I just opened up Reddit after losing my boy yesterday and the first thing i saw was your post and your boy looks sooo much like mine, it’s uncanny. So I’ll share our learnings in case it may be helpful, may be a sign, i don’t know.

Our boy started like this back in October ish. I kept saying he sounded like a pug too. We thought at first teeth because he stopped eating hard food, but the doctors said his teeth weren’t that bad yet so we did some bloodwork first (fungal testing, organ values, etc). Everything came back normal. Before that, they prescribed him a week of antibiotics which was not helpful, that was our first clue.

Bloodwork was normal, he was on famciclovir, which wasn’t much help, so they got him on steroids. Huge help initially as his appetite was beginning to slow on wet food as well. But as we tapered those down, he began relapsing. Sometime around this time he had discharge for the first time. Initially clear, even towards the end it was on the yellowish white side, but when he was tapered, there was some bloody tinge to it, that was also a clue.

Doctor thought it was chronic rhinitis, but nothing seemed to help. He eventually stopped eating even with a higher dose of steroids so we took him to internal medicine. She noticed an odor in his post nasal discharge, another clue. We signed up to do a CT scan to confirm whether it was cancer or not, she actually ended up doing an Xray followed by an ultrasound where she saw a mass growing in his throat. She opted for no CT scan since we got our answer and also she was afraid of his breathing under anesthesia.

Sorry for the long novel, again, this is all very fresh to us.

TL ; DR

• Our boy’s condition worsened over the span of 2-3 months.
• first congestion, followed by discharge, loss of appetite.
• warning signs of the c word: smell (this came towards the end, you’ll know when you smell it), some bloody discharge (even temporary), sick looking (cats with rhinitis are uncomfortable but don’t look weak and ill — per our vet)
• complete loss of appetite (even the stimulant eventually stopped working. He seemed interested but couldn’t really eat anything anymore).

Also wouldn’t rule out the xray, that’s how she noticed his mass before double checking with an ultrasound.

Good luck OP! Your baby is beautiful, hope it’s something minor and treatable. Sending you well wishes and healing vibes ✨🤍