My cat is sneezing and has a runny nose: often a cold, sometimes something else

Go now: the signs that cannot wait

Any single one of these is enough: you do not have to tick several, and you do not have to decide which is worst. Settle your cat into his carrier, leave, and call on the way.

1. 1He is breathing open-mouthed, or fast while lying quietly, or with his belly heaving on every breath, or with his neck stretched forward. Cats do not pant like dogs. Handle him as little as possible and leave him in the position he chose. Even if you think it is only his blocked nose: a cat breathes through his nose, and if he opens his mouth at rest, not enough air is getting through. Pale, grey or bluish gums confirm the emergency, but they are a late sign: do not wait to see them before you leave.
2. 2His nose is bleeding heavily, or the bleeding will not stop. Or his nose is bleeding and, on top of that, he is weak, his gums are pale, or you can see bruises, tiny red dots or blood anywhere else. Or it started after a fall or a knock. Or he may have got into rat poison, or eaten a mouse, in the last few days: that poison causes bleeding several days later. Bring the packaging if you have it.
3. 3His face has swollen, and his eye looks pushed forward, or the swelling is growing by the hour, or he has a fever, or he is flat, or he can no longer open his mouth.
4. 4He is cold to the touch, ears and paws, in a warm house. His gums are pale. He is unsteady, collapsing, having a seizure, or cannot get up. These signs come late: do not wait to see them before calling.
5. 5His eye is involved too, and at the same time he is flat, off his food, vomiting or breathing badly. The eye is then the visible part of something more general.
6. 6He has stopped eating, and he is drooling, pawing at his mouth, dropping his food. Do not try to open the mouth of a cat in pain: you risk a bite, and seeing nothing would prove nothing.
7. 7He is a kitten. A kitten is not a small adult cat: even if he is playing, call us now, or a 24/7 emergency centre if we are closed. Go if he has stopped nursing or eating, feels cold or limp, is breathing with his mouth open, fast or with effort, or has milk or food coming out of his nose and is coughing or flat. A nursing mother who is sneezing, or a whole litter sneezing: call us now too, and bring the mother and every kitten, without separating them. A pregnant or nursing queen who stops eating: go, she is feeding for two and has no margin.
8. 8He goes outdoors, hunts, or eats raw meat or drinks raw milk, and he suddenly becomes very ill: breathing badly, staggering or trembling. Bird flu does reach cats, rarely. Go, and say so when you call on the way.
9. 9He swallowed or licked a cold or flu medicine, a pain pill, a spray or drops to unblock the nose, a chest rub or an essential oil. Do not make him vomit, and bring the packaging.
10. 10He is diabetic, on insulin, and eating less. Call us before the next injection, or a 24/7 emergency centre if we are closed: do not decide on your own to give the dose or to skip it. If he is also weak, disoriented, vomiting, or his breath smells oddly sweet: leave right now.

For poisons, first steps by product: Toxic foods and plants and the emergency page.

Call us: today, or for an appointment

If none of the Go now signs fits your cat, there are two options left: call us today, or call us for an appointment. Neither one is called "wait and see".

Call us today

• He is eating less, he has turned down a real meal, or he has stopped drinking. A blocked nose does not add time to the clock: at the first real meal refused, call. In an adult cat, never let more than 24 to 48 hours pass without eating, and older cats, overweight cats and cats being treated for an illness, like pregnant or nursing queens, do not even have that margin (the clock explained).
• He is flat: hiding, not playing, sleeping far more than usual.
• He carries feline leukemia or FIV, he is on cortisone or another treatment that lowers his defences, or she is a pregnant queen. In these cats a cold can turn serious: it is not one to nurse alone at home.
• He is drooling or has a sore mouth, but he is still eating a little. One of the cold viruses causes ulcers on the tongue and gums that hurt badly (a cat cold's sore mouth).
• He keeps one eye shut or half shut, or squints. One of the cold viruses can damage the eye itself, and nothing goes in before the exam (the eye held shut).
• His discharge has turned thick, yellow or green, and he is less lively or eating less. Colour alone does not tell you whether he needs an antibiotic: the exam does. If he is eating and himself, it is an appointment.
• He is coughing as well as sneezing, and he is flat, eating less, or breathing faster than his usual at rest (the question on coughing).
• A little blood: discharge tinged pink, or a small nosebleed that stopped on its own, in an adult cat who is otherwise himself. But if he may have got into rat poison or eaten a mouse in the last few days, has bruises or has fallen: go now.
• All of a sudden, a fit of violent sneezing, a paw at the face, one nostril running, often after chewing grass or a plant: a blade of grass may have lodged in his nose. We look, we do not dig: do not pull on anything that sticks out.
• A lump or swelling on the nose, under an eye or on the cheek, in a cat who is otherwise entirely himself.
• He is a Persian or another flat-faced cat, and his cold makes him clearly noisier than usual, or gets in the way of eating.

