Catfish

I am taking to my blog to write about what is going on with Catfish - mostly because I need to talk about it without having to actually talk about it. If that makes any sense. He's such a great cat. I know I've posted about him before, but just as background for those who haven't been around him, he really is amazingly sweet and very much a lap kitty. He's 9 and has been with us pretty much all his life. He was a stray who showed up in our yard and "adopted" us. He used to be indoor/outdoor (predominately outdoor), but after almost witnessing him get hit by a car, he became strictly indoor.
Now, the way I see it, there are two types of people in this world: some people will merely make note that their cat has crawled off into the bushes to die, and other people will pull the cat out of the bushes and take it to the vet. I fall into the latter category. It's an expensive category.
Catfish had lost quite a bit of weight recently, but I didn't really realize how much until my mom and brother commented on it when they saw him at Christmas. He'd pretty much stopped eating and then two or three days ago he started vomiting bile (an indication of an empty stomach). I took him to the vet Wednesday (New Years Eve). He's down to 7.75 pounds from 12-13. He had no fever, no abnormal heart rate or rhythm, and his blood work and urine sample were pretty much normal too. But he was dehydrated, so he got some IV fluids and we sent some more blood work off to an outside lab to test his liver. I was sent home with a syringe to force feed him (by squirting liquidized food into his mouth) if necessary (and it has been). By this morning I could tell he'd taken a turn for the worse. He wasn't moving much and hadn't been to the litter box at all (despite having had IV fluids).
So, I called the vet on the after hours line as he told me to. He asked me to bring Catfish in and met me at the office, which was closed for New Years. Catfish had a fever of 105.5 (normal can be up to 102) and some pain in his abdomen. He got some more IV fluids, an antibiotic shot, a shot for the fever, and a shot of pain medication. We are waiting on the blood test results tomorrow to see how to proceed. He may have something called "triaditis" which is a combination inflammation of the liver, pancreas, and bowel. It's reasonably well managed if we can get him back up and around and eating again. He could live for many more years, so it is worth it to try and get him well, but all the tests are expensive (not to mention the emergency trip to the vet's office on his day off).
I am really hoping it all turns out ok. I love Catfish and I have enjoyed seeing Penny interact with him, and I know Tray would also be heartbroken to lose him. I'll post again as I get more information.