has she improved at all from when you took her to the vets?

Antibiotics usually start working from 24 hours after the first dose, but in resilient animals it can be 3 to 4 days before you start seeing major effects. It's good that her eyes are looking a bit better, but if her breathing doesn't improve she might need stronger or different antibiotics.

I wouldn't worry about the lump at the moment, it could just be from the sutures, and you can get it checked out next time you are in the vets. For now, I'd concentrate on nursing her back to health - is she eating and drinking?

Thanks for the quick response

She has sort of stayed the same since we took her to the vet. The only improvement is in her eyes.

I guess I'll monitor her over the next couple of days to see if the antibiotics help with her breathing.

She had stopped drinking for a little bit but has begun again since yesterday when we bought her back from the vets. Surprisingly, she never stopped eating normally. Doesn't this contradict the theory of mouth breathing, though? Seeing the only reason she would still be eating is if she can smell, and if she can smell, couldn't she breathe through her nose too?

I've tried having her in the bathroom when I take a shower, and the first time I did that she seemed better for a few minutes, but the second time she did not change.

__________________

When Hercules had his kitten flu, he never lost his appetite either, but we know he couldnt smell properly as he didnt try and eat our roast chicken (usually we have to lock him out of the kitchen when we eat) but he was eating his cat food.

He took about 2 weeks to get better but even now he picks up sniffles easily and his eye waters whenever he gets excited and it half closes when he's tired. The vet said the eye and his breathing problems are from when he had the cat flu so when it gets really bad he has a booster of ABs. He's fine normally, just picks up what I can only describe as colds and sniffles easily.

Give her a couple of weeks and she'll be back to herself. xx

__________________


My babies are my furries. This does NOT make me a crazy cat lady. Honest

Hello everyone!

After a stressful couple of days she is almost back to her old self! I little bit of a wheeze when she breathes, and the occasional sneezing fit, but today she's improved significantly, to the point where she began playing and purring happily.

Thanks for the support and answers, it was greatly appreciated

Here's a photo of her playing just a few minutes ago

DSCF0148.jpg

__________________