otherwise known as Snotnose

[cimorene]

Lily's had some kind of allergies or nose mites or whatever - she's been sniffling and sneezing and oozing gobs of snot half as big as her head, all right? - for six months or more but just recently she's started acting completely pathetic and possibly like she has a fever, which makes it seem like she's not just sort of allergic to humans/dogs/cats/dust/books. She probably needs to see a vet. Too bad those bitches are so expensive. She's really pathetic.

Comments

[anglepoiselamp.livejournal.com]

It could be some kind of weird autoimmune disease? We could ask my friend ladywaterlily who's a vet-in-training and usually pretty knowledgeable about this stuff. She could at least make a recommendation on whether the poor kitty needs a vet.

[wax-jism.livejournal.com]

yeah, I've ruled out bacterial and viral because the other cat-who is even related to her-is unaffected.

[ladywaterlily.livejournal.com]

O hai. Erm, it's a bit hard to say anything special from this far but I try my best. I also think it's highly unlikely that it's infectous because it has been going on so long, especially if the other cat has no symptoms. How old is she? (I suspect it's a she since the name is Lily :)

The first thing that comes to my mind is asthma. It's quite common in cats, especially in Siamese and other that sort of cats. How's she breathing? Is she coughing? Is there any nasal discharge or something like that? And if there is, is it coming from both nostrils or only from one? Oh, and how about the mucous membranes (in mouth for example), are they pinkish or some other color (like blue)?

[anglepoiselamp.livejournal.com]

In my experience, Lily's made something of a hobby out of targeting people with huge snot blobs. O.O

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I think it's been going on since around last Christmas, a little before, although for most of that time it seemed more mild.

I think she is ten, or possibly nine or eleven. (Wax can correct this when she wakes up perhaps.)

She breathes in a wheezy sort of way, not all the time, but frequently. You can hear her coming by the sort of 'fshhhh' wet/sniffling noise as she breathes.

She occasionally stands still and does what Wax says is the cat equivalent of coughing although it lasts for a long time and doesn't really sound much like human coughing.

And she does produce lots and lots of snot-coloured nasal discharge... yellowish/greenish. She sneezes it out in sprays and also coughs and dribbles it out sometimes. It comes from both nostrils.

[ladywaterlily.livejournal.com]

Hmm, okeis. Your description of her breathing sounds a lot like asthma but the nasal discharge doesn't quite fit in. Allergic rinitis isn't very common in cats and it should be more or less colorless in those cases I think.

One option is that she has a polyp in her nose (polyp meaning bening overgrowth of the mucous membranes). Those can also cause dyspnea if they get big enough. They are quite common in cats.

The other option is that she has asthma and something else in her nasal cavity. Cats sometimes have dental abscesses that make a fistel to nasal cavity but I think that would cause discharge from only one nostril. There's also a possibility of tumor but that's not very likely.

The third option is that she has an allergy and/or asthma and it has caused broncitis and an inflammation in upper respiratory track.

Anyway, she sounds quite bad. I think she should go to see a vet, possibly in some place where they can check the nasal cavities with some kind of specula. I quess most of the small animal clinics have that kind of possibility. There's Pet-Vet for example, they should be able to do anything. And the kaupungineläinlääkäri of Turku is also quite good. Actually my friend Rosa debutizes there from Midsummer and she's one of my great heroes of small animal medicine.

If the cat has dyspnea you can try steam breathing (or whatever höyryhengitys is in English). Go to a bathroom with her and put the taps on as hot as they get. Let her be in the room and breath for about 15 minutes. That help usually a bit.

I hope this helped even a bit :/.