When I went to get eggs from my egg lady last week (my chickens aren't laying yet, give me time! I'm new.) they had a whole passel of 10 week old kittens hanging around. We had been discussing getting another outdoor cat and my daughter's rabbit had died earlier that day so....long story short when they offered me a little boy cat for free I didn't have it in me to say no. He is a darling, but pretty much from the beginning he has wheezed when breathing, and both his meow and purr sounds congested. I don't think he sounded like that when I first saw him but I could be wrong, but a friend suggested that bringing a strictly outdoor cat inside an air conditioned house can give them breathing issues. Would tossing him back outside help? Unlike the place we got him we don't have a fence or LSG dogs or a bunch of other cats to protect him. :/ We want to take him to the vet but cannot afford to till next week. Livestock people are much more willing to try to treat their animals themselves, so I thought I would ask here, is there anything I can do for the poor fellow to help him out till we can get him to a vet? I could maybe even get him something from TSC if it would help. Thanks!
Just in my opinion, I would take your cats do the vet, not treat them at home. I don't know but cat's and dog's, as well as horses recquire a little more care then chickens. I would treat my chickens myself, because I don't really want to spend $100s of dollars on a $5 bird. Meanwhile, my rabbits are 2 years old, healthy as can be, and I don't take them to the vet. (I do have a very good vet on hand for them, but I only take them in for emergencies like stasis or something else) I'm not sure if there is much you can do (maybe you can see if the breathing changes when you put him outside). Take him to the vet as soon as you can, as breathing problems are dangerous in cats and can mean many things (bad things). Once he gets better, try to keep him as healthy as possible to avoid any future illness. Also, as well in my opinion, I think cats and rabbits live longer healthier lives indoors (unless you have a big property where the cat can't run away)
I would say a vet visit is in order as it sounds like an upper respiratory infection or something of that ilk. They will probably recommend a blood test for FIV/FELV as well. If you have another cat keep him separated to prevent the spread of disease or sickness. After he is healthy the vet's can give you a good guideline for his vaccines.