Colds have their way of affecting a whole litter once one kitten catches it. Alexandrite was the first kitten to show signs of a cold when she first started sneezing.
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Little Alexandrite sick with a cold,
with her trusty companion, Baby Hockey |
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| Resting up |
Alexandrite's sisters, Miss Amber and Opalescence, then caught it and finally her brother, Onyx, succumb to the dreaded cold.
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| Onyx, Opalescence and Miss Amber pre-cold attack |
Miss Amber and Opalescence had been adopted and picked up by their new family when they suddenly started sneezing, so when I checked up on them a week later, I was told that they were getting worse and were sneezing all over the place. *VOKRA gave them antibiotics for their colds, so I'm sure they are all better now.
Onyx never got a full blown cold like Alexandrite, but he was constantly sneezing and was very wheezy. The first night I let the kittens sleep with me, every time Onyx would sneeze, he would wait until he climbed up to within inches of my face before he sneezed right into my face. After the 5th time of getting sneezed on, I thought it would be best to put them in their room ... and then I went and washed my face off.
I was alarmed to see a few days later that Onyx had a bloody nose after he sneezed so I immediately spoke to Maria (co-founder of *VOKRA) to ask if this was a huge concern. She told me not to be worried as all the sneezing was causing Onyx`s nasal passages to be irritated and inflamed. She told me to put Onyx into the bathroom and steam up the room so that the steam would soothe his nasal passages. I immediately did that, but realized that I did not want to waste too much hot water keeping the room steamy, so I plugged in my stand-alone clothes steamer and left it in the bathroom to keep the room steamy. I also opened up a jar of Tiger Balm and put it high on a shelf so that the kittens could not get to it. I also gave Onyx the balance of Alexandrite`s Azithromycin medication, which (surprisingly enough) only took 2 days to be effective. They are now both back to their regular cute selves, so onto the adoption website they go!
Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association
