Expert: Jessica - 2/2/2010

Question
While playing a game of frisbee golf on a desert course I was approached by a kitten. A kitten with a leather rope looking thing tied around her neck. She acts like a perfect healthy kitten. She eats well , sleeps well , runs around, attacks random things and is very affectionate. The thing is, she makes this noise like a person makes when their nose is stuffed up and they try to breathe in through it. It sounds very much like a cold...but she has a wet nose , no discharge anywhere, no sneezing or coughing. After she wakes up from a nap it's the worse. I will be taking her to a vet but my vet  ( the one I use for my dogs) will be gone for about another week. I was wondering if there was anything I could do for her until then or if this is something that should be looked at ASAP. Like I said before, her behavior is of a normal kitten and nothing is coming out of her eyes or nose.

Answer
Hi Meeka.  Ideally, she should see a vet before your regular vet returns, because cats rely almost entirely on their sense of smell to eat.  If she has a stuffy nose, she may soon stop eating.  If we wait until a kitten stops eating to commence treatment, there will be a couple of days when the kitten won't want to eat anything at all.

However, it's possible that a good portion of the symptoms she's suffering could be caused by the feline herpes virus.  Only cats can catch this virus, and more than 90% of them have it.  Once infected, they remain carriers for life.  Feline herpes causes upper respiratory symptoms such as a stuffy nose.  It often causes a thick nasal discharge, but sometimes it can cause stuffiness without discharge.  The best treatment for feline herpes is to give the kitty an amino acid called l-lysine.  This inhibits the replication of the virus to lessen symptoms and shorten the duration of the flare up.  Many cats will suffer periodic flare ups and will do well to receive lysine during this time, and for two weeks after symptoms have subsided.  Other cats seem to battle with herpes constantly, and they can stay on lysine permanently.  The effective dose for a kitten, say 3-5 pounds, is 250mg a day.  A kitty any bigger than this should receive 500mg per day.  Lysine is sold in tablet form at any pharmacy, typically in 1000mg tablets.  This means the kitten should receive 1/4-1/2 tablet each day (there is no worry of overdose - any excess is just excreted in the urine).  However, the tablets are so large that even 1/4 tablet is still too big for most cats to swallow, so it's best to crush the pill up and mix it into canned food.  If possible, split the meal in half, and feed half in the morning and half at night.  There are actually some lysine supplements made just for cats, as well.  They come in pastes, gels, powders and even treats.  Search the web for Viralys and Enisyl-F products.  If the kitten doesn't improve at all within 2-3 days, then I would try to get her to a vet.

Aside from this, you can also try keeping some vaporizers or humidifiers running in your home, and bringing the kitten into the bathroom when you shower.  The steam should help break up congestion.  Also, you can use a saline-only nose drop to help her expel any mucus she may have in her nose.  I like Baby Ayr nose drops, but there are plenty of others.  Just instill 2 drops into one nostril, then two into the other.  She won't be happy about it, but it will help her to get rid of some of that congestion if it's caused by mucus.

There is a possibility her congestion could be caused by a foreign body or an anatomical problem.  Not long ago, I read an article about a cat with chronic congestion who finally had an x-ray, and they found she had been shot with a bb gun!  A bb was lodged in her sinus cavity.  But a vet will certainly be the one who will be able to help you sort out what's ailing the little one.

Congratulations on your new addition!

Jessica