Very sick cat or is Vet scamming me?

Sounds a lot like cat flu

I think it’s up to you and the vet to make any diagnosis I don’t think people on a forum in a different country can add much more or should be attempting to
It sounds as if he is well on the mend and he ll soon be home with you unless you are going back to Germany and he’s staying in Morrocco anyway it sounds much better news all round

Good luck with your cat

Hello,
His temperature dropped, so he has no fever and he stopped coughing/ gagging. Also, nothing had been done in regards to the breathing issues, to this day the vet is still positive that wasen't it.
His diagnosis is still very unclear to me, he said something about his oesophagus and how we just needed to wait for it to heal, so maybe that's where the infection was. I am thinking upper respiratory infection , or maybe him vomitting the hairbal caused this. I looked it up on the Internet and the symptoms kinda match.
They are still keeping him though, as he is sneezing and has nasal discharge. Other than that, he started eating a little again.
I am hoping I can get him out tomorrow. He looks so miserable there...
Any idea on this condition?
I will keep you all updated. Thank you for the support

Reemah: I am so sorry that your poor cat is so unwell. I don't have any helpful suggestions, I'm afraid, but you do have all my sympathy - it is so worrying when much-loved pets get ill. We had a lovely pussy-cat, Wilbur, whom we got from a friend and had until he was nearly 16, when he developed a problem with being sick all the time and then stopped eating.The vet took him in to try and fix things. He didn't tell us that they were going to tube-feed him. We went to see how he was getting on and he was a shadow of the cat he was when we took him in. I knew he was desparately upset when I called as I could hear him crying over the phone. I wish with all my heart that we had let him stay at home and let nature take its course as he was so upset at the vets. We gave him a cuddle and then he got in his basket at the vets and I knew he was ready to go, so the vet put him to sleep. I'm sure if we had kept him at home, he might not have got better, due to his age, and the illness, which turned out to be kidney failure, but at least he wouldn't have had to go through the tube feeding and the terrible upset of being away from home. I still cry when I think about him and it was a few years ago.

Muffingthemoo how unwell? Can I hope for a recovery?
GoldenAge, if the stories of other people who commented are not enough, I could explain why I am suspicious. It is possible and it happens. Doesn't make all vets bad.
But at this point, giving how bad my cat is doing, if the vet is too busy conducting the most lucrative tests for him, then he is not focusing on my cat. That is my worry and people have posted reviews accusing him of his.
It is only my right to worry, knowing that such a possibility exists and seeing my baby's state worsen.

For people asking about his age he is 12 months.
We did not castrate him before because not all family members agreed. Neutering/spaying is not obligatory and as common here as in other countries.
The doctor who he is seeing now is the one who castrated him. He has not said anything about this. Can the infection happen 4 days after surgery? He was fine before. And how can that cause coughing?
My sister saw him today, his temp is dropping, he eats a little and uses his litter. But still on IV, and the breathing did not improve. Drooling a lot and heavy breathing. The nurse said he was breathing fine.
Maybe what I described has nothing to do with breathing.

Thank you all again. I am asking too many questions, but I really need to get as many opinions as I can. Because as I expressed it before, I do not fully trust the vet, but he is my best option.

I had a limping cat. Took to vet. Vet said broken pelvis. Would have to do scan and x rays keeping cat there etc etc. As soon as she realized cat was not insured she said take her home and keep confined. I did this but she escaped and jumped a fence. She was fine a couple of days later and had been since. Was the vet scamming me.. definitely.

My cat stopped eating and was sick. Vet gave an injection. Cat lost half his body weight.
Cat admitted to vets and put on a drip.
Cat starts to eat.
The vet never did find out what was wrong but he made a full recovery.

Vets of course don’t only treat the animal they treat the owner as well and owners vary greatly. Farm animals have an economic value so euthanasia is often the prognosis, horses are often impractical to treat effectively.

Most pets are an entirely different matter because an emotional owner may will want every effort made to save their pet. As with the OPs cat expensive invasive treatment is being undertaken in very marginal circumstances.
A neighbour had a terrier that was 14 yrs old and seriously ill, the vet charged £2000 in total for various treatments. Miracles can happen and indeed I have seen them on young animals, but not at 14 yrs the advice should have been palliative care.
Vets do have financial incentive to treat animals when it is not in the animal best interest.

PS Re vet scamming: our dog has a slight wonky knee, no pain, no limp, knee has stayed the same for three+ years and the knee problem is only obvious when he is examined by a vet.

Fitzpatrick's, the Supervet, online advice article was to wait and see as the knee not painful, not causing a limp, has stayed the same for 3+ years. In fact, our vet said she would charge £800.00 to fix it, when and if it needs an operation. BUT one orthopaedic vet wanted to do it as an emergency, immediately, for £6,000.00!

I’m not suggesting that the second vet was scamming (!) but he was perhaps being over zealous.

As before, do hope all goes well with your cat. ??

