weird noises

Question
I recently found an approximately 1 year old male cat. He was malnourished and had one eye matted shut. We took him in and had him treated for an upper respiratory infection and had him neutered and vaccinated when he recovered from his cold. He is white with blue eyes with slight gray coloring in his tail. Now that you have his background, he makes weird noises. They sound like he his grunting or maybe doing a lazy purr, but I've had cats all life and worked for a vet and never heard such weird sounds. He seems healthy, plays, eats well, good litter habits, but my son says it sounds like he is struggeling to breathe. I really feel that he's not because he shows no signs of distress, but I was wondering if you have ever heard of this in other cats? Thank you.

Answer
Marci,

Cats are capable of over 100 vocalizations. However, it is possible that, if the upper respiratory involvement was severe enough, he could have some vestiges of the problem that will never go away.  I have had cats sound as if they had allergies after a prolonged upper respiratory problem. If you pick him up and do not feel rattling in the chest, I would not worry about it.  You can always take him to your vet and have him checked out for possible breathing difficulties.

Best regards... Norm.