Standard disclaimers - just looking for opinions here. I fully intend to take him to the vet, but we’re in the process of moving out of state and my world is a mess right now.
I have owned cats for years, but never had quite the problems with any as I do right now with Zyll.
I will try to keep the background concise, but he’s a big mess of a thing.
Zyll is almost five years old. He’s a pure white mutt kitty with long hair and blue eyes. I am fairly certain he’s stone deaf. He currently weighs about 12-13 lbs, and is approximately 20 inches from nose to rear. Stocky, short legs. Fat and out of shape.
We have two other cats, but they are all indoors only and Zyll rarely comes into contact with the others. He’s not sociable at all, won’t tolerate being held, and only the occasional scritches are accepted. He’s quite happy being solitary as far as I can tell. He has his own room, even. I set him up in a walk-in closet with his own food and water and stink-box. He can come out if he wants, but he never does. He will not abide the dog, but will sometimes play with the kitten for a few minutes.
I gave him his own space because when I had them all together, Zyll went bad quickly. He stopped using a litter box altogether, and lost weight at an alarming rate. I could feel all his bones at one point, and he couldn’t have weighed more than 6 lbs. His fur fell out in big clumps, and I seriously worried that he was dying. Now that he’s set up alone, he’s fattened up again and his fur has come back in as thick as ever. Whatever was wrong seems to have gotten better, now.
No fleas, no worms, nearly up-to-date shots. I think he may be due for some more, but after we move.
He did have ear mites (I think) and scratched his right ear so much that it filled with fluid and swelled to twice its size. I tied him up (gently) and treated his ears, and they are better, though his little ear healed all crumpled up and hard, like scar tissue.
Wow. Ok, so now he wheezes. He started doing this about three weeks ago, and at first I thought it was just snoring, but then I noticed him doing it awake. Just little snore-like noises, but on every breath.
He still sings, as deaf cats do sometimes. Meowing loudly for no reason. His breathing doesn’t really seem labored, but I am sure it will take a professional to tell. His stink box stays clean, no odor buildup in his room. At first I thought it might be too much ammonia breathing, but there’s no smell. He’s pretty well ventilated.
I know this is a lot to read, but I wanted to get as much background on this boy as possible in case anyone catches a connection. The question is - should I worry about this wheezing? Do we need to rush to the vet? I appreciate all input, and will babysit to answer questions.
