Don't know what to do for the best

[Justonedayatatime11]

My teeny weeny tiny little white cat is unwell. She came to me from the RSPCA full of giardia, practically yellow with both her eyes semi closed and they didn't tell me she was from a feral colony.
She's 18 months now and this morning at the vets she was weighing 2.5kg she still has baby teeth, some of which need to come out. Vet also wants to do full bloods etc. She looks so unwell. I don't know what to do for the best for her. My insurance doesn't cover dental work.
For now she's had antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and she's not in any pain. She's my baby, and I feel like I'm failing her

Bloods back. No FIV or FeLV. He can't rule out calicivirus, or, more worryingly, FIP . Got a weeks worth of metacam and 5 days of panacur, see how she gets on and back to vets next Thursday. They may want to do ultrasounds/scans and x rays. She's wolfed down 2 plates of food since we've been home and some fish and just seems to want to be on my lap all the time

She doesn't look great in that photo, so I understand your concern.
Do you have a PDSA near you? They might be able to help with the dental?
She's eating, so that's a good sign

My old girl was full of fleas, anaemic and thrown over my garden wall in a carrier bag as a kitten. She made it to 20 despite only being not much more than kitten size her whole life.
The price for the dental seems excessive. Second opinion?

What's wrong with her teeth, why do they need to come out?

I only ask b/c I had such different opinions about my cats' teeth.. they didn't come out and my cats haven't suffered at all. But mine were quite well, so the apparent tooth issues wasn't a problem at all for them.

Ok, for some reason she still has the majority of her baby teeth, and god knows how, but some of them are bad, she has receding gums and they're not sure if there's actually any adult teeth behind the baby ones.
I don't know what to do for the best. She's most content curled up on my lap, she'll have a very slow wander around the garden, but she's not into much more than that.

I'm sure the vet has reasons. I would want to know what benefit the tooth removal is going to bring her. Reduce pain, remove infection?

Are the teeth problems thought to be related to why she doesn't eat enough?

Would definitely alleviate pain, she eats plenty, but never gains any weight. She's found herself a patch of sunshine in the garden to curl up in so I'm going to leave her be for now

Why doesn't she gain weight?

Possibly related to the giardia. Having said that, I've just gone into the kitchen and found the little madam pigging out on the sausages I'd left out!

Does she still have chronic diarrhea? The giardia treatment is supposed to be effective after 1 week. How long have you had her? Are you sure she's 18m and not an elderly cat with hyperthyroidism?

When I got her she was 12 weeks old, so no, she's definitely not an elderly cat...
she's always had diarrhoea on and off, she's never been a well cat. It may just be wishful thinking on my behalf but she seemed marginally better yesterday. Maybe the antibiotics kicking in

What antibiotics? Why ... bacterial infection is the only problem you hadn't mentioned previously (I think).

She had a long lasting antibiotic jab on Thurs as she had high temp and displaying signs of possible cat flu, which she's also had twice previously.

Just been back to vets again. They think she has FIP . Taken yet more bloods, but won't get results until next week. Absolutely devastated

I’m so sorry. Poor girl.

I'm so sorry. You and her have been through a lot but you have tried your best. Fingers crossed it isn't FIP

Oh god. I hope it's not that. Fingers crossed for you.

I'm so unsure of what to think. Yes, she's always been a sickly, tiny little thing. And having cat flu again for the past week hasn't helped. But she's still eating for England, interested in things and attempting to catch birds/butterflies/anything that moves. I know FIP is really difficult to diagnose and I don't want to give up on her if there's any chance that it's not that. Vet now wants to scan her to see if there are any masses, which would indicate dry FIP. She's not displaying the typical pot belly associated with wet FIP. I don't know, I'm not a vet, but judging on past experiences, she's still so lively for it to be FIP?

Small went off to the vets this morning. Epic temp of 40.5 although she had gained a tiny bit of weight. Vet has just called to say they've scanned her and found no fluid, no masses, no lumps, just some slightly enlarged lymph nodes. Anyone know what that could indicate? Infection of some kind?

I don't know, poor little girl though :(

You're a fantastic cat mum

No advice but rooting for you both op.

Picking her up at 4.45 so the vet will speak to me then. Even she commented this morning on how feisty she is. It's all a bit odd, as she's eating for England, still wants to chase the butterflies and play with the others. Still affectionate and full of headbutts and purrs. I just hope it's nothing serious

Keeping paws and fingers crossed here.

Same here xx

Fingers and claws crossed for you here. Hope the news is good and whatever is wrong with her is easily sorted. xxx

Punch drunk on ketamine. But vet is baffled. Apart from high temp and enlarged lymph nodes they can't find anything. Biopsies should be back Friday so hopefully that will give some answers. She's desperate to get the bandage off her leg and was even more desperate for food