Upper respiratory infection, or what else?

[Whiskeyandkittens]

Hi,
We're a bit worried about our Maine Coon girl at the moment. She started with what seemed like a bit of a cold last week - she's had sniffles before but she seemed more ill than normal so we took her to the vet who gave her a 2 week antibiotic injection and some Rheumocam. This was last Wednesday and she just doesn't seem to be getting any better.
She seems to want her normal food but something is stopping her eating it - she'll sit by her bowl looking at it then wander off. She IS still eating Dreamies and ham, she will eat smaller pieces of chicken but not bigger ones.
Her breathing hasn't been great and it sounds like she's snoring a lot of the time, her eyes are runny and she has a snotty nose.

I'm taking her back to the vets tomorrow- she's actually seemed a little bit better this evening but still not herself. We have 8 other cats and they're all absolutely fine, normally a cold will do the rounds of all of them but it's just the one this time and it's worse than a normal cat cold!

Does anyone have any ideas what may be causing this or what the vet can do?

Seems no-one else has any ideas either!

We've seen the vet again today, her throat and teeth look OK which is a relief, she had to have a few teeth out aged 5 so was a bit worried there may be more dental stuff going on!

It's all guesswork at the moment but it's pointing to either calicivirus or chlamydia. Our other cats are all absolutely fine, and as calicivirus is more contagious and her eyes are particularly bad then it's leaning towards chlamydia - and she now has an appetite stimulant, some decongestant, and a stronger antibiotic (doxycycline) and we're really hoping she starts to feel a bit better soon!

Here's a photo of her when she was feeling better for cat tax and good vibes 🤞

Poor thing. I don’t suppose the symptoms of pyothorax sound relevant? I’m just going on the basis of our cat who had laboured breathing and was off his food. Has she had a chest xray? Hope you get to the bottom of it soon at any rate or that she is already on the mend.

Thanks, I was trying to remember what pyothorax was called so I could look up the symptoms as our breeder (for a different cat) had a cat with that!
I don't think it is though as whatever it is has made her eyes runny throughout and she's very snotty too.

She seemed a little better yesterday but today she's all bunged up again. I put her in the bathroom and turned the shower on for an hour earlier so she could breathe the steam - seemed to help her a bit! 3rd day of the stronger antibiotics niw, really hope she turns a corner soon as we're so worried about her.

A week into the stronger antibiotics her breathing was getting worse and she stopped accepting the little bits of food she was having before - when she swallows it makes her breathing even worse, so we went back to the vet yesterday - our girl has been referred to a veterinary hospital and has spent the night there having fluids. She's settled OK and her temperature has been OK overnight which is good as it was a little high before.
Tomorrow she'll be having more tests to find out what's happening as it's seeming there may be some sort of obstruction in her airway - really hoping she can get through this.

Oh my goodness, what a worry @Whiskeyandkittens . I seldom check this topic these days as we lost our last old boy in December, but I'm up now with an elderly dog with a weak bladder (hers, not mine for a change!) and just read this.

I was thinking about an obstruction too, or even if she'd aspirated something, but I don't know if they would cause the runny eyes. Your poor girl, and poor you too, you must be so worried.

I really hope you get some answers soon, and that she's back on her paws quickly. Please keep us updated when you get a chance.

Hi @Whiskeyandkittens , just checking in, how is your lovely cat?

Thanks for asking, she's still at the veterinary hospital, however we now have a diagnosis and a plan!

She has a feeding tube and has been on a drip so has been fairly stable however still struggling with her breathing, she had a CT scan yesterday and this has come back showing that there is a build up of fluid on her chest. She had a heart scan today to rule out her heart being the cause, so now the vet is 99% sure she has FIP.

I never thought I'd ever be relieved to hear one of my cats has FIP as until very recently it was pretty much a death sentence however it's now very treatable and the vet says the treatment starts to work very quickly!

She's staying in again overnight but we're hoping to have her back home with us tomorrow.
Google images randomly made me this collage today!

Thanks for the update @Whiskeyandkittens . That's amazing how treatable FIP is now. I laughed at some of those photos, she's looks like a real character 😍.

Hope she's back home tomorrow.

Am sorry to hear about FIP but very pleased to hear the vet is confident she will be ok. Sending big hugs to the beautiful girl!

We said goodbye to our girl on Friday.
She had a massive seizure just before 6am, and although she did come out of it she was very weak after and a lot more poorly, and the vet didn't think she would get any better so we had to do the kindest thing. She snuggled right into me and I could just tell she'd had enough 😪

RIP beautiful Star, we miss you so much 💔

Am so sorry for your little Star, hurts like mad that. Sending hugs x

Aww that's brought tears to my eyes, I'm so sorry to read this. What a terrible shock.

RIP Star, and much love to you @Whiskeyandkittens .💔

Run free sweet Star 💔🌈💔. I am so sorry for your loss. You loved her enough to do the right thing when she let you know it was her time, and that was such a great last gift to her. Be gentle with yourself 💔
edited to add she was a truly beautiful cat