my cat

Question
my cat has been licking her lips a lot for the past 24 hrs and her hair is oily. She's usually very soft short hair. And she's been hiding. She has been eating and drinking water. I checked her mouth and don't see any visible sores. She does have a small sore inside her ear and I put neosporin on that last night. I gave her some refrigerated antibiotics I had and now she is in my lap but not her usual self.
hope you can help me get an idea of what's going on. thanks so much

Answer
Joyce,

It sounds to me like your kitty is sick. The oily coat tells me that she isn't grooming herself very well and the lip licking you describe can be a sign of nausea in cats. I would strongly suggest taking her to see your veterinarian as soon as possible because I am not qualified to diagnose any illnesses and it would be impossible to make an educated guess based on the vague signs you've told me about. I would not suggest medicating her on your own without a veterinarian's guidance because giving antibiotics in the absence of a confirmed infection can cause more problems than benefits. The neosporin on her sore is fine, but please don't give her any further doses of antibiotics unless your veterinarian confirms that this is a good idea and be sure to let the vet know what dose of antibiotics she has gotten, when she's received them, etc as this is important information for the vet to have. Please bear in mind that oral antibiotics for cats are given based on body weight so self diagnosing and dosing are a bad idea - in addition to that there are different types of antibiotics used to fight different bacteria and giving the wrong antibiotic for an infection won't clear it up and may contribute to antibiotic resistance which isn't something you want. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me again at any time - I'm more than happy to help in any way that I can.

Kind regards,

Ali