It's "Jerry Springer" Monday!! :) MKF

[Bagheera]

Bob, I've been through losing one cat to cancer and it hurts. One thing you can try if the animal is in extremis - an intramuscular dose of hydrocortisone. I gave ours a couple of 100mg doses when he was very ill and it pepped him up wonderfully for a day or two. The effects are however temporary and only to be used when everything else is not working.

[BBOvenGuy]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers and suggestions.

Eugenie is home now. I can tell she's feeling better because of how stubborn she was about taking the pills I got from the vet. She ate something this evening, too, and she seemed to enjoy being brushed.

How long this keeps up is the big unknown. I've got all the stuff I need to do the subcutaneous hydration, and I got a refresher course in how to do that. Depending on how she does, I'll take her back to the vet either Friday or next Tuesday so they can recheck her kidney enzymes. That'll tell us whether or not she's got a chance of staying in relatively good health for a while.

I've done this before. Back when I was married, my ex and I had this little deaf white cat who came down with feline AIDS. With the help of a vet we knew who got this experimental drug from his buddies at the Oklahoma State University vetrinary school, we managed to keep her alive for an extra ten months. The final stage of the disease was still pretty awful, though. I still have nightmares about it sometimes.

Anyway, it's so wonderful to have this board to come to where there are people who are so concerned and caring, even about things like kitties.

[Anne860]

I'm glad to hear that your kitty is doing better. Believe me, I know how you feel. A couple of years ago (two days before Christmas Eve in fact) we lost our dog, Chrissy, who had been with us for ten years. She used to sleep in my room and follow me siblings around when we were kids. We never had to use a leash when we went for walks. Heck, we didn't even have to housebreak her or train her, she learned it on her own. Best dog ever.

The hardest part about Chrissy's death was that I wasn't there when she died. I was living away from home and I didn't find out about it until the next day. I've always regretted not saying goodbye. Fortunately, my father was there with her when they put her to sleep. He told me later that he didn't mind the extra expense of keeping her alive, because those 2 months of taking walks with her were worth it. (Towards the end she was so weak that he would drive to the park and just sit on a bench next to her and scratch her ears, while she wagged her tail and watched the traffic.)

So you're right, Bob those last few weeks are important. Good luck. I hope you get as much from your time with your old friend as my dad did.

[friskylez]

Bob my heart goes go out to you, the love you have for your pet is the same way i feel about my "little old lady cat"...

Im hoping that she is with me for a long time to come cause she is the current love of my life..But she is 10 yrs old and developing arthiritis and it makes me sad to think of her in pain..So i can relate