Feral cat has eye/nose discharge. Can I buy meds online without a vet?

This is a classic presentation of a cat with an upper respiratory disease. They usually do have a fever early in the infection and will feel bad. They also tend to avoid eating and drinking, because the congestion in the nose does not allow them to breathe properly. You can help the congestion by giving him a steam bath (if possible). There is a link below that has good information about how to do this and other helpful tips for this condition. http://www.wikihow.com/Help-Your-Cat-Breathe-Easier Unfortunately, we cannot (legally and ethically) advise medication without having an established patient-doctor relationship. It is also dangerous for us to advise medication without examining Miss Kitty and fully understanding her condition and medical history. I do not recommend giving the penicillin for this. It would be best if you can get Miss Kitty to a vet within the next day or two, but I understand you are unable to catch her. You may consider getting help with this, or hiring a cat trap. While these infections are often due to a virus, they can become complicated with bacterial infections, which will make things much worse. The vet would be able to prescribe the necessary treatment to make her feel better and keep the infection from getting worse. I hope that helps and Miss Kitty gets better soon.

You are in a very difficult situation with mommy kitty. Most of the time if a cat has discharge it is related to an infection. Most infections need eye drops to resolve. I would try and take mommy kitty into a vet to determine if the eye needs medications. It is possible that maybe oral antibiotics will help with the eye but you will still have to catch her to administer the oral medications. I hope momma kitty starts feeling better soon

I would be surprised if your sister’s illness spread to your cats as I can’t think of any human virus that would cause diarrhea or upper respiratory signs that could be spread to cats. It’s possible that the cats have something contagious however. The diarrhea could be viral or due to parasites. The eye and nose discharge sounds like symptoms of a viral upper respiratory infection. If the discharge is clear antibiotics might not be necessary. I would recommend having a vet examine your cat - they can prescribe appropriate medication.

Hello, There is nothing over the counter I would recommend giving to a feral animal. A lot of respiratory disease in cats is viral based, but even with secondary infections, dosing the antibiotics correctly in an outdoor cat is very difficult and would likely result in antibiotic resistance and a worse infection. There are long acting injectable antibiotics, but Oreo would need to be able to be trapped or handled to be assessed by a vet for the need for antibiotics and to receive the injection. I hope this is helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I strongly disagree with your vet, in my experience both oral and topical (eye ointment called teramycin) are necessary in such a case, otherwise you run the risk of it becoming a chronic infection for life, both respiratory and the eye.

You can try starting them on an L-lysine supplement - this is an amino acid that has been shown to help the immune system fight off respiratory infections more effectively. Enisyl and Viralys are both good brands, and can be purchased over the counter without a prescription - just follow the dosing instructions on the label based on your cat's weight.

This is probably an upper respiratory infection. it's very common in young cats and is very contagious to other cats as well. It is treated with antibiotic eye drops/ointment and oral antibiotics for about 2 weeks. if left untreated many cats will end up blind or even die from the disease. I advise going to your vet asap to start the treatment right away.