My cat isn't feeling well! Please help.

For approximately one week now, our cat displays symptoms of depression and seems sick. He started our by seemingly having trouble breathing, he now seems to be breathing better (or in a more calm way), however, he is now just inactive, staying on the couch all day and all night, in the same spot. I have to bring him his food and water of which he will only consume very little. He seems to be losing weight and is lethargic. He is a rescued cat therefor we only know his approximate age between 10 and 14. About one week prior to this behavior, the vet put him on an antibiotic. He had been making a lot of noise during the night and day and was also throwing up from time to time, usually 2-3 times per week (sometimes large amounts of hair). His nose has also been continuously blocked, which seemed to be causing his breathing problem. The vet suggested that he had a thyroid problem. His thyroid was, however, checked twice and was normal. Within two months we've taken him to the vet twice and still don't know what's troubling him.

FYI, he was recently put on a low protein diet for his kidneys, which were in the grey zone when checked initially. He has also been tested FIV positive.
Please note that he does eat and drink water, but we have to bring it to him. He appears to feel uncomfortable when standing up; he is resting 99% of the time.

Please help! What could be causing this? Since I have already taken him to the vet twice without any success, I would just like to hear your opinion before spending more money at the vet. (Please keep in mind that he was not feeling bad like this when we took him to the vet; they just ran a bunch of tests and were not able to diagnose him properly). Ironically, It seems as if though he started feeling bad after being on the antibiotic. Prior to getting sick, he was also drinking water outside (I don't know if something like this could have caused an allergic reaction, heart worm, etc).

Thank you so much in advance for any comments and/or recommendations.

Aw, thank you for rescuing this kitty!

So when was the last time he had blood work done?
And the vet put him on an antibiotic... because he had an upper respiratory infection? (The difficulty breathing?)

Some cats do not react well to some antibiotics (though it's not usual, it does happen).

Did he have an X-ray done to see what his lungs looked like? Did they rule out pneumonia or asthma? Was he tested for heartworm? His heart is OK?

Unfortunately, only a vet can really address all these issues. But losing weight and being lethargic means he's sick and he needs medical attention.

In the meantime, run the shower really hot and get the bathroom steamy. Take him in there. Just like for people, the humidity will help his sinuses. You may also want to get him on L-lysine: 500mg (1/4 teaspoon given 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night). A lot of us use the NOW powder - sprinkled onto wet food, it melts right in and they eat it without a problem. It will help with the URI (if that's what it is).

If he's got asthma, that's a different animal.

The fact of the matter is that he's FIV positive, so his immune system is compromised. You don't know how long he's had it, and while it is a slow acting virus, it does takes its toll on the immune system. As they age, even a simple URI can need to be treated more aggessively (with a stronger antibiotic than normal, used for a longer period of time). But asthma might be a problem, as it is an immune-related disease.

Also, if he was living outside, he could have all kinds of parasites, and with the FIV, he may need additional treatments over other cats, as his body can't "fight" them as well, even with the medication.

Chumley (FIV+) received the standard protocol for round worm, which in all our other rescue kitties took care of the situation. But a few months later... and he threw up a round worm. So we're going through the treatments again, and this time he'll get them every three weeks for at least three treatments, and maybe four.

And if he's been an indoor/outdoor kitty, you really ought to bring him inside full time. There are too many things outside than can make him sick or cause him problems with his immune system not being normal.

As to the hairballs... are you giving him anything for them? We started our Chum on 1/4 teaspoon of Slippery Elm with his morning meal and 1/4 teaspoon of Slippery Elm with his evening meal. We mix it with 1/4 teaspoon of aloe vera juice (we bought George's as it has no flavor as opposed to an organic). It becomes a kind of gel, and we mix it into his wet food. He eats it without a problem, but our other cat with hairball issues won't eat it LOL. It seems to be working for him... but this is under the supervision of his holistic vet, as we've got him on a whole program to address his allergy/dental/FIV problems.

Sending vibes for your boy. It can be a little expensive to get our rescue kitties healthy those first few months, but it's worth it.

I have no idea if you'd find any of this helpful or not. It's not directly related to the problems you're experiencing. But thought I'd give you the link to Chumley's health journal, just in case there may be anything helpful to you. http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=224483

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. I truly appreciate you taking the time to help Jules. He is such a sweet cat and deserves to feel well. He has not had x-rays done or had his heart checked. The vet only checked his thyroid and kidneys.

Something else just occured to me. There are plenty of FIV kitties that don't have allergies - but this is something else that could be part of the problem. Vomiting can be caused by so many things... hair they're not passing, parasites, illness - or allergies. But part of the problem might be that he's got an an issue with allergies. If you want to find out, the easiest way to do it is to put him on a hypoallergenic food. We used Hill's Science Diet z/d (unfortunately it's expensive and only available from the vet ). Don't make our mistake, however, and feed him the dry version. It has a known trigger in it (brewer's rice). The canned version is truly hypoallergenic. It can take 6 weeks - a couple of months to see a full improvement. But if part of the vomiting problem has been an allergy, that should stop pretty quickly. Then you can migrate him to a higher quality, less expensive food.

And does he feel hot when you feel his ears or touch his forehead? If he's got a fever, you really need to get him to a vet sooner rather than later