You & me both Laurie. Thanks for your kindness in the time I've known you.

If a mod wishes to move this to the memorial thread, Sylvester passed away at aprox 4:30 AM.

I hurt so bad right now. Silly is in the animal hospital where he’s been since Thursday. They don’t know what’s wrong with him, their guess seems to keep changing. I will have some justified anger about that later, but for right now I have to deal with the likely hood that my best friend of more then 12 years is almost certainly dying. Three of the 4 medical professionals did not believe he would make it through the night. 1 doctor largely urged me to euthanise him. I refused. (He did not appear to any of us to be in pain, but both Dr’s think whatever is wrong has progressed to far to cure). The 2nd doctor suggested trying a new drug that has little chance of working, but as any chance is better then none…..

I don’t want to get too much into anger & pointing fingers right now. Suffice it to say, the BELIEF where he is now is that the symptoms we’ve seen for the last couple years that his vet thought were ibd & allergies were actually the beginning of what we’re seeing now. On Thursday, his vet wanted him seen immediately by an internist. The only one in my city had no opening this past week. My vet sent me to a 24 hour hospital 50 miles away that was SUPPOSED to have a 24/7 internist. Someone neglected to tell someone that person was on vacation until Monday. It also concerns me that this hospital while high tech & with nice people is horribly understaffed.

Right now it doesn’t appear we have the time to wait until Monday (or Tuesday to get results of more in depth testing back). Guessing diagnosis have ranged from fatty liver syndrome to liver lymphoma to a brain tumor. There is no question he is near death. The Dr’s fear is that by the time we figure it out, it will be too late if it isn’t already.

I’m just writing this in hope of feeling a teeny bit better. Usually if I hurt, Sylvester makes it better. That’s not an option right now. In fact, he needs me worse then I need him right now. Both times I’ve visited him, he has perked up; in fact dangerously low blood sugar recovered while I was there tonight with no treatment. If he’s still alive, I may try to sleep at the pet hospital tomorrow night.

At any rate, I hurt bad. I just can’t imagine life without my baby. At least the hospital hasn’t called, that’s good news. This all happened pretty sudden. There’s been variations of his usual symptoms for the last few weeks, & a new uti, but as late as Tuesday this past week, his vet & I mutually cancelled his Thursday apt, thinking it wasn’t necessary. The next day he stopped eating completely & I was at her doorstep when she opened on Thursday.

From what I understand, if he makes it through to Monday, we’re looking at a miracle.

Thanks for listening, I hurt very badly & I don’t know what to do with it. I know I can’t kill my best friend. I am praying for a miracle (I was told a dog that they thought was dead on the operating table came back to life tonight), but unfortunately expecting the worst. I just can’t see home without Silly.

Yes to recheck, & thyroid is SLIGHTLY low. Vet thinks/hopes liver issue is bacteria from ibd traveling from intestines to liver. He's stopped eating again & has another uti. probably going in tomorrow.

I was going to add to the main thread, but it appears to be locked. As I posted in the Wellness thread, my guy currently has serious liver issues & won't eat. He hasn't eaten cat food in over a week, & hasn't eaten anything except Milk in 24 hours. One of the things my vet wanted me to try was going into a pet store, & asking for anything they believe is irresistible to a cat, allergies being forgotten (other then the many foods he has previously not tolerated). I first tried an Evangers wet, which produced lots of purring, but no eating. I then gave him Halo Spot Stew dry indoor Chicken & he inhaled it. I am so happy!!!! There are some ingredients in there that we believe he's allergic to, but right now the fact he ate is awesome!!!

You know, the vet mentioned Thyroid as a possible concern & we did full blood work so she must have tested for it, but i will ask. Thanks for the reminder.

Sorry I've been gone for quite awhile......... kitty was doing well & I took a break from pet food related stress!

Long story short, he was diagnosed with seriously elevated liver functions today. The vet is 99% sure it isn't food related, but just to make sure: Is anyone having problems with Wellness Dry Cat Complete Health?

The only thing i've noticed that's likely food related in the year or so he's been on it is his health seems to really change anytime i open a new bag with a new pull date. Sometimes it gets better, other times worse. The current symptom set (low energy & eventually not wanting to eat) pretty much started on his last bag with a pull date of 4/22/10.

His vet believes the current issue is IBD related & is starting to treat with antibiotics. But again, just checking to see if any other Wellness dry kitties are having similar issues.

[very]

  Nice to hear from you Geff! That is wonderful news that Sylvester is doing so much better. Whatever the reason for Sylvesters improvement I am sure you are very happy and most likely so is Sylvester!

Yes, we're both very happy catters!   I think his vet is also pleased that the weekly phone calls have stopped!

I haven't stopped by in awhile, but thought I'd mention that Sylvester's done almost a complete 180 change for the better & has been in excellent health the last 2 months or so. Diarrhea's gone, all his fur has grown back, good energy level for his age, wheezing & scratching are still present but much minimized. Vomiting is the only significant current problem; solution is TINY potions of food frequently.

I saw my vet & she asked what seemed to cause the turnaround? 2 different things happened at the exact moment I noticed the change:

1. Bought a new bag of Wellness with a new Best By/Pull date

2. At the same time  also largely stopped running the furnace due to the season change. Don't know which or both caused the change, but I'm not complaining! Guess I'll find out next winter when the furnace comes back on.

Bonkers, did you ever hear anymore on this?

That's really disappointing. Sounds to me like the standard cover thy corporate rear response to issues we've been getting from most of the PFC's since day 1 of the recall. 

I second Bonkers question!

[small sharp]

I'm not an expert, but i believe my vet's point was that cats tend to eat small sharp bones in the wild (small birds & fish) where as she believes Dogs don't. I did bring up the intestinal issue with her. She felt that based on the sample I gave her it wasn't an issue here.  And Again, what I found was no where near as bad as Betsy's photo, though still quite sharp.

I HOPE she's correct. She is one of the 2 best vets I've known in my 50+ years.

I spoke with my vet today. Please keep in mind that I am only finding an average of 1 kibble with a sharp object per small handful; while others with different varieties are reporting a much higher rate of sharp objects.

I gave my vet the 2 worst pieces I've found, each had a very sharp object sticking out. Her opinion is that for CATS, the occasional sharp object shouldn't be an issue, as cats eat bones like this in the wild with no damage.  She said she would be concerned if this was Dog food; she stated Dogs don't handle sharp bones as well as cats do.

She also said that after examining the sharp pieces she ground up one of the pieces & didn't find anything that concerned her. She also was happy with the food's odor. She suggested that I continue to feed it at this time.

Again, I want to emphasize I'm talking about a variety that has a very small percentage of kibbles with sharp objects. Based on Betsy's photo, some varieties appear to be much worse then what I'm feeding. (Blue bag. Complete Health 30/October/09 Z3)

I dropped off 2 pieces of kibble with the bone(?) sticking out of them at my vet's today. I'll likely get a phone call from her no later then Monday. I will post her opinion.