Poor Zoe is getting old :(

I took Zoe to the vet this morning as soon as they opened. Last night I noticed her breathing heavier than normal and walking like her back lags were hurting her. She cried when she would move in the chair she was sleeping in. She didn't even want her dinner. That's not like her at all. I don't think she moved off of the couch at all last night. So at vet this morning, she had a full exam, they ran a urine test to check for UTI's since she gets them a lot and they hurt her, took blood to check her liver and some other things since she hasn’t had blood work in over a year & 2 x-rays to check her heart lungs bones etc. During all of this we tried to get her to calm down. She was so stressed out. She was breathing so crazy and grinding her teeth from feeling sick so much that I thought she was going to have a heart attack & die right there. She peeing all over herself, pooping on the table and also threw up so much they gave her some nausea meds, they checked her blood oxygen levels and pulse, both were fine. Turns out poor Zoe has an ear infection and also severe disc disease and arthritis in her spine. She has 2 places where it's just bone on bone rubbing together on her spine and also some bone spurs, and a few other places where the discs are very worn down. :( She got some steroids for the pain today, joint meds, ear infection meds too and will be starting pain meds tomorrow. The good news is her heart and lungs all looked and sounded good. She is already feeling a little better and ate some dried food this afternoon and also ate her dinner tonight. The Dr. is supposed to call me in the morning about her blood work and when I can pick up the pain meds. What the vet thinks happened is she must of jumped or tried to jump somewhere and fell and really aggravated her back last night. I try and make it easy for her with low places she likes to sleep with pillows, cat beds etc. I also have a little chair by my bed she can jump on to get onto my bed to sleep So I’m not really sure what happened unless she tried to jump somewhere else and/or fell. Hopefully the blood work will all come back ok and she'll feel lots better with the pain meds.

*UPDATE* 5/5/11 Zoe seems much better today, purring when I pet her and up eating and walking around some. I heard from the vet on Zoe’s blood work. Zoe has 2 liver enzymes that are a little high. The vet thinks that this may be causing her upset stomach and nausea. So she is going to take a round of antibiotics for that. Then Zoe also has a high thyroid number. So I am starting her on the same Thyroid meds that I give to Tabby for that. So right now she has ear drops once a day for 10 days, antibiotic pill once a day for 10 days, Thyroid pill twice a day, joint supplement & pain med once a day on going. She’s already feeling better! Thank you so much for all of your well wishes for her ((((HUGS)))