Safely Treating Your Cat’s Common Cold: A Practical Guide

When your cat has a cold it is hard to see him suffering. Humans know a cold is quite uncomfortable. You can’t sleep, eat, or do anything else. All you feel like doing is nothing.

How To Treat The Common Cold In Cats

Sometimes cat parents try to help their cats to get relief by giving them their own medication. One of the most common medications humans give to their pets is Tylenol. This is one of the worst things you can give to your pet. What humans may not realize is the active ingredient in Tylenol is Acetaminophen. Cats cannot process Acetaminophen the way humans can and the cat can end up with severe liver and kidney damage. Acetaminophen will also prevent red blood cells from getting oxygen so they will eventually die. In other words, this will poison your cat.

Things to do when your cat has a cold:

Increase the amount of water they drink. It is important to keep them hydrated. Add water to their food and flavor their water if you have to. You can do this by adding a little chicken broth or adding the water from their tuna fish into their drinking water.
Add a humidifier to their sleeping area. This will help with a stuffy head or nose to help them breathe.
When you have a cold sometimes you may have a lack of appetite. It is important to keep up your strength and this also applies to animals. Add canned food (wet food) and additional water to their food. Warm it up to help them enjoy it more. Make sure it is not too hot. Spoon feed them.
Do not smoke around your pet. Secondhand smoke is dangerous and can lead to a lot of other issues. Smoke is dangerous to a cat’s breathing system.