I'm really panicked and worried about my cat, Diablo. He's an 8 year old DSH cat that I got when I was 12. He was a barn kitten. He's been my fur baby since I brought him home.

Since Thursday night, he hasn't been acting like himself. I haven't seen him eat or drink since Thursday night, as well. Diablo is a very people oriented and friendly cat; he's always demanding attention and wanting in your lap. Since Thursday night, he's been hiding in corners in one of the bathrooms, hasn't been out for cuddles, or in my bed at night. He didn't meow within the last 2 days until this morning, when I was taking him to the vet. (He's a very talkative cat, fyi.)

He's been very lethargic, doesn't really respond well to noise or his name, and has been drooling a lot. Every once in a while he gets terrible tremors. Also, he does have brief moments where he's almost like his usual self, but they only occur in really short bursts.

I took him to the vet this morning, and he claimed that he couldn't "find" anything wrong with my cat besides a very high fever. Gave me antibiotics, told me to monitor him over the weekend, and shuffled me out the door. I was in and out within 20 minutes, tops. I feel kind of disgruntled about it and I really feel like there's more going on with my cat than just a high fever.

I just feel really helpless on what to do to make him remotely comfortable, or if there's anything I can do to help make him feel at least a little better. :c Help?

If I were you, I'd take him to another vet and get a different opinion. It could be any number of things. I have a hard time believing your vet didn't take a blood or stool sample.

[edit] I was hoping to get you a more concrete answer with PetMD.com, but with the symptoms you listed, it was a huge list of possible problems. I hope you can get to another vet soon to find out for sure and I hope Diablo will be okay.

Yes, he didn't do blood or stool work, which was very disconcerting to me. Stool sample may have been iffy with my cat's current state, but blood work could have been possible. I was not a happy camper to be sent out with only antibiotics and a "high fever" as the cause of his illness.

However, he has improved slightly with the antibiotics. He perked up quite a bit tonight, enough to run around the house while meowing up a storm. It was definitely heart lifting to see him in a better mood. It appears that he used to the litter box, or at least went into it, which is a start. I couldn't get him to eat yet, unfortunately, and I still have to aide him in drinking water via an eyedropper. The lack of eating and drinking on his own is what's really concerning me still. I'm tempted to go out and find something liquid for him, like kitten formula, so I can at least get something with nutrients in his system until he can eat on his own. But I don't know how good kitten formula would be for him. :x

Im pretty sure kitten formula is really bad for adult cats. I remember reading somewhere that once a cat becomes an adult they stop producing some sort of enzyme that kittens have to break down milk/formula. It might just be to break down milk though. Which is why you are not supposed to give adult cats milk.

Anyway, I would certainly say get a second opinion. Cats typically don't show signs of sickness until it is very serious. If you have a larger pet hospital near you, I would try there, though it will probably be more pricey.

I don't know. I've heard that kitten formula for sick cats is okay, in small amounts and broken up with feedings of wet food. He just isn't eating food in general, and wouldn't take pieces of wet food from me when I tried feeding him last night. I'm worried that he's so sick that only things in liquid form is how he'll have to get nutrients until he has the strength to actually eat. I'm just worried sick since he hasn't eaten in days, no matter how hard I've tried.

If you havent already, try mixing some food with the water in the eye dropper. It may be easier for him to eat it that way.

I would stay far far away from kitten milk for him... with his age it isn't good to be giving that to him anyways- You could try boiling some plain chicken and rice and letting him eat that.. full of protein and the starch in the rice will help keep him from having an upset tummy. I would def. check into another vet if he doesn't improve by tomorrow morning.

I know what the others have said about the kitten milk but I fed it to my cat when he was attacked by the dog and his mouth was too sore for him to eat. The vet said it was a okay for him to drink and I did research online and again found that it was a okay for him to drink. You shouldn't give it long term though because it's designed to help kittens bulk up, and it can easily make your cat fat. And it's also not a substitute for water. I used KMR, which was the best rated brand I could find and could only be found at my local Soldens. DO NOT GIVE WHISKAS CAT MILK. It's VERY poorly rated and its filled with all kinds of nasty things. KMR is the best definitely.

I will agree to getting the opinion of another vet. If he's not eating and drinking, there could be something wrong with his mouth. How has he been breathing? Maybe he caught an upper respiratory infection. When cats can't smell, they will not eat or drink, at all. That was partly the problem with my cat. The dog bite went into his sinuses and he couldn't breathe properly and wouldn't eat. Then his feline herpes kicked in and gave him a URI.

