12 yr old cat, rhinitis & not eating

Jasper has had problems since Christmas 2003. It started with sneezing, snuffling...he endured 6 months of vets visits, antibiotics, blood tests, and finally we found antirobe suited him. Since July 2003 he has had a course of antirobe for 10 days about every 4-7 weeks. Everything was going great .. as soon as he started to be snuffly I would start the antibiotics and within 24 hours he'd be fine again.

However, a week ago he began to lose his appetite (which is VERY unusual). He picked at bits, but was also vomiting a bit too. On Monday I took him to my vet, who gave him a shot of a different antibiotic, and also something to bring down his 104 temperature. On returning home he ate a small bowl of tuna, but didn't want much. On Tuesday he ate a small bowl of salmon, but that's the last thing he ate.

Tonight I took him back to my vet, who gave him another jab of antibiotic, and gave me one to bring home for saturday. She told me if he doesn't eat tomorrow to bring him back Saturday for bloods. I'm obviously very very worried about him not eating. He's drinking small amounts of water.

I had a cat put to sleep last June but really should have had her put to sleep sooner than I did as I think she suffered for too long. I don't want to make that mistake again, yet I don't want to rush into it if Jasper is going to be given another few months/years. I know that he will eventually become resilient to the antibiotics being on them so regularly, but it's very hard to decide when it's time to let go.

Does anyone have any advice? Or just opinions?

 

I'd wait to see what the bloodwork says. There must be some underlying cause of all this.

My antibiotic story (sorry I always have a story). My now Bridge kitty, Tami...for month she was suffering with "dire-rear" and would get really really ill. We had moved and I was taking her to another vet. Everytime Tami had one of these spells this vet (and I use that term loosely) would put her on antibiotics...Tami would be better but as soon as the antibiotics were out of her system the symptons would come back. This happened 3 different times and each time Tami would be sicker.

We moved back here and I took Tami back to her previous vet. They did a full blood panel and it ended up being chronic renal failure BUT with the correct treatment and diet Tami survived another 6 years. If I'd kept up with the newer vet probably would have been 6 months.

So my lesson here is - don't panic yet. But do get the bloodwork done quickly as that'll probably tell the vet more as to what is going on that constantly prescribing antibiotics which may only be masking a more serious problem.

 

Thankyou for your quick reply. I am going to see what tomorrow brings and take Jasper back to the vet if necessary. He's always been an unhealthy type of cat sadly, his sis is the opposite, she's hyper and been to the vets 5 times in her 12 years luckily!

I will let you know how things go over the weekend. I think bloods are necessary now .. and the sooner the better.

 

Tami was like that - she always had something wrong. Was hard as I was a single parent at the time working 2 jobs most of the time. But I didn't neglect my kitty either. She had allegies, developed lumps in her spay incision and they had to be removed, heart murmur, CRF. But she ended up seeing 16 - barely but she got there.

 

I'm a single parent too, and have just got myself a second job! I'm gonna need it! Good news though, Jasper seems a little perkier today and has eaten a little. My vet is going to bring some high protein recovery food tonight, so that's great if he'll eat a bit of that too.

I have his next antibiotic injection here, so if he doesn't deteriorate again he can have that tomorrow. Hopefully he'll have made it through AGAIN .. tough cookie! Last summer he had xrays, and I was told he had a nasal tumour .. so back then I didn't expect that I'd have him a year and a half later still.

It's amazing how much I moan about paying bills etc, but I never begrudge paying for my cats to be fixed. Ok, it doesn't make me happy paying hundreds of pounds to the vets, but to me it's not a choice. Makes me so mad when people don't do the right thing.

Tami did well to reach 16 then! Do you have cats now?

 

Often, if a kitty can't smell her food, they won't eat it. Try putting her in the bathroom with hot water running to let the steam help open her sinuses and see if that helps at all.