PROBLEM: We took my 5 year old adopted cat to the vet about 4 months ago because he started wheezing and sneezing really bad. They informed that they were not sure what is wrong with him but provided a prescription of Lysine Treats. They didn’t help much. His breathing gets bad on and off. Sometimes he's fine and sometimes he breaths really hard. I no longer use sprays or anything in the house and clean with dawn dish soap and water almost every day to keep the dust away but he's still having issues.
I know he still isn't comfortable.
Do you have a suggestions?”
Charlie the Vet’s ADVICE:
For our sneezing and wheezing feline friends we basically try and determine whether it's the upper part of the tract affected (nose etc) or the lower (lungs).
I'd imagine your vet did a full physical exam before providing the prescription, but that helps determine where the problem lies.
By the sounds of it there probably wasn't anything too exciting on physical exam. You say you adopted your cat but haven't said how long you've had him, so he could well have had this problem before.
I would strongly advise you take him back to your vets, although his breathing is intermittently ok, when he has periods of difficulty it can be very distressing from him and you.
The next step would probably be either chest x-ray ( if the physical exam suggested the lower part of the tract is causing the problems) then if it is something like feline asthma we get pretty characteristic patterns show up. Chest x-rays are useful at ruling out other causes of breathing difficulties too.
Your vet may also choose to do a blood sample to rule out an infectious cause. As your cat probably has an unknown history, it's not unreasonable to assume cat flu could possibly be the underlying cause of his difficulties with him just having secondary bacterial infections from time to time.
I hope this helps.