R.I.P. Zeke 8/10/03-1/30/08

He passed away last night. We had left him with the vet to try to get
him stabilized. I feel like he died feeling abandoned. I was going to
visit him today to bring him one of his daddy's shirts and to reassure
him that he was still loved. The vet called at 8 a.m. with the terrible
news. I'm so angry at the 1st vet we went to. He gave us advice that
was detrimental to Zeke's condition. He never should have had a steroid shot or been force-fed the Nutri-Cal. He needed immediate care to treat the Diabetes and Fatty Liver Disease. I wonder if we had gone to this
new vet in the 1st place if Zeke could have actually had a chance. I haven't told Mike the news yet...he will be devastated. He adopted him from a rescue organization when he was just a baby...they adored one another. The weirdest thing happened last night. I swear on
my Grandmother' s grave that I heard Zeke's distinctive meow. It gave me chills...I just wish he was still here.

Update on Zeke

I had my second opinion on Zeke today. It was as Mike and I had originally suspected...he has Diabetes. He also has Fatty Liver Disease. I know both of these are survivable, but together and at this point the prognosis isn't so good. The former caused the latter. I don't understand how the first vet I went to could be practicing still. I told him of our suspicion of Diabetes and he automatically ruled it out without testing. He also did not test for FIP or even his liver function. He just told us he's terminal, with FIP and liver cancer, end of story...oh and "let's hope for the best". The vet today (who came highly recommended and used once before although he's in another town a 1/2 hour away) IMMEDIATELY whisked him off to put a warm IV in him and to test his liver function as well as everything else. They are keeping him until he is stabilized. He WAS given an FIP vaccination on 2/10/07...the vet AUTOMATICALLY gives it with all of the annual shots...this vaccine is DANGEROUS and UNNECESSARY. It could actually make your kitty more susceptible to catching the coronavirus which causes FIP. When I took him last year for his shots, he had severe diarrhea...the vet didn't test him for anything except Fvrp/luk & Feluk/fiv & said the diarrhea was just probably from something he ate. He was 19lbs at the time and couldn't even clean his bottom, we had to take him to a professional groomer to be cleaned and have his bottom shaved. I wonder if they should have tested for Diabetes back then. I had complained of how much he would throw up all of the time. We joked that he must be Bulimic, but no red flags were brought to my attention by the vet...she just said we should not let him eat so much. That's kind of a problem, though, because 2 of our indoor kitties will only eat when they can "graze. I wish I had seen the red flags, especially his sudden loss of weight. I thought it was a good thing that he was losing weight because he was so fat before. I hate that he had to go from Monday to today without being properly treated. It could cost him his life. I hate that you put your trust in a medical expert and you get such poor service...especially when the life of your pet is at stake. I wish I had paid closer attention...my pets have not had my complete attention for months due to our new baby and I feel horrible. One other thing I wonder about is if the onset of the Diabetes could have been triggered by a change in his food. The place we shop at was out of the Purina Cat Chow completely, but we HAD to have food. We bought, I think, Meow Mix until the store could get more in. I believe this was 2-3 weeks ago. I wonder if this could be related? I am crossing my fingers that Zeke will make it through. The vet says it doesn't seem very promising...less than a 10% chance of surviving, but knowing what the problem is makes me hopeful still. I feel like there is a weight off of my shoulders right now. Thanks so much for all of your concern.

My kitty is dying

I am devastated. Our fat cat, Zeke is lifeless. I took him to the vet today and his kidneys are failing. He's up-to-date on his vaccines, but the vet feels that he has FIP...something he received a vaccine for 2/07. I can't even describe how much I love this kitty. He was almost 20 lbs and now he's not even 12. He's only 4 1/2 years old...too young to die. The vet said that he was terminal...all we can do is try to make him comfortable. He has masses that the vet believes are tumors...I just don't understand how this happened. He had been losing weight over the past couple of weeks, but I had thought that was a good thing since he's overweight. I wish I had paid more attention to him. I wish there was more I could do. I'm thinking of taking him to another vet tomorrow...just in case. I want to feel like I've done everything within my control.