Cat with a cold?

[MACCanadianCoop]

A couple weeks ago my cat started sneezing. A lot. And she's still sneezing. Today I noticed the sinuses on one side of her face look a bit swollen. She's still happy, eating well, voiding fine. So it's not an emergency, but of course I don't want it to become an emergency. I've had cats before, but never had one develop a cold or sinus infection. Is there anything I can do to try and help this before taking her to the vet?

I will take her to the vet if I absolutely have to, but I'd like to avoid that because $$ but also she really doesn't travel well. I'm talking barfing and diarrhea all over her carrier from the stress of it. So if the vet is only going to tell me to wait it out, the ordeal would not be worth it.

Any experts out there who can offer some advice?

 

[AnnPann]

Not an expert but i have an outdoor cat that appeared to have an eye injury of sorts (her inner lid was always showing).

Reluctantly took her to the vet since it was an eye thing, and turns out she just had cat version of pink eye (fixed with drops) and cat version of herpes virus (not fixable) which means she’s prone to colds and such for life.

Vet recommended an immunity supplement called Lysine to help her fight off stuff in the future. Lysine can be bought on Chewy (no Rx required) in various forms - powder, treats, etc.

Maybe this would be something to try that would be cheaper and less stressful than a vet trip? Hope she feels better soon!

 

[Deleted member 649519]

A couple weeks ago my cat started sneezing. A lot. And she's still sneezing. Today I noticed the sinuses on one side of her face look a bit swollen. She's still happy, eating well, voiding fine. So it's not an emergency, but of course I don't want it to become an emergency. I've had cats before, but never had one develop a cold or sinus infection. Is there anything I can do to try and help this before taking her to the vet?

I will take her to the vet if I absolutely have to, but I'd like to avoid that because $$ but also she really doesn't travel well. I'm talking barfing and diarrhea all over her carrier from the stress of it. So if the vet is only going to tell me to wait it out, the ordeal would not be worth it.

Any experts out there who can offer some advice?

In mid-late November 2019 my 17 year old male cat had the same exact thing. I waited it out, and it got so much worse. When we finally brought him in on December 5th, the vet told us he had a tumor in his sinuses. My heart completely shattered. I don't know if they would've been able to save him had I brought him in earlier, but now I will never know. Please, please bring her to the vet! I pray your kitty only has a cold, but please don't take the chance like I did.

 

[Folly's place]

Cats will act 'fine' until they just can't. If it's getting worse, get her to the vet's! And if you wouldn't want your own face to look like that, neither does she.
Mary

 

[RiverOtter]

@Kay_Lynn , I am terribly sorry for the loss of your kitty. I just lost one to a sinus tumor as well. She had had a small abscess on her cheek the week before and when her face started to swell, I thought we just hadn't drained it fully. The vet said there's really nothing to be done for such tumors except put them down before they suffer, but I too wonder if maybe I'd caught on sooner ...

@MACCanadianCoop , I sympathize, and I wish I had better news for you, but take her to the vet. Cats don't really have any harmless, it's-just-a-cold type illnesses. It's always an infection, serious virus, injury, tumor or obstruction. Some strains of rhinovirus they can live fairly long lives if you carefully manage outbreaks, but you'll still want to know because any new cat you get will get infected unless you take preventative measures.

 

[GravityWaves]

A couple weeks ago my cat started sneezing. A lot. And she's still sneezing. Today I noticed the sinuses on one side of her face look a bit swollen. She's still happy, eating well, voiding fine. So it's not an emergency, but of course I don't want it to become an emergency. I've had cats before, but never had one develop a cold or sinus infection. Is there anything I can do to try and help this before taking her to the vet?

I will take her to the vet if I absolutely have to, but I'd like to avoid that because $$ but also she really doesn't travel well. I'm talking barfing and diarrhea all over her carrier from the stress of it. So if the vet is only going to tell me to wait it out, the ordeal would not be worth it.

Any experts out there who can offer some advice?

First of all, has your cat ever had a feline leukemia or FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) test and are they inside or outside? If they're outside, they can become infected by any cat they come across that is positive, the same if you unknowingly add a FIV+ cat to any FIV- indoor kitties.

On a side note: I have an older indoor kitty that used to get some of the same symptoms. It took me a little research and looking around on her to figure out she had a couple teeth that were a little infected and it caused her sinuses to swell a little. I scheduled a dental cleaning for her, she had a couple teeth pulled, and after some antibiotics and a couple weeks she was doing much better. You might try to look in her mouth and see if she has any obvious bad teeth.

I also have a rescue kitty from a couple years ago that had a massive polyp in his ear when he came to us that was removed, only to have another polyp grow in the back of his throat a few months later. The one in his throat caused him to sneeze and affected his breathing some but it was removed and he's several years free from any polyp.

It might also be something as simple as allergies. Has there been any environmental change recently for this kitty?

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

Thank you for the replies far.

She is an indoor cat, so not exposed to any other cats. There have been no changes to her environment recently. This came completely out of the blue.

I think whatever was bothering her is clearing up. I haven't heard her sneeze since yesterday (Tuesday) morning, and the swelling on her face isnt readily noticeable anymore. She has a bit of eye goopiness (clear to slightly yellow) on that same side, so perhaps whatever was in there is draining out now? And she's still quite perky. Maybe even more so now (at 4am ) than she was at bedtime.

 

[Folly's place]

How is her mouth?

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

How is her mouth?

Pretty hard to get a good look, but I can't see anything obvious going on in there

 

[pennyJo1960]

@MACCanadianCoop dhr poddinly has a upper sinus rhino .. she may have got it from her Mother.. Sometimes worse sometimes better..