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My cat will be 14 this September. He's been through one major health
crisis, a tumor at the vaccination site, which led to the amputation of
his leg. Since then, he's adjusted pretty well, and has more or less
been okay. About five months ago, though, he began losing weight. At
first, I thought the weight control cat food I switched him to was
working (he was about 18 pounds), but he has steadily lost weight at an
alarming rate. Just to give you an idea, in one week between vet
visits, he lost just over 1 pound. On top of this, he isn't drinking
water (he goes to the dish, stares at it, tries to paw it with the
missing leg, tries to drink, but then, for some reason, pulls his head
back up and walks away). On top of all of this, he became severely
constipated, and after two enemas (and wasn't THAT a fun car ride home-
twice!) he is still backed up. He is now practically skin and bones.
In the meantime, he has had full lab panels, x-rays, and an ultrasound.
None of these tests have turned up any explanation for what is wrong.
His vet now wants to do a scope, so that they can biopsy his intestines
without performing an invasive surgery, to further try and determine
what is wrong. The problem with this is that it costs about $1500,
which is way more than I can afford. Has anyone out there had a
similar problem with their cat, and have any clue as to what may be
going on? The vet feels that the problem is likely centered in his
intestines, and said that it could be inflamatory bowel disease, or an
intestinal disease, or lymphoma, or something else. In the meantime,
my cat's disposition has been pretty okay, he's quieter on some days,
but for the most part, he appears to feel alright. As a side note, for
the past few days, my other cat has been kind of nasty with him, and I
don't know if this is her being moody, or if it is indicative of
something else. They've been together since they were kittens, and she
(cat #2) is normally a sweetheart. I really am on the brink of tearing
my hair out, I have reached my limit financially for what I can do for
him, but I can't believe that after all of this, there's no answer for
what is going on.

FWIW, when my cat came down with what the vet suspected was either IBD or
lymphoma, I asked him which was most likely, and he said IBD, The only way
to find out for sure, he said, was to do a biopsy to rule out lymphoma,
which was more than I could afford at the time. So he suggested the strategy
of treating it as if it were IBD and if Cassius didn't respond in a couple
of weeks, look again at the biopsy (by which time I would hopefully have
figured out how to pay for it). As it was, Cassius was markedly better
within a week. The vet's suspicion was right. It may be worth asking your
vet what s/he thinks the problem most likely is, and asking about the
implications of treating your cat for that and seeing what happens.