My cat is still very sick despite many vet visits

[Birdiebonita]

Hi there. My girlfriend's cat, Birdie, was a stray. In 4 months I've never seen Birdie healthy. My girlfriend says she's always been sick.

Girlfriend had taken Birdie to the vet numerous times. I know they've tried a couple different antibiotics and childrend's benadryl, but nothing has improved her symptoms.

Birdie is visibly worn down. Her tail was busted as a stray, she's very small, definitely was the runt of the litter. Her fur is always a mess if you pet it.

She has cold-like symptoms:
1.) She has a wet cough. She'll get real low to the ground and start heaving like a hairball but you'll hear the sound of phlegm deep in her lungs. She will strain and cough about 15 times she loosens the phlegm in her lungs. When that happens she will cough a big glob up and choke on it briefly and then swallows it.

2.) Sneezing. She might honestly sneeze 100 times a day. Often times she sneezes in bunches. It's just a rapid fire of 10 to 20 quick sneezes. Snot gets everywhere. Each sneeze produces thick snot that covers her face and nose. The floor/wall/blanket/or person in the fire zone also receives thick blasts on cat snot left from the explosion.

3.) Very congested breathing. She's very loud. When she eats she has to stop and breathe out her mouth just to get air. You can hear her constantly.

Vets haven't been able to figure out anything to alleviate the symptoms. I feel bad for the cat. It's really kind despite being sick all the time.

Anyone have any ideas to help her?

When I get home I'll post some videos of the events if that helps.

[hazelrunpack]

Have you tried L-lysine? Not sure what the dosage is, but I know a fair number of people who have used it for stubborn respiratory symptoms in their cats, with (often, but not always) good results.

[Birdiebonita]

I don't think that had been tried yet. How long would it take symptoms to improve? Any recommendations going forward if that doesn't help?

[Barkingdog]

Did the cat have any ex rays , to see if there any foreign object in her lungs or check in nose to see if anything in it ?

[hazelrunpack]

Originally Posted by Birdiebonita

I don't think that had been tried yet. How long would it take symptoms to improve? Any recommendations going forward if that doesn't help?

I'm more of a dog person, so not much experience with cats, but if you search for "L-lysine cats" on the board, there are a fair number of useful threads that come up. Here's one that talks a little about dosing but doesn't say how long it takes, unfortunately: Common cold?

If you search for "upper respiratory infection" or "URI in cats" and read through some of those threads, you may get some ideas for further treatments if the L-lysine is ineffective.