Cotton's big pile of issues

I'm not really looking for advice on this one, although I'm not against it. I just need to get this out because I'm exhausted.

We're dealing with a bit of a perfect storm of issues with Cotton at the moment. He cut is mouth and that got a bit infected, he's developed bronchitis, his diabetes isn't under control yet, he's had a couple ulcers show up in his mouth and we think he's having a flare-up of something. We've long suspected he was exposed to Herpes or something because he has "seasonal colds." Unfortunately everything's hit at the same time and his poor battered immune system is just struggling. He won't eat on his own and, but we are getting about a can or so of food into him a day. He's interested in the food, just not in eating, which makes me think that has more to do with his mouth being sore than anything. He's still alert, still doing things he likes, a lot less congested and sniffly than he was at the beginning of the week and clearly hasn't given up yet, but I'm so worried about him. The vet's puzzled and we have a ton of painkillers and antibiotics for various things.

I've always known in the back of my mind that his health would eventually catch up with him and I know he's either going to come out of his like he has in the past or we'll end up saying our goodbyes, but I'm so afraid for him.

So I guess the short form of this is if anyone could spare and vibes, thoughts or prayers for us, I'd really, really appreciate it.

Thanks everyone.
Do I ever know what you mean, Katie. I wish I could just explain to him that he has to eat, even if it's uncomfortable.

We had a pretty good night and a decent morning so far. The little brat has decided that he hates his pain-killers and will actually pretend to eat them, hold them in his mouth and spit them out when he thinks I'm not looking. It took us 9 tries to get him to eat the thing last night so I've resorted to crushing his whole batch of pills (painkiller and antibiotics) and mixing it with the first few bites of food he gets. I'm probably just convincing him that the first bite of every meal tastes like , but it's working so far.

He's eating a can of a/d a day. The vet gave it to Mike with instructions on how to mix it into a syringe and that seems to be working. We're pacing his food into 3-4 meals over the course of the day because we find he's actually really good at letting you know when he's full...and one whole can of food is a lot for him.

Last night he decided that he'd had enough of his sick room so he went of for a wander...all the way down into the family room in the basement to watch sports with Mike, use the big litter box and sleep in the clean laundry. He made his way back up during the night and actually gave me a pause when I got up in the dark, started down the stairs and found him sitting there looking at me, so I ruffled his fur and kept going until I realized that he doesn't sit up when he's not feeling well. He seems more alert this morning. He's tracking noises a bit more and looks at his food bowl as though he's thinking about eating normally before deciding against it and waiting for me to get the syringe.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling post. I'm just hoping things get better from here. We're due to get a new insulin for him to try this week, since we can't really stop trying to treat his diabetes while everything else is going on.

Thanks again for all the good thoughts.

We're on Caninsulin twice a day,but it doesn't work at all so we're switching to Levemir either today or tomorrow, depending on when the vet gets it in. I can't wait. We plan to home test, but with everything going on, we haven' started yet.

Last night was scary. Cotton was okay until right before we went to bed then was so very listless...we were terrified that was it so we sat up for an hour holding him....but then he shook himself,got up and looked at us both like we were a bit nuts, but he loved us anyway and toddled off to his latest favorite place for the night. This morning he came in with my alarm and sat to make sure I got up, which is huge and fought like a fiend against eating (although I did get about 1/3 of a can into him) So I don't know where we are anymore. I keep seeing little signs of improvement, but it feels like one step forward 3 steps back...