First dental surgery, now a URI :(

My poor Oliver had most of his teeth extracted 2 weeks ago due to stomatitis. He's 14 and has early stage crf. He has been very slow to recover but after a week he was just starting to come around and eat a little on his own when he came down with the sneezes and now he has a stuffy nose and is back to not eating . I am giving him 50 ml of subcutaneous fluids daily to keep him hydrated and a vaporizer in his room. I'm syringe feeding him about 3/4 can of AD a day.

I'm just wondering how long the stuffy nose should last? He's getting stronger from the surgery and is more alert and moving around a lot more than he was but he is still off his food. I've tried everything--heating, fancy feast, treats...nothing interests him. When will my baby eat on his own again? I'm starting to feel very discouraged and worried about the syringe feeding. I expected him to have pretty much recovered from the whole ordeal by now.

I am so sorry to hear about Oliver.  As for the AD, would he eat that before?  Our 17 year old renal failure kitty hated the stuff.  She was very particular about what food she would eat and mostly licked the gravy off of all of it.  The conclusion the vet, and we, came to was to  let her eat whatever she wanted... while its true that certain foods are more healthy for her, not eating certainly isn't healthy. I can imagine his mouth is probably sore... and it will be a bit of an adjustment getting used to not having teeth. Once the gums toughen up a bit he might be able to gum a lot of stuff but while they are so tender and he is adjusting, I would just try a variety of foods and textures and let him eat if he is hungry.  If you have him on a constant pain med, he might just not be feeling hunger, but as the pain meds wear off and he starts feeling like himself again, his appetite should pick back up. With Alex, she went a few days without eating, would start eating again, would take a turn for the worse and woudl barely pick at food for a day or two, and them boom, would be eating again like a champ.  By the end of her days, she had lost a great deal of weight... but it was not boom, one day healthy kitty, next day, broomstick kitty.  It was just a gradual change.

It's good that you are syringe feeding him for now. Has he had a respiratory illness before? Do you know what might be causing it? I would talk to the vet about it and see if anything else needs to be done. The vet may be able to assess whether this is a viral infection or possibly a secondary bacterial infection has set in which may require antibiotics. 

Poor Oliver, sending many healing vibes his way