Ideas to bring down a fever?

Hi all,
I am looking for ideas to bring down a fever. Whiskers has had a temperature of around 104 for about 10 days and has not been eating much during this time. My main concern is that she is not eating and losing so much weight. I have tried different kinds of wet and dry cat food, treats, baby food, chicken...she is really finicky and doesn't really like to eat anything other than her regular food. She prefers chicken flavors and has never had any interest in fish flavors.

We have been to the vet multiple times...she is on prednisone for lymphoma and currently on Gentocin (antibiotics) injections. Prior to the Gentocin, she went through a round of Cefa-drops, a different kind of antibiotics. She had a herpes flair up during this time but her eyes look much better now and it appears to have run it's course. My vet said that her fever could be causing her lack of appetite but said there's not really much you can do to treat a fever...he did suggest sub-Q fluids but that was mostly to combat dehydration.

I would appreciate any suggestions to get her to eat or help bring down the fever. Feel free to ask questions if you need more information from me.

Precious recently came down with a bug and had a 104 fever, no appetite, wouldn't move at all. The vet gave her an injection of Ketofen and she was like a new cat 8 hours later. It's an NSAID so it's my understanding that it shouldn't be given often or when it's not totally necessary, etc...but it sure made a huge difference for Precious. It kicked the fever. Her appetite and energy were back like magic. Of course she needed a round of antibiotics, etc after that, but the Ketofen made her feel a lot better.

My vet told me the same thing, i.e. the fever was killing her appetite. From what I saw, that was true.

EDIT, I did some quick reading and it seems that Ketofen "may" interact with Prednisone. That makes sense. Hmmm..ask the vet. I hope she feels better soon.

The sub-Q fluids should also help with bringing a fever down. That's what we did for Spot (though unfortunately, his fever was related to heart failure--the fluids brought the fever down, but they also made his heart problems worse). It is really important to get food into your kitty. Have you asked the vet about an appetite stimulant, or have you tried assist feeding?

Thanks beandip and cloud_shade for the suggestions.

On Thursday, my vet gave her an IV injection of Valium and it worked like magic. She went from backing away from the food plate to pigging out in a matter of seconds after getting the Valium. We had tried appetite stimulant pills when she had her first herpes incident and nothing worked except the Valium. It worked like a charm this time as well...that night she came home and ate a little but her appetite has declined again and I was getting worried.

On the advice of a very kind TCS member who PM'd me, earlier, I put an ice cube on her forehead to help bring her temperature down. After a little bit of time, she started eating some of her wet food...not a lot but more than just a few licks.

Just now I offered her more food and she some of it, again. I also put an ice cube in her water and she started drinking as well. Let's hope she continues this. I am going to try to feed her again before I go to bed. Hopefully the many small meals will help get her appetite and energy back.

Oh, and the other thing that I think helped is that I opened a new can of food and rather than put it in the refrigerator, I capped it and stored it my microwave. Seems like she does not like the "leftovers" that come out of the frige.

Please send Whiskers "eat more" vibes.

In humans, a bandanna wet in cool water (but wrung out well) and tied around the neck relieves the feeling of being overheated, because it cools the blood passing between the head and body. I've never tried this with a cat, but it might work... you could wet a cat collar, or wrap a wet cloth around one.

In hospitals, they sometimes use wet sheets to cool the body down, but since this is a cat I doubt she'd like getting much of her body wet.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try that.

PS - check out my new sig with Whiskers