Hi folks, I am looking for feedback on if anyone knows anything that might be able to help my ailing Cleo cat. She is old (19-20, don't know her exact age) so it just may be her time, but she is truly one of the special ones and I want to try to bring her back to health if I can.
After seeming fine on Sunday, she suddenly went downhill in a hurry on Monday. She looked lethargic and weak and wasn't eating any food. I brought her to an emergency vet overnight and then to her regular vet the next day, and she didn't look good. Both said they wouldn't know for sure without more tests like an ultrasound, but that it looked like it could be kidney failure even though her levels didn't come back too bad.
On Wednesday she started to perk up a little bit although she still wasn't eating or drinking and didn't move all day out of a particular hiding spot she had chosen. I started feeding her baby food via syringe at this point like the doctor suggested. On Thursday and today she started drinking again although other than taking two or three bites out of her normal food on Thursday, she hasn't seemed interested at all in food and I've had to give her the baby food. Plus she still has no interest in moving out of her spot. I have taken her a couple times onto the bed and couch for some cuddles, which she usually likes very much, but she'll stay there with me for about 2-5 minutes or so and then just walk back to her spot.
Other than that and the fact that she seems to be sitting down very gingerly when she sits/lays down or shifts resting spots, there's no real outward symptoms of what might be wrong as she doesn't look nearly as weak as she did on Monday and Tuesday. She's been a lot more receptive to me as I come near and seems alert and aware, whereas she seemed to be on death's door earlier in the week. I got optimistic yesterday that she might be bouncing back, but I talked with the vet today and she isn't nearly as optimistic, saying that Cleo should have been showing more life if the medication we have been giving her was working.
I'm not sure where to go from here. I want to keep her with me because Cleo is the sweetest little heart that there ever was and is my kindred spirit, and I know she'd want to stay with me if she could. But I also don't want to put her through pain. The other tests that the doctors brought up were stuff like an ultrasound and a 24-hour hospital stay for monitoring; money is an issue for me but I might think about doing them even though the vet said they might not be of much help. I'm wondering, can anyone here think of anything else that I could try that might help her? Thanks so much for any advice you could give.
