Content
Did you know there are home remedies for flu in cats? Cats are prone to respiratory illnesses and the most common is the cold. Have you seen your cat less active than usual, looking for a source of heat, watering and sneezing? Most likely you have the flu. This is a slight problem, though no less important.
At PeritoAnimal we will give you all the information about the flu in cats and the home remedies you can offer to help your cat's flu cure process.
feline flu
The flu in cats can be simple and transient, but if you don't help your partner overcome it by treating the symptoms, complications may arise, causing secondary airway diseases. There is no direct cure for feline flu, that is, it is cured by letting the virus do its process and suffering the symptoms as lightly as possible until the disease ends, which can take about 10 days. When it's a mild illness, you can try to follow a symptomatic treatment at home, but always bearing in mind that if your pet gets worse, you should take him to the vet immediately.
In healthy adult cats, the process will take about 10 days, but in small cats, nursing mothers, sick individuals and elderly cats, a simple cold can become complicated and lead to more serious problems such as pneumonia. Therefore, we recommend that if your cat is in the profile of one of the weakest dogs, in case of a flu, take it directly to your trusted veterinarian.
However, if your cat with the flu is, in general, in good health and is an adult, you can take care of him in a more peaceful and economical way, which can help him to overcome the flu before the average 10 days that the process usually takes.
The fact that your pussy has a cold tells us that it is most likely that you have been with the low defenses due to some lack of food, so you should boost his immune system and confirm that he has no other problem or illness that might have caused his defenses to drop.
The best prevention is to follow the vaccination schedule that your veterinarian indicates. Also, you should always be wary of drafts and sudden temperature changes when caring for a cat that has a cold.
Cat gets flu?
This disease in cats has nothing to do with the one that usually occurs in humans, so we cannot infect each other. Flu in cats usually occurs in the winter months due to low temperatures, but it is also very common during hot months due to drafts and sudden temperature changes.
Like most respiratory illnesses that occur in cats, the flu, like the feline flu virus, is a disease. highly contagious among them. Therefore, if you detect that you have a cat with the flu at home and it lives with other cats in your house or neighbors, you should isolate it as much as possible during the viral process and wash your hands well before and after being with it so you don't contaminate others.
Feline Flu Symptoms
To know if you have a cat with the flu, it is important to be aware of flu symptoms in cats. Luckily, they are quite evident and clear:
- difficulty breathing
- Nasal and ocular secretion
- Fever
- sneeze
- Reduced activity/low energy
- loss of appetite
- Conjunctivitis
- Third eyelid swelling
- throat irritation
- Cough
Home Remedies for Cat Flu
Below, we'll explain a series of home remedies and basic care that can help minimize the flu symptoms in cats. It's good to be aware that there is no magic formula, these home remedies for feline flu are things you can and should calmly do to ease your symptoms.
Know that the prescription of medications can only be carried out by a veterinarian, as well as the recommendation of Vitamin C to your cat. Remember that cats are very sensitive to medication and are at risk of being intoxicated if you administer human medicines and/or without professional indication. For this reason, always consult a veterinarian.
More than applying home remedies for flu in cats, it is important to know what to do and how to treat flu in cats:
- You must help him eat, since alone you will eat very little or nothing due to the lack of appetite caused by the viral process. As it is essential that the animal continues to be nourished so that its immune system is strengthened, you should help it by stimulating its appetite or giving it food. Because of the flu in a cat, it will be more difficult for him to notice smells and tastes. So if you offer hot food with a lot more smell or cold food that has a strong smell, like canned tuna, your cat may want to eat more. You can also add chicken broth to the usual ration which will soften the ration and give it much more flavor, making it easier to ingest. If you notice that he has taken a long time to swallow due to an irritation in his throat, we recommend that he crush the food and it will be much easier for him to swallow and digest it. If he still doesn't eat alone, you should bring the food closer to his mouth and nose, and even open his mouth a little and make him taste some of the food, maybe this will whet his appetite. Another way is to run a forepaw through the food, because right away the cat will lick it clean and it may make you want to start eating.
- It is very important that you provide heat either at room temperature or with blankets he can curl up in and sleep in. This is the best home remedy for a cat with the flu.
- You must provide him plenty of fresh water, since this viral process easily causes dehydration.
- avoid all possible air currents that might exist at home. Drafts are completely undesirable as they tend to worsen the picture of feline flu and a cat with a stuffy nose.
- Help him clean his eyes and nose, so that uncomfortable tears and mucus accumulate that form crusts and cause hygiene problems. With a sterile gauze and saline solution, you can clean your cat's nose and eyes, using a different gauze for each eye and another for the nose, thus avoiding possible contagion. That way the cat with the flu will breathe and see better. Also, if you have conjunctivitis, you will need to clean your eyes with any eye solution your veterinarian prescribes. If you notice that he has a very blocked nose, you should give him saline solution inside the nose to favor cleaning and decongestion.
- Increase ambient humidity with a humidifier. If you don't have a humidifier or vaporizer, give her steam baths. For example, you can let the hot water run by keeping the bathroom door and window closed so you will have plenty of steam in the bathroom and your cat will be able to breathe in the steam for about 15 minutes, this will help move and expel mucus. At this point, it's important that you don't leave your cat alone in the bathroom.
- let him rest a lot and sleep soundly. Don't make him play or go out in the street, he needs to regain his strength.
- Once you've gotten over the process, it's a good thing to help you prevent possible relapses. you can do it with natural supplements like homeopathy for cats which boosts their immune system, for example beta-glucans.
- If, after 4 or 5 days of the viral process, doing everything mentioned above, your cat does not improve, it is important to consult the veterinarian immediately, as it is likely that the condition has complicated and should be treated as soon as possible.
Now that you know the top home remedies for cat flu, check out this video where we explain 10 common cat illnesses:
This article is for information purposes only, at PeritoAnimal.com.br we are not able to prescribe veterinary treatments or perform any type of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case it has any type of condition or discomfort.