Conference misery::feline_v1

    
    > Experts, help?  Will I ever have four healthy kitties again?
    
    
    Yes you wil have 4 healthy kitties again.  Whenever Portia gets
    sick, we go through this at my house.  Whenever one of the other
    kitties gets sick, Portia catches it and we go through the same
    old thing.  It drives me crazy.  It drives my wallet crazy.  I get
    VIP treatment at my vets.  Luckily Portia opens her mouth and says
    AHHHH when it's medicine time.
    
    I suspect that Dream has low resistance.  Which is what Portia has.
    I'm not sure why I do it, but my vet tells me to give Portia lots
    of iron.  So, I try to feed her the liver flavored canned foods,
    the vet gives me iron supplements that I give her, and about once
    a week I cook up some chicken livers.  Something about the iron
    and her blood and building up some resistance.  I don't recall the
    whole explanation - I just do everything my vet tells me.
    
    Maybe talk to your vet about if there is anything you can do to
    help increase her resistance.  Then treat all 4 cats the same way,
    since when 1 ccat gets something, I'm sure that Dream gets it too.
    What about getting those Respiratory shots twice yearly as opposed
    to once yearly?
    
    I try top prevent these things in my house.  Otherwice my life gets
    miserable.
    
    	-Nancy

    The bitter taste of the pill is what's causing the foaming.  This
    happened to Kelsey when he was taking tribrissan for an intestinal
    virus.  He would fight me when I tried to get the pill down and
    some of the bitter coating would rub off on his teeth or tongue.
    He foamed incredibly and I would have to contain him and wipe his
    face with a cloth until the foaming stopped.
    
    Try coating the pill liberally in butter so it will slide down easier.
    This is what my vet suggested.
    
    And don't worry, you *will* have four healthy kitties again!!
    
    
    /Roberta
    

    Well.  It's always a problem with more tha one in the house
    when one gets sick - you sort of wait for signs in the others.
    Some folks, when one comes down with something, treat every
    one in the house for prevention sake.  If you give the sick
    one a pill twice a day, treat the well ones once a day.  Or
    just sort of wait it out - it will clear up on it's own.
    When we can start opening windows again, our felines will
    all be feeling much healthier!!  Hang in there!  
    
    E.T.

    oh yeah, another real way of preventing is to make a ritual
    of taking a set time of the day and "really" looking closely
    at each cat - watch for the VERY FIRSTK SIGNS of anything
    out of the ordinary - each time you pick them up or when
    they are on your lap - use that time to "really" look
    at their eyes - if they rub their eyes, make a mental
    note to watch to see if in the next day or two, they
    keep doing it - if you can catch yukkies VERY EARLY,
    a lot of times others in the house won't get it.  If 
    you see something starting, start TREATING IMMEDIATELY.
    Maybe your vet will let you keep some medication on hand
    for these occasions.  Mine does - it sure saves others
    from getting sick - if one of my cats so much as dares
    to sneeze, that animal is watched like a hawk from that
    minute on until I'm comfortable that nothing is going
    to develop.  I try to "look" each cat over each day twice
    a day.  I call it looking them right in the eye!!  Generally,
    if their eyes look clear and they are running around and playing,
    things are ok.  If an active furface slows down and isn't getting
    into his usual trouble, that's an important sign to be watched.
    I make a mental note:  hmm.  watch Ivan - he isn't harrassing the
    red boy or Terror, etc.

    We haven't had respiratory problems, but bladder infections seem to go
    around at our place. After I have hauled the first one in for
    treatment, if I notice signs in anyone else I just call the vet and
    they will have pills waiting without seeing the cat. That saves quite a
    bit of money and hassle. Also, because I have a large multi-cat household,
    I insist on treating each sick cat for the maximum amount of time (i.e.,
    3 weeks, not 10 days), since those treated for 10 days usually seem to get
    a relapse around day 16.

    Deb

    In my house, I find the safest bet is to isolate any one who shows
    signs of illness until I find out what it is, and if it is contagious.
    I keep the sicky isolated til all symptoms are gone, and the medication
    is finished.
    
    Your vet has you giving them Benadryl which is an antihistamine.
    It will clear up the stuffy noses, but they may also need an antibiotic
    to combat the illness.  Like Roberta said, about the only thing
    you can do for the foaming is to keep a towel handy to wipe them
    up with.
    
    Jo

    re: 0  Benadryl
    
    M-M, this is the first I've heard of using Benadryl - does it work?
    Have you noticed any difference?  How much do you give?
    
    tanx,
    
    E.T.

    re: -1  
    
    Whatever flavor it is, it's not kitty flavor!  ;-)
    
    I'm giving them 1 ML of Benedryl elixir twice a
    day, once in the morning after breakfast, and once
    in the evening after dinner.  It looks cherry colored,
    but smells mentholeucalyptisie.  Poor Dream has just
    finished two weeks of Tribrissen, I really feel for her.
    Dream seems less sniffly but Boogie is still sneezing,
    I think if Boogs doesn't improve by the week-end, I'm
    calling the vet back.  We thought we had caught Boogie
    in time before it went respiratory, but perhaps not.
    