If we are closed, call a 24/7 emergency centre: someone will tell you whether it is now, today, or an appointment. You do not have to make that call alone.

Call us for an appointment

These signs do not mean rushing out, but they need an exam. What changes from case to case is the speed, never whether you call, and the date gets set during the call.

• One nostril has been running for several days, or the discharge has gone from one side to both. One side points rather to something in that side of the nose: a tooth, a blade of grass, a polyp, a mass. It is not an absolute rule, and it does not change when to call. It changes what we look for first.
• He is an older cat, and he has been sneezing or his nose has been running for a few days. At his age, we do not put it down to a simple cold without an exam.
• It drags on: he is not getting better day by day, or he is getting worse, or he improved on treatment and it came back.
• It keeps coming back: he sneezes or his nose runs in bouts, for weeks or months.
• He has been snoring or snuffling for weeks with little sneezing or discharge, or his voice has changed, or he gags while eating, but he breathes with his mouth closed and without effort. That noise often comes from the back of the nose, behind the palate.
• He has bad breath, he chews on one side, and his nose is running: a diseased tooth can make the nose run too.

Give no home medications

Faced with a sneezing, snuffling cat, the temptation is to give him what helps us when we have a cold. Cats are a species apart: their liver does not detoxify like ours, or like a dog's, and several utterly ordinary products kill them.

At home: easing him while he recovers

A cat cold mostly heals with time and simple care. If a sign from Go now shows up along the way, go. If it is a sign from the Call us section, call us, or a 24/7 emergency centre if we are closed.

What helps

• Clear his nose, from the outside. Gently wipe his nose with a clean facecloth dampened with lukewarm water, as often as it builds up, never forcing or pulling at a crust; for the eyes, one cloth per eye, from the inner corner outward. Clean around, put nothing inside, and stop if it upsets him.
• Wake his appetite through his nose. Warm his wet food to barely lukewarm, around body temperature: that releases the smell. Always test it on your wrist first, since microwaves create hot spots. Stick with his usual food: a cat who feels unwell quickly links a new food to that feeling. No broth or baby food (several contain onion or garlic), and never force-feeding or syringe-feeding.
• A little steam, with you. If his nose is very blocked but he is breathing with his mouth closed, run a hot shower with the door closed. Sit in the bathroom with your cat, in your arms or in his open carrier. Once the mirror fogs up, the air is humid enough: stay a while, and take him out as soon as he gets agitated. He is never alone, never wet, and nothing goes in the water. If he starts breathing with his mouth open, steam is no longer the answer: go.
• A humidifier, if you have one: clean, out of his reach, nothing in the water and no scent.
• Fresh water available, never forced, and a warm, quiet corner to rest in: stress keeps this kind of cold going.
• If there are other cats: separate them if you can, each with their own bowls and litter box, wash your hands in between, and see to the sick one last. Above all, keep a kitten away from a sick adult. If he goes outdoors, keep him in until he has recovered: he can pass it to the neighbourhood cats. For cleaning, ask us which product to use: some household cleaners, including those with essential oils, are toxic to cats.
• No salt water drops in his nose unless your veterinarian has suggested them and shown you how: done wrong, they stress him without helping.

A cat cold, in plain words

What most people call a cat cold, veterinarians call an upper respiratory infection, or URI. Two cat viruses usually cause it, and they are not the ones behind your cold.

What we do at the clinic

We start from your cat, not from the word "cold": the exam decides what comes next. When you call, tell us he is sneezing: we take it into account for your arrival.

Frequently asked questions