stomatitis etc

Question
Hello, i adopted two 4 months old kittens that were born in the alley.  I call them Marcelle and Mini so you know wich one has what....  At first they were sneezing alot of green snot and the vet gave me an antibiotic that seemed to cure it, but it came back for Mini and has never really left...  After seeing their gums and mouths blisters the vet said it was probably stomatitis (chronic gingivitis) since they don't have FIV.  She gave me cortisone and Marcelle is responding to it.  The redness considerably went away on her and her ears weren't so hot anymore.  I went back next week with her only and the vet had to give her a shot of antibiotic because she had bad breath and apparently lots of white cells...  Her gums are even better now, but i'm questionning the whole thing...  I know Stomatitis is a an intolerance to plaque bacteria, but aren't we just buying time here ?  The antibiotic is reducing the amount of bacterias in her system, but won't it come back when the shot effects runs out ?

And what about Mini.  The poor thing doesn't seem to respond to cortisone as well.  Her gums remained bright red throughout the treatment so the vet told me to reduce the cortisone and gradually stop (she said it might not be stomatitis after all..)it could just be that their teeth are growing...  I've been gradually taking her off, but yesterday i noticed an ulcer on her lip, her gums were worst then on cortisone, her ears were really hot,  she has bad breath and she's sneezes bloody green snot !!!....  What should i do with all of this.  Would an antibiotic help her with the infection and can it really go away ?  Their immune system doesn't seem to be able to cope.  What else could it be?

Thank you for answering.. I'm pretty worried.

Answer
Isabelle,

I'm not a vet and therefore I can't offer you a diagnosis. I do wonder if feline leukemia has been considered though, this is a virus that affects the immune system and can have serious complications throughout a cat's life. Some cats show significant signs of medical problems, others go through life unscathed. I would recommend that you check out the Ask the Vet portion of this site, a veterinarian may be able to answer any questions and offer possible diagnoses and treatment plans. I wish you and your newly adopted friends the best of luck, hopefully this will be something treatable through conventional or alternative medicine.