Sick :(

I hate for this to be my first post, I'm just terribly concerned.

My cat is 3 years old. She's mostly an indoor cat who escapes from time to time.

She usually sleeps at the foot of my bed and has never been the type to hide under the bed... ever.

About a month ago I noticed the pad of her front right paw was slightly swollen. I thought she might have stepped on something, and thought of taking her into the vet, but she didn't seem to be bothered at all so I didn't.

About a week ago she started sleeping under the bed in the spare bedroom... and then she just stayed under there and wouldn't come out. I finally took her to the vet. She had a fever and was dehydrated so the vet gave her some antibiotics and a shot and sent her home.

I've been giving her the antibiotics, but she honestly doesn't seem to be doing much better. She's not vomiting or anything, but she acts like it's painful when she tries to drink. She is eating though, but not much. I've started giving her water in the dropper after I give her the antibiotics to make sure she's getting more fluids.

The option I have is to take her back to the vet, I just feel liek he didn't help much, and i don't know if maybe I should find a new vet. I thought I'd try to get advice here as to what might be wrong.. if there's anything more I can do... if I should be more concerned... if I need to rush her to the ER... I'm just scared.

She eats a very good dry food (I read all the ingredients on several before picking this one) that is corn free, lamb based, etc. She won't really eat wet food or treats. She only will eat the dry food, she's very picky, so I think the chances that she got into something weird and ate it are very slim. She just won't eat anything but her dry food ever. Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I would go to the Er.

how long since the antibiotic shot? 'cause it would take a couple of days to see any results from that.
keep giving her the water - is she dehydrated again? there's a 'scruff' test you can do to check...
here's something i found online...

[font=verdana,arial][font=verdana,arial] To evaluate for dehydration, feel your cat's gums. They should be moist and slippery. Lift the skin over the nape of his neck or scruff; it should fall back down right away. In the dehydrated cat, the gums will be tacky and the skin over the neck will stand up like a tent or fall very slowly back to normal. Weight loss of a pound or two over a day or so also signals dehydration.[/font][/font]

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Sorry it took so long to reply. We had a bit of a chatoic week at work - and I've been extremely caught up in that. I am going to take her back in on Monday. She appeared to be doing slightly better, but she's still hiding and just acting sick. A friend of mind said she looked "old" (she's about 3). Her gums and eyes look good (even the vet commented on that), and she doesn't appear to be dehyrdated anymore (scruff test) but she's still just so mopey and not herself. It's really freaking me out. She's not the type of cat to hide at all, and she used to follow me everywhere, greet me at the door, etc. But now if I find her and sit on the couch with her, if I get up and leave she won't move for hours. I'm just worried about what the vet can even do... I'm starting to wonder now if she has a broken bone or something (though she seems to be walking fine) or maybe some tooth problems, and I just wish I could help her out. She should have gone back to the vet sooner, I just kept hoping the antibiotics would work... (she was on amoxicillian for a week)

I would take her back to the vet. There is a possibility that she needs a different antibiotic. If she's been on the antibiotic for a week, it should have made a difference.

My vet has Saturday hours...is there any way you can get her in? Cats like to hide their infirmities, so if she acts sick, she IS sick.

Did the vet only give her an antibiotic shot? If she got her booster vaccinations at the same time, that could explain her lethargy. She should have her temp taken too, because it sounds to me like she's still feverish.

Well. She went to the vet this morning. The vet took some bloodwork and said the results would be in Monday. She gave her another shot of antibiotic and some kind of water balloon or something to hydrate her? Anyway, about midnight she started to breathe very heavily, so I took her to a 24 hour emergency clinic. She got in the door and just left about 10 minutes later. She stopped breathing. No one knows what was wrong with her and that's what is killing me... she was only 3 years old though... and everyone who saw her recently just said she looked old. I don't know if I should have done more, a big part of me is just telling me there's nothing I could have done, but I just feel awful. It's hard losing a pet... I just didn't feel like it was her time...

So sorry about that.
When my Yoshi was pts last Jan he looked like he was 15 but he was only 5.
It was kidney stones with they think fip.

The vet called today with her bloodwork from Saturday morning. I guess the emergency clinic had called him to let him know she'd died. She was positive for feline leukemia and had very low white blood cell count. I feel awful, and I'm especially baffled because she was vaccinated and rarely went outside (only when she escaped...). There are 2 other cats in the house so they're going in on Monday to be tested. I just feel... so awful about it. I did everything I could to protect her... and she was just a baby (well, kind of... she was 3). She was a stray when I got her as a kitten, so for all I know she's had it her whole life, I don't know if her first vet checked her for it before he vaccinated. I just hate to see her go that way. I didn't think I'd be as shaken by all this as I am, but she was my cat, the other 2 in the house aren't really mine. I just feel... terrible. I didn't want the cat when I got her, she just kind of found me, and I fell in love with her. She followed me around everywhere, would greet me at the door, slept with me every night.... I live with my parents while I'm in graduate school, and I had to do some things all weekend there, and when I walked in the door last night at 1am my mom was up just crying... she knew she was going to die. But she still said when she heard my car pull in the driveway her ears perked up, even being as sick as she was. It's so hard because it was just completely unexpected.

I am so very sorry

So sorry about your cat.
My Cats do not get that shot because it has been known to cause leukemia.
My lucy would be alive if she had not had those shots also.

I am so sorry.

Oh sweetie, I'm so very sorry! Don't be so hard on yourself; it sounds as if you did what you could for your baby. I imagine she was truly beyond the point of the vet being able to help. Sending you