How to Treat Cat Flu

Video Transcript

"Let's talk about how to treat cat flu. What cat flu is referring to, basically, are a multitude of respiratory viruses, that is, upper airway viruses. There are multiple ones. There's chlamydia calesse virus, there's herpes viruses. There are some bacteria, like bordetella. So a lot of different things that can cause upper airway, flu-like symptoms in cats. These cats, typically, no matter which one they have, will present themselves a lot of times with ocular, or discharge, coming from the eyes. Also discharge coming from the nose. There's usually a lot of sneezing, coughing, that sort of thing. And very commonly, cats have fevers. They'll also, very commonly, not want to drink or eat, so they can get very, very sick very quickly. And so the way we deal with flu-like symptoms in cats is depending on how they present to the veterinary clinic. A lot of cats that have an upper airway virus have a secondary bacterial infection, and so antibiotics may be part of that therapy to clear up that green, ocular, nasal discharge. Also, we're going to make sure that these cats are eating and drinking. If they're not drinking, we may give them fluids or something like that. They have to keep eating and drinking, or these cats can get very, very sick quickly. Now, a lot of these upper respiratory viruses are a part of a normal, annual visit or annual vaccines for cats, so check with your veterinary clinic and they can help you decide which vaccines are correct for you. If you think your cat may have flu-like symptoms, get your cat into your clinic, because they can decline very rapidly and have a lot more complications if they're not eating or drinking."