Millie has a cough

11 years ago

We got Millie at our local Humane Society last Saturday and she has developed a cough. It sounded like she was trying to expel a hairball at first but now the sound has deepened and sounds worse. It is definitely a cough and not hairball expulsion.

She has no discharge from her eyes or nose and she seems to cough only when she is awake. She also seems to have plenty of energy and vigor. She is going to the vet tomorrow to have the cough investigated and also for her first checkup.

I have been doing some reading here and it seems that URI's and/or a cough is usually associated with a runny nose. Does anybody have some info/advice on this matter?

She is a precocious little kitten. I wouldn't classify her as beautiful but she sure is cute and her personality more than makes up for her lack of "good" looks. It didn't even take a day for us to completely fall in love with her.

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Comments (7)

cat_mom
11 years ago
Oh, she is absolutely adorable!

I don't have an answer for you, but will say that most kittens (@ the shelter where i volunteer at least) seem to end up with an URI at some point early on.

Good luck! Let us know what the vet says.
jomuir
11 years ago
What a little cutie Millie is! Hopefully the vet gave you some info on his cough. I agree w/catmom, kittens from shelters are usually exposed to stuff & often get an URI, generally not serious as long as it's treated. Smart of you to notice the lack of runny nose.
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Thank you all! I loved reading about your precious kitties, stillanntn. You are so kind and loving. Cath, for some reason I don't have that episode, but I'm watching lots of them through the DVR. Big mistake watching Dr. Pol put down his own dog, Freya. So sad:( Millie is starting on supplements this week for her joints, so you are spot on Sonic and stillanntn. One of the vets will be looking at her soon, as she needs further deforming,( just to be sure, for the 3rd time, as she arrived loaded). She will also be getting some sort of allergy shot to help with her runny nose. Thank you all for your good wishes and kind words. She is a delightful little girl and so filled with joy ALL of the time! Yesterday, she caught(and ate!) a fly in midair. You should have seen the mighty little hunter. It's very hard to keep her calm sometimes. I wish you all could see her! She loves everyone, people, cats, dogs, you name it. They are all treated like dearly loved friends. The vets speculated that she might be a bit "slow" mentally at first, when she was deathly ill. Not so. After just three trips into the garden in three days, she made a quick realization. If momma puts those green Sloggers on, she's going into the garden, and I'm going to do my best to make sure I go along! I wish I could bring her out all the time, but she's so excitable. I don't want her to over do it. Here is a cute picture of Millie in the veggie box right after taking a bite out of an onion stem. Lisa
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rswojo
Original Author
11 years ago
Millie went to the vet today. Her cough seems to be diminishing somewhat. Her temperature was normal and she did not enjoy getting her temp taken at all. It took the vet AND his assistant to restrain her to get it taken. Only 1.2 pounds and she is a handful, she really put up a fight. She doesn't like riding in the car either.

My vet figures her cough might be from the tracheal tube used during last weekends spay or maybe, possibly a virus. She will be monitored and if it doesn't clear up soon an antibiotic will be tried. If it is a virus she will have to fight it off herself.

Tomorrow it is Fletch's turn. His vet visit will be uneventful, he is a real mellow guy.
trancegemini_wa
11 years ago
oh they both look adorable! my cat has never traveled well or dealt with the vet that well either (it's always been a slice and dice event :) ). I'm not sure if it can be used with kittens but the rescue remedy works really well for my cat. I give it to her for a few days before a vet visit and she is totally different, it really calms her down. Check with your vet first if it's ok to us on a kitten like millie but my vet recommended it to me for my "difficult" cat for her vet appointments and it's taken so much hassle out of it.
cat_mom
11 years ago
They look like they could really be brother and sister!!! How is Fletch adjusting to her being there?

Our vet allows us to hold/handle our cats when he is examining them, which IMO goes a long way towards better behavior on our cats part. They are much calmer than our first two cats were when we took them to our previous vet (even they were a lot better with our current vet).

Of course, every cat is different, but that's been our experience.
Elly_NJ
11 years ago
She is indeed beautiful. She has some tortoiseshell in her.
rswojo
Original Author
11 years ago
Millie is doing great. She is full of energy, eating like a horse and her cough is getting better.

Fletch, on the other hand, worries me. He went to the vet for his checkup and got wormed. He has a low grade fever, 102.6 degrees. He is very skinny and doesn't have much if any appetite. He seems listless. We have 3 kinds of dry food and wet food out and he is ignoring them and drinking water. He has to start eating and soon. He was eating right after we brought him home but his appetite seems to be getting worse.

To make matters even worse, our existing cat, Kaya is not happy about the newcomers. She too is not eating. Kaya is timid, when we have company she goes under the bed until they leave. We have them quarantined in a spare bedroom and it took Kaya 3 days to go over to the closed door and hiss. We put up some baby gates today and when Kaya saw the newcomers she growled at them and went under the bed. She tries to act tough but she seems scared of the kittens. As long as Kaya is under the bed today we have the kids out in the house with the baby gate keeping them out of Kaya's bedroom.

These damn stressed out cats are starting to stress me out.

Picture of Fletch and Millie.

Millie has a cough

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Millie has a cough

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