Cat Acting Sick

I have a 13yr old cat who is diabetic, and he has been sick for the past week and a half or so. He gets normal shots of insulin, twice a day. Last week my father observed my cat turning in circles and then falling down. We took him to the vet, and she assumed it was an inner ear infection, bc my cat would not let her touch his ear on the one side.

She prescribed anti biotics for the ear infection, but he never got a chance to take them. He began not eating, and my mother (just on instinct) still gave him his insulin shot. Later that day he was found unresponsive on the floor. My parents rushed him to the vet, and his body temp was extremely low.

My vet thinks it might be a brain tumor or the ear infection. But an MRI to confirm the tumor costs $1000.

Were taking him to a pet hospital tommorow to see if they can help diagnose him better. As for his condition right now, he is very lethargic, and is refusing to eat, but is still drinking water. It really pains to me see him so... not his normal self; all he does is just lay on the floor all day.

He also prefers to not lay on his left side.

~ Im getting all these intial facts second hand. Im a first year college student, who is 4 hours away from home. So I did not see his intitial syptoms prevent. But if it really is a tumor... I dont want him to suffer and will probably put him to sleep; bc he does not deserve to be in pain this way. On the other hand if its merely an infection; i just want him to get better. I am home now though, just got in friday.

Any opinions? or advice?

Have they been able to try the antibiotics yet? I can understand not wanting to spend thousands on diagnostics. If it were me, I would try antibiotics (ask the vet if they will give an injection of the antibioitic instead of giving you pills--you may have to go back each day, but it may be easier than trying to pill the kitty in this case) and see if they help. When you do so, ask the vet how long it usually takes to see results (that's one of those questions I tend to forget until I get home) so that you know what to expect. Unfortunately tumor and stroke are both possible causes and probably can't be determined without very expensive diagnositics like and MRI. Vestibular disease is another possibility, and it can be idiopathic (no known cause)--more information about it can be found here:

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body...r_disease.html

I'm afraid I am unfamiliar with this and cannot give any advice. It must be driving you nuts to be at school and not to be with your cat I hope that it's not as serious as a brain tumor. It certainly doesn't seem like it would hurt to try some antibiotics to see if it helps