    I'm going to try having Dream sleep with me, I think
    the basement is just a tad cool for her.  I have no
    idea how I'll do, but I'm sure Dream will be quite
    happy with the arrangement.
    
    My vet is wonderful, she loves my kitties almost as
    much as I do (although she's admitted Boogie is her
    favorite - what else is new?) and does a lot of 
    perscribing and free advice over the phone when
    she feels she can.
    
    Between cough syrup and pills for the kitties and
    inhalers and pills for me, we're fast becoming a
    walking pharmacy!!!
    
    Mary-Michael

    Interesting!  I'll remember that one - my vet suggested
    chlortimaton - we share mine.
    
    BTW, MM- Marilyn said to say hi!  She was asking about you
    and the kids!
    
    E.T.

    Can the vet prescribe something just as effective that doesn't cause the
    foaming?  Mine did that after Holly did a Niagara Falls imitation once.
    

    Benadryl for a cat ???
    
    My doctor keeps telling me that I should take Benadryl twice a day,
    and when I do, I about everything but foam-at-the-mouth. Thats
    stuff has awful side effects!! Does it turn cats into 'mad dogs'?
    That what it does to me, before I go into some kind of a dreamland.
    
    Kirk
    

    
    
    Me too..
    
    last time I was sick, I reeeally didn't want to take it, but took
    one..  that stuff is real live chemicals..
    
    
    F.

    It figures.  I had to talk to my doctor this morning 
    because my allergies are acting up, and now *I'm*
    on Benedryl too!  Dream seems better, but Boogie
    is worse.  She's spending the afternoon visiting
    with the vetrenarian.  I'll probably pick her up
    (along with more medication) tonight.
    
    Mary-Michael

    Gee, hope Boogie feels better.  I wish we could open the
    windows so all kids could get some fresh air & sun on
    their furry bodies.
    
    soon...
    
    

    Just talked to the vet.  Boogie has an upper
    respiratory infection, so I'll be picking her
    up along with pills tonight.  The vet's also
    giving me some B vitamins for the gang to help
    the little immune systems.  Boogie, however, was
    reportedly having the time of her life at the vet's,
    riding around on the doctor's shoulders, garnering
    pats and compliments from the staff, and being her
    usually lovely self!  Such a personable little elf!
    
    Mary-Michael

    Well, yesterday Niniane went to the vet's with a cough.
    Seems she's getting it too.  Now I have one that's stuffed
    up, one that sneezes and one that coughs.  Sigh, their
    medicine cabinet looks worse than mine now!
    
    Mary-Michael

    re: benadryl etc
      This isn't cat related but is fits in here.  I also have
    allergies and up until a couple of years ago preferred the
    allergies to the side effects of pseudoephedrine (Sudafed,
    actafed, co-tylenol, sine-off etc etc) or benadryl.  I get
    "coo coo-bonkers" on the former and fall asleep on the latter.
      Fortunately, SELDANE hit the market.  Its a prescription,
    third generation antihistamine.  It apparently doesn't work
    for everyone, but it works very well for me and I have
    absolutely NO SIDE EFFECTS.
      You might ask your doctor about it.
       Nancy DC
    

    RE: -1
    
    Yes, what with my allergies and asthma, I'm on all the "latest
    and greatest" medication.  Right now, I've switched from SELDANE
    to a newer drug, HISMANAL, which is similar (no yawns).  However,
    I still need to take BENEDRYL with the HISMANAL at night to get
    some sleep.
    
    Those little furfaces (choo-achoo!)!!
    
    Now all four are sick.  Charm started sneezing last night. Niniane
    isn't coughing anymore, but if you upset her she drools all over
    the place.  Lovely.  Boogie still snuffles, Dream is sneezing again,
    and we're all running out of patience with each other.  Boogie growled
    at me this morning when I gave her her medication.
    
    I'll be real glad when this is over.  The vet said I may have brought
    the virus home with me from the Concord cat show.  Is this possible?
    I didn't touch any cats...
    
    Mary-Michael

    There is only the minutest possibility that you brought it home
    with you from the show.  But, there is a possibility.  Most of these
    upper respiratory viruses are airborn, so you wouldn't have had
    to touch any cats to get them, but, they are usually not hardy enough
    to live on your hands and clothing long enough to go home with you
    and infect your cats.
    
    Hope that the whole household is feeling better soon.
    
    JO