in persians, who are predisposed to uri symptoms at any time, especially
in shelter or new situations (stress, no noses to speak of anyway),
zithromax has become the drug of choice: we don't even bother with the
others for cats we pull from shelters, we just go for the zithro.
the other thing is that there's many causes for runny noses and goopy
eyes, and unless you actually culture out the emissions, you can't be
sure what you're dealing with--might just be that kitty's reaction to
stress, might be allergies , might be a virus or bacteria. so once
they're responding and feeling better and want to play with the others,
i figure that's the best medicine as long as they aren't sneezing
constantly!
MC
Gloria Lane wrote:
If he were at my house, I'd probably go ahead and mix him with the
others. They've probably already been exposed anyhow. Sounds like
he's responded well to your loving care. FYI - I also had good luck
with a dose or two of Zithromax for kittens with URI.
Gloria
On Nov 16, 2007, at 9:33 AM, Caroline Kaufmann wrote:
Does anyone know how long a URI is contagious? I picked up a B/W
approx. 6 mth old kitten from the adoption location last Sat. b/c
he'd been suffering from a URI- mostly affecting the eyes (no
sneezing) for 2-3 weeks and it just wasn't getting better. Poor
thing had started to rub off the fur around his one eye from rubbing
at it so much. I had this same kitten back at labor day for about 3
weeks when I took in 4 kittens who all had URIs in various degrees of
severity. He was the oldest and he got well the fastest after
treatment with Amoxy and Terramycin. Well, when he was added to the
"condo" at the store to be "on display" for adoption, I guess the
stress of that shortly thereafter brought the eye problems back and
he's been suffering off and on since then. I tried to stop by as
much as possible to clean and treat his eyes, but it's hard b/c the
store closes at 6:00. He is also one of those cats "prone" to tear
stains regardless of a URI and with the white fur on his face, he
looks really bad being on display with tear stains and eye funk (he
looked sick- which looks bad for our no-kill agency), so I decided to
take him home and put in him the downstairs room and just not mix him
at all with my other two fosters Yoda and LeeRoy. Well, I've had him
since last Sat. and this time, he's on Clavamox (and Terramycin in
the eyes) and I'm feeding him tons of wet food (Wellness kitten)-
they only get dry at the store- and pumping him full of supplements.
He gets to run around the house when I am home b/c the other foster
kittens have a big room to romp, so they stay closed in there and
away from him But, I know he's lonely and needs some
kitty-socialization and he and Yoda may remember each other! He's
doing SO MUCH better- it's unreal. I know it's probably mostly
because he is having fun, not stressed, eating like a piggy and
getting love (that probably helps more than the meds...sigh). *So,
if he is no longer having inflamed red eye tissue and green
discharge, is he okay to mingle now? He's not sneezing and he
doesn't really have any eye discharge at all*, besides his regular
eye boogers that he is prone to getting. He does not act like a sick
cat (runs around like a maniac). I haven't seen green eye funk since
the day after I brought him home (Sunday) b/c he improved almost
instantly. I just wanted to know if anyone knows if he's been on the
antibiotic almost a week now, & showing no signs of infection, can he
be mingled with the other two kittens for play-time, or should I wait
longer?
Thanks,
Caroline
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