This section is from the book "The Cat", by Rush Shippen Huidekoper. Also available from Amazon: The Cat - A Guide To The Classification And Varieties Of Cats And A Short Treatise Upon Their Cares, Diseases, And Treatment.
A cat may take cold in the head just as a baby might do, with inflammation of the mucous membrane lining the nose, the pharynx or larynx. The symptoms are a discharge from the nostrils, more or less difficulty of breathing, due to the obstruction of the nostrils, which are filled with matter, and choking of the throat, due either to the inflammatory condition of it or to the discharge accumulating in the throat. In the former case pressure on the throat will produce a spasmodic cough, and show that there is a tenderness of this organ. Simple catarrh is attended with but little fever or constitutional disturbances.
Bronchitis is an inflammation of the tubes leading from the lungs to the exterior. In this the cough is more violent; there is a discharge from the nose and throat, but the amount of phlegm is increased after an attack of coughing. By auscultation, or examining the chest-sounds by the ear, mucous râles can be heard as the air passes through the matter which partially fills the bronchi.
Simple colds and bronchitis do not require much treatment. The cat should be placed in a quiet, darkened corner, and be protected from drafts. It should not have food forced upon it, although it should have a small saucer of water, in which can be placed a little bicarbonate of soda or flowers of sulphur, and a small saucer of fresh milk, which it can take if it wants. It is better to place only a small quantity of milk at a time, as the owner can then judge how much the cat is taking, and there is no chance of the milk souring. If there seems much fever, a drop or two of aconite can be placed in two tablespoonsful of water in the saucer, and renewed when the water is finished. If there is much inflammation of the throat, a dose can be given every few hours of one grain of quinine, two drops of fluid extract of belladonna, and five drops of syrup of squills, in a teaspoonful of sweetened water; and the throat and sides of the body can be rubbed with cam-phorated oil.
 
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