Kitten with perpetual sniffles

Zul the Conqueror

My roommate and I got two kittens about a month and a half or two months ago. One of them had an upper respiratory infection shortly after we got them, had to be hand-fed for a few days, and was on antibiotics. They're both quite healthy now, they eat plenty, run around like the crazies they are, and are very happy.

But the one who had the infection before has never really kicked the sniffles. She sneezes several times a day (that I observe) and her nose is definitely a little snotty. She also gets more buildup in the corners of her eyes than other cats I've known and the edges of her eyelids are kind of red.

Like I said, other than this she seems perfectly healthy and happy, so I'm not inclined to take her back to the vet (we can't really afford to take them to the vet if it isn't serious).

Has anyone else had a cat with chronic sniffles like this? Any idea what it might be and if there's anything we can do to help her out?

EDIT: Required pix (old picture, she's a bit bigger now):

Everywhereasign

If she had a URI, Feline Viral Pneumonia is fairly common. Although mine was acting quite lethargic when he had it. I know you want to avoid the costly vet bills, but if you have a good raport with yours you might consider just giving them a call and explaining the situation. Although they will probably default to "bring her in and we'll have a look", you might get some idea of what you're dealing with.

I'd play the, "don't have money right now, can it wait a month or so" card and see what they say.

Not to freak you out, but FVP can be quite serious depending on how bad it is. My little guy was scaring me for a couple days before he started to improve. But like I said above, he was also acting really sleepy.

Zul the Conqueror

Yeah, she really seems perfectly happy and devishly energetic. The two of them fight all the time, jump on our laps, they're up all hours of the night, etc. So from that point of view I'm not concerned about her health. One thing that we've wondered is whether cats can have allergies... at least in humans that's the closest thing I can think of. 'Cause she's happy and healthy, just sniffling most of the time.

naporeon

It could be Chlamydophila felis. One of my close friends just had a kitten that had problems with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlamydophila_felis

NexusSix

We have several cats and they all go through sneezing fits here and there--theyr'e like humans when it comes to stuff like dust and other particles getting in their nostrils. Still, Everywhereasign is on the money--URIs are nothing to mess with and can cause a lot of complications, so do whatever you can to get the kittens checked again.

Eye seepage is fairly common with cats (it's actually a form of herpes that felines get), but with the redness you're seeing, this one sounds a little more serious than the occassional "eye boogers." Again, do what you can to have the kittens checked again or at the very least get on some cat bulletin boards and see if anyone has more specific or professional feline health advice they can give for free.

Aurin

Zul the Conqueror wrote: »

Yeah, she really seems perfectly happy and devishly energetic. The two of them fight all the time, jump on our laps, they're up all hours of the night, etc. So from that point of view I'm not concerned about her health. One thing that we've wondered is whether cats can have allergies... at least in humans that's the closest thing I can think of. 'Cause she's happy and healthy, just sniffling most of the time.

Do you happen to smoke, or are you cats around people that smoke? My oldest cat seems to be allergic to cigarette smoke, so that could be it. He had no end of the sniffles and goopy eyes until we started smoking outdoors.

Feral

What kind of litter do you use? Switching to some clumping dust-free litter might help.
Is the environment relatively clean? Dust and other animal hair in the environment can aggravate some cats' respiratory systems.

Zul the Conqueror

Yeah, the apartment is not the cleanest in the world, so that could be part of it. And we use some sort of Arm & Hammer flushable litter... not touted as dust-free, so that could contribute. Thanks for the advice!