Cat sneezing (new behaviour)

Howitzer

Hi,

My 3yr old female cat has never sneezed in her life (well v.rarely)

But now she's been sneezing on and off for the past week and a half.

Any idea what it could be? She's booked into the vets tonight for a look.

Volcanic dust?

Cheers

MsFifers

It could be dust actually! Its been so dry for so long there is a lot of dust about.

However, she might have a cold or irritation - are her eyes runny at all?

Howitzer

Everything else about her seems to be in tip top condition...

Maybe she's telling us to get the vacuum cleaner out?

morganafay

It could be dust or an allergy.

It could be cat flu (is she vaccinated?)

It could be just a bit of a cold or something

Howitzer

Ok, to follow up on this post:

I took her into the vet on Friday - and as suspected nothing wrong with her.
The vet tells me a lot of animals have been in in the last 10-12 days with respiratory issues. He puts it down to pollen possibly.

He checked her heart/breathing/fleas/eyes/ears/temp - the whole works for the €45 consultation fee.

He gave her a steroid shot to see if she would stop sneezing over the weekend and bring her back if she continues. The shot was €6, not bad (voren suspension whatever that is...)

She is due an annual booster on 19th June... could he not have given it now to reduce me having to come back for another €45 fee ;-)

Cheers for the replies folks. Cat's doing well and we've added the €50+ to her ongoing bill. ;-)

IvySlayer

That's good to hear I've never heard my cat sneeze!

Funny when dogs sneeze though

Miss Lockhart

Howitzer wrote: »

She is due an annual booster on 19th June... could he not have given it now to reduce me having to come back for another €45 fee ;-)

You can't give a vaccination at the same time as a steroid as steroids suppress the immune system and the whole point of the booster is to get the immune system to react. So rest assured your vet is not simply trying to rip you off.

I had a cat with a similar problem once that turned out to be a grass awn stuck on top of her soft palate - started off like this with sneezing but went on for weeks and was a major job to have it removed. Glad to hear your kitty seems to be doing well!

The Sweeper

Voren is a corticosteroid, I believe it has anti-inflammatory and antihistamine effects, and it's good for about four or five days (in other words it stays working in the cat's system for about four or five days, reducing reactions to pollen etc.). Sometimes cats can irritate themselves a bit if they have a cough or a sneeze and they make themselves a little miserable. The voren will probably work quite nicely to make her feel more comfortable and stop the irritation, and then the sneezing will pass in a few days too. I think it's worth it - one of my guys got a voren shot recently for a cough that was so dramatic the vet sedated him to make sure he didn't have an obstructed airway. Basically he was feeling so irritated that he was coughing his little socks off, and virtually making his throat raw doing it! He was a mile better within 24 hours of the voren shot.