Feline aids - any hope? UPDATE: He's gone

I have no experience, i just wanted to tell you I am sorry.

No advice or information but I just wanted to say I am sorry. 

I have never even heard of this, but I am so sorry.

We fed one of our cats for about three months using a syringe and feeding her three or four times a day. We even had to give her water. She did not mind the feeding that much. Eventually, we found out why she was so reluctant to eat on her own was a cancer growth in her jaw bone and when it got too bad we had to let her go. But, what I am trying to say, since you know the reason your precious is not eating, it is not wasted effort. But only if he is not hating the feeding. If he is fighting and using up all his energy in the fighting you have to figure out what the long term prognosis is. Do you want the last weeks or months of his life spent fighting you over eating or will he take the food without too much stress. Our cat was very laid back and did not stress over much of anything. Will yours be the same? If by feeding him you are helping him to get better then it might be worth it though. What does your vet say?

You need to know that when a cat quits eating anything, he can develop fatty liver disease which is deadly. if your hope is to get him over this and get his strength back, be sure he gets food in him everyday even if you have to feed him with a syringe.i

I am so sorry you are going through this. It is so hard when our fur babies get sick.

HUGS

Absolutely there is hope! Especially if it is FIV (what some refer to as "feline aids.").
How old is he? What are his symptoms other than not eating?
What did they do for him in the hospital, most importantly, what did they give him as an
appetite stimulant (and did they give you any to take home)? Antibiotics?

~~>Get cyproheptadine from them (a cheap med, usually comes in little 4mg tabs you cut in fourths & give twice a day), INSIST on it
(and don't let them tell you mirtazipane instead). <~~  I have had cats on cyproheptadine for years, gets and keeps them eating

SYRINGE FEED until he eats on own (blend canned in a blender with a bit of water). Preferably add the contents 2x/day of a 500mg free-form (no extra bad crap added)~~> L-Lysine <~~
(like Solgar or TwinLab brand). L-Lysine is AMAZING when given to build the immune system & help them recover from things like an upper respiratory infection (which they get with FIV because their immune system is compromised). Upper resp also = can't smell food=not eating. Note: best oral syringes don't have the black plastic part in the plunger, they are just white molded plastic. Last longer & easier to use.  You can wash those over and over too. Put "Ezy Dose Calibrated Oral Medicine Syringe 2 TSP (10 mL) " into Amazon search (SOMETIMES you can find them at CVS, bring a printout of the Amazon one to show them to the pharmacist to ask so they don't give you something useless). ---OR ASK VET's office to set at least 3 aside for you) I like to have several pre-filled and ready to go when I'm about to syringe feed. There are instructions all over the net on how. This site is the BEST: felinecrf.org/persuading_cat_to_eat.htm

I CANNOT believe they'd send you home without any of this & without having you do syringe feeding!

We had a cat with FIV that was an adult thrown outside (how he likely got it) before we brought him in and adopted him. He was the most sweet, gentle boy in the world, and I was a mess when we got FIV+ on the FIV & FeLV combo test. Fortunately I was surrounded by people who knew about it and assured me it wasn't anywhere near as scary as people make it out to be. Obviously we kept him inside, and there was no worry about deep bite wounds (what needed to transfer it to a cat) with our other cats because he was so gentle & they loved him.

He had a horrible upper respiratory thing going when we took him in and once we cleared that up, he lived with us (healthy as a horse, minus a few sneezes here & there & we'd immed give L-Lysine for a couple weeks)....~~> for another TEN YEARS <~~~ until he got liver cancer (which all happened very quickly). I can't imagine not having my boy & what I would have missed due to fear. Hope the same for you.

Just wanted to add it is an absolute MUST that any baby food chosen have NO ONION POWDER on the label (many do).
Last I used it Gerber's 2 foods Turkey & gravy had none. Always recheck labels for changes. You don't want to have to do that long,
because cats need taurine & other additives in canned cat food (so better to blend that).

Also, people try things like feeding from hand or spoon before going to syringe (you'll know in a few mins whether that will work ot not).
Within a day or 2 of starting cyproheptadine you should start seeing them eat on their own, and then monitor amounts

I'm so very sorry! You have beautiful pictures to remember him by and I'm sure lots of great memories. It's so hard to make that call, but just in what you described, it sounds like it was time. Take comfort in knowing you didn't allow him to suffer too long.

I’m so sorry. He’s beautiful.

so sorry for your loss...

Aw - so sorry for your loss...

I am sooo sorry. He was a beautiful cat and I am glad he knew your love.

I’m so sorry. He was a beautiful kitty.

So very sorry for the loss of your buddy.. It was wonderful that you let him visit the outdoors.