Respiratory/cold

[Riddick]

Hi, we just picked up our F2 this past Saturday and was told she had a minor cold about a week ago. The breeder took her to the vet and put her on antibiotics for a week. Her last pill was the day we got her and she still is sneezing, minor cough, and acts like she needs to hock something up. Should we take her to the vet or be worried?

 

[Patti]

Did your breeder run an upper respiratory PCR on the kitten so that he/she knew what antibiotic to treat her with? If not I would take her to the vet and have that done. It's expensive but for me it would be worth the cost to know how to treat the kitten. What antibiotic was she given? Were there any other kittens at the breeder's that were sick?

 

[Riddick]

The breeder had just taken her to the vet and the vet put her on Clavamox for 5 days. she also was spayed in the same week (before the cold). We picked her up on the last day of the antibiotics. I chose not to take her to the vet within 72 hours after we had her under the circumstances that I was in communication with the breeder, she was positive it just needed to run its course and not for us to worry. The last thing I wanted to do was take a cat getting over being sick and already scared of being in a new home to a vet.

 

[Patti]

If it is a bacterial infection it won't get better without the appropiate antibiotic. If it is viral then antibiotics won't work, however most viruses are long lasting, so your kitten's 'cold' may or may not 'run its course', but even if she becomes asymptomatic, if it is viral then it may stay with her for weeks or months (meaning she will be a carrier and can pass it on to other cats), or in the case of the most common viral URI, for life. This is why I recommended PCR - if you know what you are dealing with, at least you will know what to expect for the future.