Also: Kitten milk has low to no lactose, which is what cats have a problem with in cow milk. Cats are naturally lactose intolerant which is why you should never give them cow milk. Kitten milk has little to no lactose.

I'm not certain what brand I picked up this morning, but it was definitely not Whiska's. I'm trying a wet cat food/kitten milk mixture first, with more wet cat food than milk to encourage him to eat. I'd rather not make him dependent on the milk once he's better. The milk makes it a lot easier to suck up with the eyedropper and so far he's taken it well without a fuss.

My dad is thinking it might have been the infection he had a little over a month ago that wasn't knocked out completely, though an upper respiratory infection sounds a lot like what he's experiencing. His breathing appears to be fine, no coughing or wheezing at all. He drool is rather muscus-y, though, which makes me wonder about a respiratory issue.

He shouldn't get dependent on it, don't worry. My cat drank it when I watered it down so he got the fluids in him, but he moved back to his dry food as quickly as he could. (he never liked the canned food oddly enough). Are you giving him the pate kind of cat food? You know, the stuff that's purred instead of like little chunks of food in gravy.

It could have very well been the infection, cats are notorious for hiding their symptoms so it's difficult to tell when something is wrong until it gets bad. Plus most cats have feline herpes, especially ones that come from shelters or weren't from breeders. It's largely harmless unless the cat undergoes some big stress or anything that weakens their immune system, and then it can lead to a URI like what happened with mine.

It's the canned food with the chunks and gravy, since they don't carry the other kind at the stores around here. Otherwise I would have grabbed some. I've got it smashed up the best as I could. My cats typically get a little bit of wet food at night as a treat as it is, so I know he'll actually eat this stuff without a problem.

If you have a blender you could try pureeing it in that. My cat didn't want it but that's because he didn't like the wet food, but it's a possibility if your cat will eat it if you just leave a little in the bowl for him and he can lap it up. It's strange that no store around you has any kind of pate. I got a huge case of it at my supermarket.

Just as a general update, his condition has not improved. (If anything, it's gotten worse.) I can tell he's in a lot of pain, despite his attempts at being somewhat normal.

I will be taking him back to the vet tomorrow as soon as I get off work. All I can do is hope that someone can finally help us.

Is there a chance he may have eaten something he's not supposed to? Is he an outdoor cat at all?

No, he was not an outdoor cat.

As a general update, I had to put him down this afternoon. His kidneys were failing and he had severe ulcers in his mouth. There was no way to truly save him; we could have put him on an IV to prolong his life by maybe another week, but the vet said that he'd revert right back to how he currently was once he was off the IV. So rather than prolong his suffering, I thought it was only fair to let him go.

I'm so sorry about your boy. <3

I'm so sorry. I know it must be hard, I almost lost one of my babies recently myself. At least you know he doesn't hurt anymore.

I"m so sorry you are going through this. YOU NEED TO GET A SECOND OPINION!!!!! My cat, she's 3, when I got her from a foster agency, she was malnourished, her gums were so swollen over her teeth she couldn't eat.... I wonder how in the hell could the foster agency let her get like that. Visit after visit to the vet, the second to the last time I went there, they had to pull !) TEETH!! She said that jojo had a massive infection in her mouth and her teeth were falling out. MY GOD!!!! my baby!!!! 2k later, she's got hardly any teeth. She gave me antibiotics, pain meds - and went back the last time, she said she needs to have the rest of her teeth pulled... THAT'S when I said, wait a minute, this isn't right. So got a second opinion, vet was WONDERFUL, he helped her heal and unfortunately she DID have to have the rest of her teeth pulled. Poor baby, now she's got no teeth. But she's all better and the vet came to the conclusion that she's allergic to cat nip. That means most of her toys get tossed out, but at least she's eating normally and playing. It's sad but cute, when we wrestle, she 'gums' me when she bites me. It's hilarious, but then inside I feel so bad for her....

again, get a second opinion, it will be worth it.

I'm very sorry. This kind of thing is a failure on the vets part generally, and I recommend always getting a second opinion if it doesn't seem right. He's in a better place, and not hurting now though.

Thank you for the advice, but my kitty passed away a few weeks ago.