For a friend; why is her cat, Max, sneezing?

Edit: MY friend was the one who had to vacuum, scrub, and launder her whole house. No fleas on either Milo or me.

The two possibilities for the sneezing are allergy related or the beginning sign of upper respiratory infection.

Did he stay overnight at the vet or come home with you right away?

Also, I’m a little confused by your statement that the vet cleaned him, followed by steroid shot in parentheses.

Sorry. The vet bathed him and then gave him a steroid shot. Max did not spend the night.

When Milo had his sneezing fits in last August and early Sept. it was diagnosed as seasonal allergies to pollen, mold, and mildew.

@Buttonstc; I will pass this info on to my friend. Thanks

So presumably the steroid shot was for the allergies.

She should keep a careful watch on his eyes and nose for any signs of swelling (eyes) or runniness or discharge (nose) or any other gunkiness around the eyes as this would point to an URI and she should take him in again.

Is this a new cat she recently acqured?

Recent shelter cats almost always have a cold. It’s just so hard for them to keep transmission under control.

Every cat I’ve adopted over the years started out this way in the first few weeks I had them.

This is why a lot of shelters include a complimentary vet visit as part of the adoption package.

Maybe her cat has human dander?

Rhino! He probably picked it up at the vets.

@rooeytoo: Since when can a 10lb cat pick up a rhino? Send pics please.

The same things that cause humans to sneeze, cause cats to sneeze.
Clay litter & clumping litter can cause this (because it becomes dusty). Pine litter can cause this (because of the pine). I use Yesterday’s News litter, which is made of paper pellets.

The floor should be swept, and the carpet cleaned.

And food allergies is also a cause. To limit the risk of food allergy, I use Natural Balance food.

My cat used to sneeze and get sinus infections. She has been infection-free since I took the above measures 6 years ago, and her sneezing still occurs, but less so.

@gailcalled – just like this

@rooey

Love the pic :D

@rooeytoo: Well, if that isn’t yet another masterpiece. While didn’t you accent my bulging biceps? xox Milo

@all; Max has an URI, according to the vet. Vet jabbed him with an antibiotic. Additionally, vet found a heart murmur and gave my friend (if you can believe it) the name of a feline cardiologist in Albany.

Heart murmurs can vary greatly in terms of pathological effect. They’re primarily congenital.

My dearly departed Velvet was diagnosed with a heart murmur shortly after I got her from the shelter at around 8 months old when I brought her in to be spayed.

I was initially very surprised and concerned and asked them if that meant an operation or what else could be done.

Every vet I ever took her to said there wasn’t really any treatment for it and that I should just keep an eye on her when doing anything strenuous like chasing around a lot or running up and down stairs, etc. for any shortness of breath. (as if you can prevent a cat from over exertion :) ha ha

She outlived two of my other cats, both younger than she, and lived to the ripe old age of 19 years old. And even then, it wasn’t the heart that did her in.

Fortunately, she was definitely the type of cat (like Garfield) who spared herself any excess exertion anyhow, so I never had to worry from that standpoint :)

So you can reassure your friend that every heart murmur is not automatically a quick death sentence. It sounds much worse than it is many times. At least that’s what I was told by several different vets over the years.