Who's in more pain?

I'm new to TheCatSite. My sick Tortie and 3 vet visits the last 24 hours has brought me to search for information and comfort on the web. I noticed the Health forum and hope someone can perhaps ease my anxiety over my 8/yo spayed Tortie...

A brief chronology:

Tuesday - Tortie showing signs of loss of appetite during usual feeding of soft food as treat. Only eats 1/3 of usual amount.

Wednesday - Slept for most of day and eats even less.

Thursday - No interest in food. Off to the Vet. Temp 103.7. Ruled out FELV/FIV. High white cell count (25.8). Liver functions normal. No obvious cause of infection. Injects with Baytril and Dex (steriod). I have whole list of tests and results if needed.

Friday - No interest in food. Elevated breathing. Back to Vet. Temp 103.6. Administers 250 ml subcutaneously and refers to another Vet.

Friday PM - Temp 102.3 at 2nd Vet. Unable to produce urine sample. Injects Metacam. Administers Baytril tab. Tells me to watch for 24 hours. Vet thinks urinary infection but cannot be certain without sample.

She is back home 6 hours but still no interest in food. Anyone with similar experience? Any advice or calming words is greatly appreciated.

Gosh, so sorry to hear this. At least you have the vet checking everything out. Try heating up some wet food (not too hot) and try feeding your kitty from your fingers. Heating increases the smell and will sometimes tempt them to eat.

Prayers and get well thoughts coming to you. Hugs too!

HAs the vet told you to try and syringe feed her, as it is getting to a critical time if she doesn't eat. But I would not do it unless the vet agrees. Then you could try salt free chicken broth, beaten egg yolk in water or cat milk, or liquidised 'soup' of cat food in water. But it sounds like you are doing everything you can.

Sending )))))))))))))}}}}Good Vibes{{{{((((((((((((( your way!!

I'm so sorry about your kitty, I know how scary that is!

One strange thing that I learned was (after vet visit, sub-cu fluids, anti-nausea pills, etc etc) that they associate their food bowl and such with being sick and so don't want to eat off it. I had to give her her food on a "people plate" in a different place and a saucer of water or she wouldn't touch it. Never did figure out what was wrong.

Did she get any antibiotics? If he thinks it an infection... I don't understand the steroids? I am NOT a vet though, it just seems odd.
Do you feel like she is getting better or worse?

The initial Vet prescribed Baytril antibiotics. I hate it when they want to use steroids. From what I know, it is used to treat almost anything (fever, pain, etc) over a very short period of time. Of course, it comes with risk of damaging organs. It is often joked that steriods can make cancer appear to go away for a short time.

Anyway, today we went back to the Vet again because the cat still would not eat. Temperature was 102.3 and she was able to get a urine sample which showed very high glucose levels. Her belief is that the high glucose level caused an infection. She also thinks the cat is diabetic but had to draw more blood to send to a lab. Results won't be back for 48 hours She administered more subcutaneous fluids. I hope she won't have any problems on Sunday because nothing is open here. So I'm now reading up on diabetes and getting conflicting facts that don't fit such as usually the diabetic cat is always thirsty. Not here.

The Vet agreed that she should be force-fed but only if she keeps it down. I'm relieved that the cat finally ate a tiny bit of soft food on her own and didn't regurgitate it - but she is still very lethargic. I'm hopeful that tomorrow she will show signs of improvment (when have I said that before?).

Again, thanks to everyone for support and input. I'd certainly appreciate any feedback on diabetes and your cat. I'll certainly post follow-ups as to help anyone else sharing a similar horror story.