cat with cold?

One of my feral kitties seems to be a little sick. She'll wheeze a few times, then sneeze and then be fine, but one of her eyes is also running. She's not friendly enough that I could just grab her and take her to the vet.

Fortunately, her appetite seems to be just peachy (she is not one to pass up food!!) and besides the newly running eye, the respiratory symptoms don't seem to be getting worse. The wheezing/sneezing has been happening off and on for about a week. The other female doesn't seem to be catching anything either, though I haven't seen the male lately (but he's pretty elusive anyway).

Should I just keep an eye on her for now? Any sort of over-the-counter anything I could sneak into their food?

It's probably Feline Upper Respiratory virus - its super catchy, runs around shelters really easily, where the cats are close together and stressed. They usually give antibiotics for it - though that's more to combat secondary infections, because they aren't good against viruses anyway. Most cats recover fine eventually, but she may give it to the rest of the cats she's contacted - and kittens can get very sick. That's she's still hungry and eating is good, means she isn't super sick.

There are a couple of viruses than can cause the cat equivalent of a cold. Other than some supportive care, there's not a lot you can do other than to let it run its course. While I assume your indoor cats have been vaccinated against the viruses that can cause upper respiratory infections, if memory serves they do not provide complete protection, so be careful that you don't spread what the outside cat has to your indoor cats. Bear in mind, too, that once a cat had one of these viruses, they carry it for life. That means that they can still transmit it to others and are suspectible to getting ill again themselves.

If you notice the cat stops eating, you might try foods that are smelly (like tuna). Cats often lose their appetite when they can't smell their food. And if she really seems worse off, take her to the vet. In the very least, they can give her some fluids and/or an antibiotic to ward off secondary infections.

the danger is that if her nose gets stopped up, she'll quit eating. the other danger is of course, she will lose her eye(s) hopefully she can just fight it off. like you said, she's feral.. good luck.

Yeah - sometimes their eyes can get really gooped up and then if they get a bacterial infection because of it, it can destroy their eyesight. I would guess catching her and putting some antibacterial ointment in there probably wouldn't be easy...