Thanks for all the info Gill, I'll have a look. I've held off posting in the health thread yet because I've spent all my time googling and reading up and to be honest, I'd got a bit overwhelmed with it all.
The tests include absolutely everything they can test for which is why it takes a week. My vet called the lab and spoke to them personally to make sure and we're testing for lots more than the standard screen does, I paid extra to get everything checked for. Apparently results could come in sooner but are likely to come back bit by bit as they do each test for different things.
The no food for 12 hours seems awful and I hate the thought of it, but having seen how every morsel we give him just shoots through him, I honestly don't see what harm it will do at this stage. We dedicated the entire weekend to getting every bit of food into him that we could, it's not helping and he's still losing weight. My hope is that this will give him an appetite for the RC GI food, as the one feed of that he took definitely seemed to make a slight difference.
The vet said his bowel is so swollen that he must be in pain with it and giving it a break might help with the swelling, which might help with the diarrhoea. Right now it's so inflamed, there's no chance of a proper bowel movement.
He's had treament for giardia already as that was the first thing the vet suspected. But if it's still there, the tests will show it up.
No bloods yet, my vet said that the majority of things it could be will show up in the feacal tests and that some of the others are unlikely to show up in bloods at his age. I went in determined to get bloods but I trust his judgement on this one. If the results start coming back clear, he'll do a full blood panel. if (god forbid) he gets any worse, I'll get it done immediately.
FIP is my big fear Gill, I'm worried sick about it being something thats fatal, my only hope is that he's still really acvtive, if it weren't for the litter tray and him being so skinny, you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with him.
I've also noticed him scratching round his neck and ears more over the weekend, which I know can be a sign of an allergy. My vet said there's a chance it could be something as simple as an incredibly sensitive stomach or food allergies.
I just wish the results would come in quicker, but today, the focus will be getting the food and the new meds into him tonight and hoping, hoping, hoping, that I see even a tiny improvement.
My poor boy, I love him so bloody much, it's killing me to not be able to help him