Do hope you cat is ok and recovers well. How old is your cat, that can make a difference to the outcome. Sad to say, if kitty is getting on, he may be gently wearing out, horrible and sad though that may be to consider. Two of our cats gently faded away, both developed pancreatitis, which seems to be common in older cats. Lots of care and intrusive vet treatment later, I wished I had been brave enough to let them go earlier, peacefully.

As before, do very much hope your cat improves and is home with you soon. ?

Also, whilst I agree you have to put your trust in your vet I have had an instance myself where I disagreed with their diagnosis and went against their wishes. I had to sign a disclaimer to say I was ignoring their advice. This was at an emergency hospital. My own vet agreed with me. I saved several thousand pounds, salvaged what was left of a holiday, and most important of all prevented my 'getting on a bit' dog being put through an awful ordeal that would've been unnecessary. But I knew my dog's background and made a judgement which thankfully did pay off.

My practice was horrified at what the hospital had planned and that they had made me sign a document as I'd refused to let them operate on him. They don't always get it right.

I was heartened, sometime later, when a very well respected specialist cancelled the ligament surgery my old boy was scheduled for because he wanted to wait and see what happened. It sorted itself out and mended itself. I was surprised he put my dog first. Which probably says a lot about my faith in the profession and don't get me started on dentists. There are good ones and some who do seem to be more interested in the financial gain. The young vet at the emergency hospital mentioned above agreed with me at first but said she had to check it out with the senior vets. When she came back she told me they wanted to operate. When I refused she looked uncomfortable as I think she was with me but had been overridden.

Agree with Burnell and Marilii the cat may well need IV antibiotics if the infection has worsened.

It's too close to castration to ignore that link.

Burnell, I agree. This cat had surgery 4 days before developing any symptoms. I'm betting the farm that there is infection in or close to the surgical site. The time frame for symptoms is about right for it. The gagging that first began could have been starting due to nausea that was beginning to be felt. Frankly, if this was my cat, I'd have the vet revisit the surgical site. She said this vet has poor reviews, that's why she is worried about scamming. If these tests all end up showing nothing, yet the blood test shows infection, I would ask the vet to send him home with 500 mg of any form of penicillin. I think the stress of being there is working against this cat.

Why on Earth are you using language like scamming? Vets don’t scam - they’re professionals - presumably if you recognise the need to go to a vet you also recognise that vets undergo many years of training and do it because they want to help
Animals and not make money - it seems to me that you’re confusing payment for professional services with improvement in your cat and the two do not equate - trust the vet if you love your cat

You haven’t said how old the cat is, also I am wondering why you had them all castrated at the same time, normally you would neuter a cat in the first 6 months.
Castrating an older cat is a big deal because all the hormones change suddenly and I you are looking for the cause of an infection, look no further. The symptoms sound like pneumonia if he has breathing difficulties but quite likely other problems as well, sorry.

We worm our cat and dogs every second month and flea every month. Maybe worm more regularly. Mri scan would show if cat had invested anything. Hope cat is better soon.

I have dogs not cats but i would think worth considering is cat had surgery 4 days ago my guess would be this is the cause of infection. Did he have a tube down his throat they may have scratched his oesophagous caused some sort of trauma. Good luck

The hairball he vomited might be the tip of an iceberg - what I mean is he might have a hairball also blocking his intestines - that could explain the symptoms. Is he pooing normally?

I’ve a cat with something similar. He’s sick occasionally but it all the time and he coughs like he’s bringing up a hair all. I took him to the vet yesterday and he suspects Asthma so he gave him a steroid injection and tablets and if he’s not improving in a few days we have to take him back

Ilovedragonflies So sorry to hear about the loss of your lovely little cat. It's such a shock. I understand that broken-hearted feeling. So sorry.

Are you sure he doesn't need worming ?

I have some ability to read those results and x ray, but I am not a vet.

What I can say is that your poor cat is very unwell. Those results do not suggest asthma.

The vet is doing an endoscopy because the x ray suggests your cat may possibly have swallowed something like string or thread that is stuck in his intestines. The x ray is not very clear from the photo and they will need more images to try and figure out what - if anything - is down there before they go and try and fish it out.

I get that vets are busy. Tests have already been done, we tried home remedies at first, then after vet visits we gave him the prescribed medicine. Now even after being hospitalized he is getting worse.
I'm worried it might be something really bad. First days of him being sick he was still eating, playing a little, but now it's not looking good.
Let's just hope he gets well soon..

really sounds like he has eaten something he shouldnt.???...i give my cat bran oil when he has tummy ache and this flushes through whatever it is. olive oil will do as well/fish oil.

i would wait till the blood tests come through. i assume they been taken?. its hard to tell why your cat is vomiting .mine vomited this morning, chucked up his tuna/(very unusual)treat for the month.. and grass he had eaten.could be something your cat has picked up. be careful with plants like daffodils/lilies/chives/onions/chocolate and bleach products.and anti freeze all are lethal....tests will show what is happening inside your cat ,this might take a few days to a week for the results. please be patient the vets have tons of other animals to see.i know you worried about your cat...from a cat lover who has had many rescued elderly /ill cats....