I know. And we are treating for toxo, which does not really seem to be working so far. Next step is probably to treat for small cell lymphoma and fip inflammation at the same time with leukeran. But that suppresses the bone marrow and wbc, so my vets do not want to put her on it until we have completely given up on the abx working. The only way to really diagnose her would be exploratory surgery with multiple tissue biopsies (they can definitively diagnose fip if they find it in a tissue biopsy-- that is how they do it in necropsies as well), and I do not want to put Lucy through exploratory surgery because she is FeLV+, anemic, weak, and almost seemed like she would not recover from the ultrasound/biopsy-- just sat in sick cat position staring into space for half a day afterwards and would not look at me or eat until the evening. So I am afraid the surgery could kill her. So I am trying to treat for the treatable things they might find in a biopsy, which I was told would only be a) infection, b) cancer, or c) fungal infection. We are treating for toxo, an infection, right now. If it is cancer, the only really treatable kind is lymphoma, which the oncologist does not think she has because the enlarged lymph nodes in her abdomen did not have any lymphoma cells and neither did the fluid in her belly. But I think if we give up on the abx, the next step is leukeran in case it is lymphoma, since it is also used to treat fip-related inflammation. Fungal infection seems least likely and the medication apparently makes them feel sick, so that is probably last, unless the internist decides otherwise. So I have not given up hope. But when she is so tired, and her pcv is still going down, and her belly keeps getting bigger, it is frightening. That is why I ask for prayer. That said, I put her collar on her, with the bells, and asked her if she wanted to go outside. She just sat there and looked at me, so I went into the kitchen. When I looked up she was walking through the kitchen to the back door. I let her out and she walked around a while, jumped up on a stone wall, walked around some more. She meowed strangely a few times. When well, she is quite talkative, but some of these meows sounded different and I got scared. But she then climbed up on top of the picnic table in the sun. I plugged in her heating pad out there and she got on it, and we spent about an hour outside in the (cold) sun. She purred when we pet her. I eventually brought her in because the clouds covered the sun and her ears got ice cold, and she meowed at me the whole time I was taking her in because she did not want to go. Once in, she ate some, and then curled up on her heating pad. She rolled on her back for a while like she was really happy, now is fast asleep on her side. So better afternoon than I was expecting! Perhaps because of the prayers! Or perhaps because she heard a mouse this morning and that excited her. Or perhaps if I had asked her any of these past days if she wanted to go out and put her collar on, perhaps she would have responded the same way. I don't know. But I am glad and grateful for it. Please send prayers. Thanks, Michelle In a message dated 1/28/2007 1:05:51 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Michelle, please do remember, *always*, that a 100% reliable assessment of FIP (dry or wet) CANNOT be made until the cat is alive: only necroscopic exams could tell the final word. There is plenty of cases of cats "definitely diagnosed with FIP", that did not have it, just a panel of symptoms that resembled (but actually were not) FIP... ;) Paolo
