Help with a sick cat?

Smell can be a factor to get the cat to eat and canned food gets smellier if it is warmed up.  When I have a cat that is being fussy and with older, ill cats, it has been effective to warm food a little in the microwave (just seconds) to release more smell.  Human baby food is sometimes more palatable to them, too!!  Good luck - hope the puss eats something soon.

Definitely try warming (just a little) some stinky canned food or baby food (chicken, turkey or beef with no onion added).  If the cat isn't used to eating a specific brand of cat food, I'd try Fancy Feast.  Sure it's not the greatest, but most cats love it.

He might also try syringe feeding some Nutri-Cal.  He can also use a syringe to feed baby food.

Once a cat stops eating (for whatever reason), it's often hard to re-trigger the desire to eat.  Often the only way to do it is to force-feed them a bit using a syringe.

What about dehydration?  If that's a factor at all, he may need some IV fluids.  Sometimes that can make a huge difference in how a cat feels.

cypro something (perhaps someone will know the entire name but the vet should know what it is) is an antihistimine that stimulates appetite in cats. The cat will be sleepy, but hungry.

This might simply be the FIV rearing its ugly head, sadly. Years ago I lost a cat to FIV and she stopped eating near the end.

A good slurry food is NutraCal mixed with AD canned cat food and Pedialyte. Make it soupy and feed with a plastic syring. Could add some Karo corn syrup (just a drop) for a boost of energy.

Thanks for the help, guys. The vet is giving the cat some sort of appetite booster, but they're pretty sure it's renal failure and aren't at all optimistic. :( I'm pretty worried about my dad right now - this cat was definitely his best friend, and his step-mother is also in the hospital right now and things are not looking good for her, either. :(

I'll pass on the tip about the NutraCal. Apparently the cat, Catlett, turns his nose up at anything that's been microwaved, lol. Poor cat... he really is a gem of a cat. My father claims he is an "old soul" because he seems so "grounded" and wise. 

 So did the blood show renal failure? It is pretty common in older cats and as someone else said, near the end they will usually stop eating. Fluids can, depending on the situation, often give them some more quality time. If they didn't see signs of renal failure, in the blood work, did they get a really good look inside of his mouth to make sure there was no problem there.

Yep, blood work points to renal failure. :( Poor little guy. At least he had an incredible 8 years living with my father instead of alone in the woods like we found him. 

Cita

Yep, blood work points to renal failure. :( Poor little guy. At least he had an incredible 8 years living with my father instead of alone in the woods like we found him. 

I'm sorry. I was hoping that maybe he just had a bad tooth or something like that.

We lost one of our cats, just a week ago today, and so I'm pretty fresh on knowing what your Dad is going through. However it was cancer with our Max, not the kidneys. I have lost cats, in the past, to kidney failure though.

Did they try fluids at all?