worst day ever - cat kidney failure questions- Growler still around?

[sojuorn]

My cat is a male and is 14yrs old. For the past two months I noticed that he seemed to be walking with a slight limp in his rear legs. Also he quit eating hard food. I had been buying him soft food which he loved at first, but for about a week he hasn't been eating that well.

I took him to the vet today thinking he had a mouth problem and perhaps some arthritis in his hips. The vet told me that his kidneys felt lumpy and ran some tests. He then came back and told me that he is suffering from kidney failure. I was/am devistated. He showed me all his labs, none of which I can remember now. He also showed me the x-ray and pointed out some dots which he said were kidney stones. He also said he was anemic.

He told me my choices were to do nothing or consider putting him down, or to do IV fluids for three days in hopes of getting his lab numbers back where they should be. Kobe (cat) would go in at 8:00 am and I could pick him up at 5:00pm each day for 3 days. He said if it was his cat he would try this approach. However, when I asked him the best case scenerio he said I am looking at adding months/weeks to his life, not years.

Of course I opted to try the IV treatments. I consider Kobe family.

I am hoping someone can tell me anything. What questions should I ask? what do I need to know? Is it really this hopeless? I was in shock when he was talking to me so I didn't ask much today. I don't know if there are specific stages of kidney failure, or what kidney stone mean in this regard.

If anyone can help, I would appreciate any guidance. I see Growler's name attached to several of these posts, which is why I threw that name in my title. But I would take any advice from anyone.

Is 3-day IV treatment common? Is it helpful? What can I expect? What should I do?

Thanks