Stuffy and sneezing

My 4 year old cat has been really congested over the last week or so. He is sneezing and really stuffy. None of my other cats are sick. I have tried steam room, Vetoquinol Viralys Gel L-Lysine Supplement for Cats(which has worked in the past) and humidifier. He is eating and drinking but sounds terrible while trying to sleep. At what point should we go to the vet and what else can I do to help him? Thanks

Hello!  A week sounds like a long enough to me; if there is no improvement then it is definitely already a good time to be talking to vet, if you haven't spoken to one already.  If you are in the UK, vets appointments may take a while to get at the moment, so they might ask questions in order to triage the situation (to figure out how soon the case needs to be seen).   Reducing stress can help with respiratory diseases, but also keeping them in if it may be infectious.  Wet or damped dry-food may make less dust than dry, and increase water intake. Wishing you luck and please let us know how you get on, and if there's anything else you later wish that you have known.

Hello!  I have rewritten this for clarity.   A week sounds like a long enough to me; it is definitely already a good time to be talking to your vet already.  If you are in the UK, vets appointments may take a while to get at the moment, so the receptionist might ask questions in order to triage the situation (to figure out how soon the case needs to be seen).  Reducing stress can help with respiratory diseases, but keeping them in may be helpful to other local cats, if it may be infectious, so there is a trade-off between these two things depending on your individual cat.   Wet food, or soaked dry-food, may make less dust than dry-food, which is better for the respiratory system.  It may also help to increase water intake.  Steam-rooms can be useful, but only providing that they don't stress the cat out.  Wishing you luck and please do let us know how you get on, and if there's anything else that you later wish you have known.

Hello!  I have rewritten this yet again for clarity!  Hopefully it makes more sense this time.        A week sounds like long enough to me; it is already a good time to be talking to your vet.  If you are in the UK, vets' appointments may take a while to come through at the moment, so the receptionist might ask questions in order to triage the situation (to figure out how urgently the case needs to be seen).  Keeping your cat in may be helpful to other cats, but so may reducing stress.  There may be a trade-off between these two things, depending on your individual cat and their lifestyle.  Wet food, or dry-food soaked in water, is preferable to unsoaked dry food which may create dust.  This might also help to increase water intake.  Steam-rooms can be useful, but only if the process doesn't stress the cat out.  Wishing you luck and please do let us know how you get on, and if there's anything else that you later wish I had covered here.

Don't worry, I'm not about to rearrange those sentences again - I think they read ok now.  But here is some more information that you might find interesting.   One possible disease that presents as a snuffly nose is a Herpesvirus;  there's a good article about it in the blog (search or cut and paste into your browser): https://vethelpdirect.com/vetblog/2021/11/02/could-my-cat-be-at-risk-of-herpes/ Other causes may include "cold"-like infections that are taking a while to clear, nasal polyps, tumours, allergic rhinitis and foreign bodies in the nose, such as grass-blades, and of course, tumours - although this is far from the most common presentation and in my experience, have usually presented as a one-sided discharge.  I hope that something here helps and sorry for the multiple retypes.

Thank you I will get him into a vet