Hi everyone, as usual your suggestions have helped a lot, especially you Growler
Unfortunately Smokey suddenly started feeling off today. Things had been going pretty well, no signs of anything wrong that I could notice. Then this morning, a few hours after his breakfast, he vomited. This in itself isn't necessarily a big deal, it happens sometimes due to a hairball or eating too fast. What worried me was that after vomiting his appetite seemed to be drastically reduced. Granted, he doesn't eat as much during the the middle of the day as he does in the morning and at night (in fact he often sleeps through the middle of the day), but it's unusual for him to be that uninterested in treats and wet/dry food even when he's not really hungry.
I eventually managed to get him to eat, by coaxing him with treats and some warmed up wet food, but I was definitely worried. In addition to this, he was licking/smacking his lips a lot, which as I understand is a sign of nausea. I didn't notice drinking more than usual, although he did seem to be "camping" in front of the water bowl for about 10 mins after having a drink.
He kept doing this for a while without getting better, so I took him to the vet. I could have waited until tomorrow but given that he has CRF, I don't want to take any chances anytime his appetite seems to be significantly reduced.
The vet gave him a physical exam, which showed nothing unusual. He did have a temperature slightly above normal, just on the borderline. They gave him an anti-nausea shot, and took some blood. We'll get the results of the blood test tomorrow. The funny thing is, when we got home from the vet, the first thing Smokey did is go to his food bowl. He didn't eat as much in one sitting as he usually might, but it was somewhat encouraging. He certainly ate more than he had the rest of the day, and seemed less "wary" of the food. I wonder if the anti-nausea meds could work that fast.
So basically I'm trying to remain calm and not freak out, but it's hard. His kidneys could be getting worse. If he is crashing again, I hope he can be stabilized again and we can continue on from there. Or even better, I hope it's something more mundane than that (could he just have stomach acid/nausea without necessarily meaning that he's crashing? I know that cats with CRF sometimes just feel nauseous...). But I don't want to get my hopes up too much either.
