Conference misery::feline_v1

    I have experienced a similar situation with one of our cats, Monroe.
    He had a severe upper respiratory infection at the tender age of
    4 weeks.  He was a barn cat at my sister in laws and she had no
    intention of seeking medical attention for him.
    
    Ken and I "adopted" him (more like stole him) that night and rushed
    him to our emergency vet as soon as we got home (3 hour drive, spent
    swabbing off his nose and eyes and blowing air into his lungs)
    He survived, but has had chronic respiratory problems since.  These
    manifest themselves as runny nose, watery eyes and blocked tear
    ducts.  We have his tear ducts flushed about twice a year and treat
    him with antibiotics when necessary.
    
    It is my opinion that the poor state of his health as a kitten has
    affected his immune system which in turn can't fight off these
    problems.  His eye problem (left eye only) has been diagnosed as
    Chronic Allergic Conjunctivitis.  We control the symptoms with eye
    drops until the problem goes away (sometimes to return next week).
    
    JoAnn

    I'm intrigued by the use of eye drops for the nose!?! Eye drops
    are often used for infections (e.g., conjunctivitis) and nose drops
    for non-infections (e.g., congestion).
    
    "Chronic snotty nose" (sorry if this term offends, but it does
    describe the situation) is not limited to cats:  my younger daughter
    had it from about 3 years of age til perhaps 8.  I also thought
    that the doctors just couldn't diagnose it, and they thought so
    too!  She had all types of cultures taken, and allergy tests too.
    We were especially concerned because at age 18 months, she had had
    a very acute case of bronchiolitis (emergency room, oxygen tent
    for 3 days, etc.).  Well, nothing unusual grew in the cultures;
    no allergies were found.  And slowly, when she was a bit older,
    it just "went away."  She got the best care at a teaching hospital
    I was affiliated with -- my main regret is that I did not buy stock
    in the company that makes Sudafed!
    
    	Penelope

    Well Ming's symptoms are a little different here.  He is a
    6 year old neutered male and just developed this problem in
    March.  His person told me that it developed right after she
    brought him back from a trip to Dallas (I think).  I don't
    know why he went there but I didn't want to pry to much since
    I just met the woman.  I would like to pursue it further with
    her when she returns from vacation.
    
    Maybe it was just a coincidence that it developed after going
    to Dallas.  Anyway, there is no runny (snotty) nose. There is
    absolutely no discharge of any kind from the eyes or nose.  The
    lungs are not congested either.  It appears to be a 'dry' conges-
    tion of the nasal passages.
    
    You know what it's like?  Here in New England in the winter the
    air gets extremely dry.  You know how sometimes your nose gets
    completedly dried out and stuffed up at the same time?  It's sort
    of like that.
    
    Christmas day was my first visit and as I said in the original note,
    he was pretty congested that day so I gave him the eye drops.  On the
    following days his nose seemed pretty okay.  Not perfect, his breathing
    was a little noticeable but not enough to warrant any nose drops.
    This morning I noticed that his nose appeared to be starting to
    congest again a little bit.   His person didn't tell me the frequency
    with which she usually has to treat him but that makes 5 days gone
    by since I gave him the nose (eye) drops on Christmas.  I didn't
    give him any this morning because I want to wait and see how this
    thing progresses.
    
    
    Being of a scientific bent and having been first a pre-med and then
    nursing major in college, I have a hard time accepting this 'chronic'
    business.  You don't just develop medical problems out of the blue.
    Everything has an etiology and until you find it, you can't cure
    the problem, you can only treat the symptoms.
    
    I was wondering about a possible allergy, his person smokes, but
    I don't know what feline allergy symptoms would be.
    
    Donna
    
    
    a
    
    

    re: allergies in cats
    
    Monroe seems to be allergic to cigarette smoke and in the spring
    shows symptoms of hay fever.  The smoke and pollen tend to make
    his "bad" eye run even more, and it becomes red and irritated.
    This usually isn't a problem since neither my husband nor I smoke
    but often at cat shows I am benched next to a smoker and have to
    medicate his eye for him.
    
    JoAnn

        Please do check for lungworm, when I brought home my new kitten
    a year and a half ago, he had lungworm. At first the doc didn't
    know what to make of his severe nasal congestion, and very large
    boogas. But after the problem continued for a long while the diag-
    nosis was lung worm. I looked it up in my cat book and it seems
    it is very hard to diagnose, the only real symptom sometimes being
    the chronic congestion. My kitty has terrible sneezing attacks and
    before the treatment, large boogas and long worms would come out.
    Even though he's been treated, he still has the sneezing and boogas.
    His breathing is still extremely loud and he gets quite winded after
    running around. He's always congested, but the source is his lungs,
    not his nose. The cat book says its a worm that is very frequently
    overlooked or misdiagnosed by vets. So if the symptoms persist,
    mention it to your vet. Especially if it's occurring all the time,
    and not just at certain times of the year,(hayfever), or near smoke,
    (allergy), it doesn't hurt to mention it.
                                                              Denise
    
       

    
    
    The only time my cat had a blocked nose was when he had Key Gaskell
    Syndrome and couldnt salivate. His breathing sounded as though he
    was a very very heavy smoker!
    
    The vet couldnt give him anything cos all that was happening was
    his mucus (sp?) was becoming very "crusty" (sorry but thats the
    only way I can describe it).
    
    So what I did was to clear away as much of the "crustiness" as possible
    with a pair of tweezers and then put him in a cat basket, along
    with a bowl of steaming hot water with "Vic" disolved in it and
    cover the cat basket all over with a thick blanket so he had to
    breath the vapour.  
    
    I used to leave him in there for about 10 mins at a time (no-longer
    or he might of thought I had forgotten him) then when he came out
    rub 'Nivea' (moisturizer) onto the end of his little nose as that
    was pretty dry and cracked too.
    
    Sounds crazy and I got a lot of stick when I was doing it but it
    WORKED!  and thats good enough for me
    
    
    Sharon
    

    If anyone finds a cure for this, let me  know. I've been carrying
    kleenex around with me all my life.  I've been to allergists,
    ear/nose/throat types, you name it.  At least I can keep Holly company;
    she has a chronic slightly watering eye as a result of a severe
    respiratory infection.
    

    Gee, my friend has a cat with the same problems - nose & eyes!
    Dr. Brody suggested Chlortimaton - the same stuff I take for my
    allergies.  I thought he was kidding - but nope - I'm not 
    really sure if it does anything, but we use it on him.  He is
    not "sick", just seems to have chronic sinus problems.
    
    BTW, this little doll's name is "Scotty Wanna Tissu" - he has
    a sister - her name is Vanity Fair !!  He now will hold his 
    little nose up for his mom or myself to wipe.  Another idea
    that DOES work is neosenphrin (sp???) nose drops - pediatric
    dose - BUT, they shouldn't be used too often.  They will burn
    the mucos membrane and the cats like them too much.
    
    E.T.