In January my 16 yr old kitty had a seizure, and her gradual weight loss was speeding up. After lots of blood work she was diagnosed with IBD and put on steroids which seemed to help for a while but she was still loosing weight and her appetite was poor. At the rate she was loosing she didn't have a lot of time left.
Last week I noticed she suddenly had this giant lump on her jaw and it was oozing. So off to the vet we go, he sends me home with antibiotics and has me come back Monday for x-rays. She has a large abscess near her jaw but it's not any of the teeth so they don't have to pull any. Friday I ran out of antibiotics and took her back in to weigh. She gained 4oz in a week! :) She still has a considerable lump on her jaw and is working on a new round of antibiotics we're hopping she'll keep up this weight gain and by Friday will be back up to 7 lbs. That will put her at a pound less than normal but gives me hope that she will get better.