Brendan recovers from URI

Brendan is finally better after a pretty bad week. First Fergus broke out with aa cold. Our vet said he was probably stressed out from having one of those under the skin infections cats get from a claw dig ( probably from wrestling with Silas). So Fergus had a trip to the vet where he got a shot and then twice a day doses of Clavamox. Then he started sneezing.
Silas seemed to avoid it, since he had been vaccinated, I think, at the shelter. But poor Brendan at sixteen got a cold for the first time ever.
He started sneezing and his eyes started running and he couldn't breathe and he was just plain miserable. I would bring in the shower and turn it on hot and steam up the bathroom to give him some relief. During the day he was completely listless and blue and he would lie near the woodstove. I would play his favorite music, Bach, and some nice quiet new age stuff. But he wouldn't even purr. The good thing is he kept on eating when I would bring him warm wet food. He liked itr quite hot, almost bath tub temperature. And he developed a taste for warm water, hopping in the tub where I would run it for him. Sometimes I would bring him a bowl of hot water and he would drink it.
Once again, there was the foul tasting Clavamox, but this seemed to make him nausous so the vet agreed we should stop it. Also, the infection seemed to be purely viral so there was no reason to give it to him unless we suspected a bacterial infection. Olof was afraid Brendan would get pneumonia.
At night he would snuggle up inbetween us and we would keep him warm. We were afraid we were going to lose him.
But after some very bad, miserable days he started to get better and we had hope. Then, at last, we heard a purr and the sneezes got less violent. Then Brendan let us know he felt better. It was obvious how thrilled he was about it. He would sing and sing, that funny kind of musical purr my mother calls trilling.
Now I have to look into whether Fergus is a carrier for this and if Brendan can be vaccinated so it doesn't happen again. It is called, I believe, FHV, or Feline Herpes Virus and it is no fun.