My senior cat has chronic sneezing and noisy breathing. What's next?

Hi, and thanks for your question. This sign could be compatible with an upper respiratory tract inflammation/infection or possibly to a chronic rhinitis (inflammatory, allergic, infective). A clinical examination at your local veterinarian is essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and treat appropriately. Antibiotics or antiallergic (steroids medications) may be needed. It is not necessary to perform expensive tests as treatment can be attempted to resolve the problem. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

Poor Spike! There are a few things that could be going on here. First, he may have a condition called chronic rhinitis - basically, this is a chronic upper respiratory infection that causing changes in the tissue and bone structure inside the nose, which makes symptoms very hard to get rid of even with proper antibiotic treatment. He could also have a nasal foreign body of some kind (like a piece of grass), a fungal infection like cryptococcus which wouldn't respond to antibiotics, or even a nasal tumor. Since he's been on antibiotics twice now with no improvement, you have a couple of options. Ideally, it would be best for Spike to have some further diagnostic testing to try and figure out what's causing the chronic symptoms - this would likely involve culture and cytology of the nasal discharge, skull x-rays, and possibly rhinoscopy (looking inside the nose with a tiny camera) and biopsies of anything in the nasal cavity that looks suspicious. Referral to a specialist may be required for some of these tests. Or, if you prefer not to pursue any additional testing right now, your vet should be able to talk to you about other treatment options that may help to relieve his symptoms. Many cats with this issue respond well to anti-inflammatory drugs, long courses of antibiotics (4-6 weeks), intranasal antibiotic/steroid drops, or even adjunct therapies like laser treatment or acupuncture. I would recommend asking your vet for his/her suggestions on the next step. If they don't have any other suggestions or don't want to talk with you about options, you can get a second opinion from another vet if needed.

I am sorry to hear that! It sounds like he has had a good work up so far. I suspect your vet may want to recheck imaging (if not done already) to ensure the foreign object is no longer present. If there is a concern the infection has never fully resolved, you could ask for a referral to an internal medicine specialist (https://www.ecvim-ca.org/specialist-listings/internal-medicine-specialists-list). If the infection has been cleared but keeps recurring, you could ask to review the pros and cons of therapies such as anti-viral medications, probiotics, Cerenia or long-term antibiotic courses. I hope this helps!

Hi there! Chronic sneezing and bleeding from the nose in a 15 year old cat could be caused by a number of different things, including chronic rhinitis, a severe bacterial respiratory infection, a fungal infection such as cryptococcus, or a nasal tumor. None of these will typically cause any changes on lab work, so usually CT scan/MRI and rhinoscopy are required to get a diagnosis. If this is something you're interested in, then I would ask your veterinarian for a referral to a specialist to have this testing done. Without additional testing, it's likely that you won't be able to find out what the specific problem is, so we're left with treating it symptomatically. Long-term antibiotics such as doxycycline or azithromycin can sometimes be helpful, as there is often a secondary bacterial infection contributing to the pet's symptoms even if this isn't the main problem. Oral or injectable steroids, Cerenia, humidifiers, and even antibiotic/steroid nose drops could all be considered as possible treatment options that may help to relieve symptoms. Your veterinarian should be able to discuss the pros and cons of these various options with you to help determine the best treatment plan for Bailey.

I'm sorry to hear about Missy's chronic problems. The 2 most common problems leading to this would be either a very deep, resistant bacterial infection of the sinuses or even possibly a tumor. Tumors can be either malignant or benign. To get a definitive answer advanced imaging such as CT may be needed. It must be frustrating to have tried so many therapies and still be facing a problem. These types of chronic sinus issues can be very difficult to solve. You can request a referral to a specialist from your veterinarian and they will help guide you with a plan. Take care and I hope Missy improves soon.

Poor Sneakers! If she is having persistent sneezing and nasal discharge even after treatment with antibiotics, and you are also seeing a bump of some kind inside her nostril, I would be concerned that she may have a nasal tumor or foreign body of some kind in her nose. If your veterinarian does not have any suggestions for further work-up at this point, I would recommend asking for referral to a specialist for rhinoscopy (looking at the inside of the nasal cavity with a small camera), as well as other testing if needed such as a bacterial or fungal culture, biopsy of the lump, etc. to try and get a diagnosis.

I'm sorry she has ongoing problems. If that product works, its probably best to just stick with it. Some cats have chronic rhinitis (inflammation of the nasal passages) that is a sort of allergy/auto-immune reaction. An oral steroid medication from your vet may help, but this too would require daily treatment ongoing. You can talk to your vet about options--a rhinoscopy (scope up the nose) may give some helpful information in terms of the actual cause of the issue, but I suspect she will need ongoing treatment regardless. Thanks for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach, and thanks for taking great care of Cinderella!