Why are there very few medicines to alleviate the symptoms of upper respiratory infections (URIs) in cats? I can’t find any with which we are familiar. The advice is to wipe the eyes with most cotton balls as often as required, and keep your cat hydrated and warm. Is there much else we can do? Yes, we can use a steam vaporizer to alleviate breathing problems but I don’t know how effective that is. We put our cat in the bathroom when we shower but that might upset him.
Cat URIs can be nasty and cause a lot of discomfort. Wouldn’t it be nice to make our cat feel a bit better? When people get colds we head for the medicine cabinet and pain killers, drying up medicines to stop the flow of water from our nose and eyes, medicines to alleviate sinus pain. There are a myriad of medicines to make us feel a bit better while our body attacks the virus and returns us to good health again.
It is possible to give pain killing pills to cats but it has to be done under veterinary supervision and with extreme care. I sense it is too dangerous to administer pain killers over quite a long period which you’ll have to do for a cat with a nasty URI. The only over-the-counter analgesic that a cat owner can buy and administer themselves is aspirin but the dosage is vitally important to avoid hurting a cat and it can only administered every three days as I understand it.
People can buy over-the-counter medicines for colds for their own use. Why can’t we do the same thing for cats? Is it only because the cat is sensitive to medicines or is it at least partly because the drug companies work with veterinarians to encourage cat owners to take their cat to the vet?
There is one “medicine” that might help alleviate the symptoms of a cat cold: L-lysine. It is an amino acid which reduces the amount of arginine in the cat. Arginine is used by the feline herpes virus to replicate.
I have just noticed that swollen nasal membranes can be shrunk using (in the US) Afrin Children’s Strength Nose Drops.
There are homeopathic medicines which may do something but I don’t believe they are much good which is why I have not included them as a viable solution.
The reason why I wrote this is because my cat is very ill and it is possibly a viral infection and I’d like to make him feel better. We are going to the vet for the fourth time this afternoon.
It is making me very tense. I feel what he feels.
Thanks Dee for your advice. I have bought some lysine on Amazon. It arrives tomorrow. My vet has not recommended anything to alleviate the discomfort or symptoms. I am desperate to help him.
I am in a similar situation. My vet has not given me a definitive diagnosis. It looks like a bad herpes virus cold but I don’t think it is. I think it is something in his chest. I am going to pay for some tests on Tuesday. Today was hell for me. Watching Charlie struggle. He still is and it hurts me and him. I hate this sort of situation. I’m so tense.
For folic acid in the grass which improves the oxygen carrying abilities of the blood.
Domestic cats eat grass for folic acid it is believed (a supplement that improves oxygen carrying in the blood). The snow leopard eats a certain type of bush. My theory is they do this to improve the oxygen carrying capability of their blood as they live at high altitude.
Thanks Catherine, I have never heard of that for cats. It sounds very advanced. I’ll ask my vet 😉 I doubt whether she’ll be able to offer it but thanks for sharing.