I've had a hard time getting myself to put words together about Bob's mysterious health problems. It might be due to just being tired of the worrying, the runs to VREC in Norwalk, the waiting for test results and the constant search for something Bob will eat that's NOT high fat, grain-free dry food.

Bob had his endoscopy done and the biopsies taken. The results came in just this morning. Nothing remarkable was found. The toxoplasmosis test came back negative and the results for his PLI test are pending. Bob's ALT values, which have been notoriously high for over a year, have dropped way down to 170 (from over 500, previously). I don't know what's causing the improvement. I'm grateful for it but it still makes me wonder how a cat with crappy Liver function get that to turn around? He's basically been getting IV's and not much in the way of meds until after he was released last Saturday evening, so why are things improving?

Bob continues to be on Doxy, Cerenia and Flagyl. His appetite sucks. He has waves of depression and lethargy, followed by purring, jumping up on the bed (which is very high up, so it's great he can still make it), grooming himself and will even chase after an occasional toy. He has interest in food, but I've been experimenting with different foods and most of them do not appeal to him beyond just a few test bites. I know the Doxy can give him an upset stomach and the Flagyl might be killing off his appetite as well.

Oh and by the way, Nora has become Bob's best friend. They nap together all the time. I'm really glad Bob has some feline support.

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I'm not sure why the Vet is not more interested that Bob's Bartonella test came back positive for Haemobartonella Felis or Mycoplasma.

This effects Bob's red blood cells and can really make him sick, even die. He's being treated with Doxy, as mentioned in my last post, but I wonder how much this is putting a strain on Bob and if the treatment will help him feel MUCH improved?

Bob's night in the hospital passed without much incident. He vomited once. Is on his IV. The re-checked ultrasound showed some improvement in his pancreas. At noon, Bob will be sedated, the scary part of his day, and he will have the endoscopy done and biopsies taken. Hopefully, he will wake back up from sedation and be ready to come home later today.

All this has been like reading a mystery novel that's slowly beginning to reveal a thrilling conclusion.

What IS making Bob sick?

Bob is back in the hospital.

We're still trying to get at the bottom of what ails him. They did find out he has an infection that came up in his Bartonella test, though he does not have Bartonella. I'll post that finding when I get the details, but I do know the result of this infection is anemia and he will need to be on Doxycycline.

Bob is having his ultraound repeated and will have an endoscopy done tomorrow. Will this determine anything? Probably not, but I'd rather do this, than have him chopped open. Bob is an old man. Surgery will have to be a last resort for him, plus, I think he's getting a bit better. Even though his vomiting continues, he hasn't vomited his food for 3 days and when he does vomit it's a small quantity of foam or rarely, bile.

I also got so fed up (pardon the almost pun) with Bob not wanting to eat that I decided to go with my gut and pulled Bob off his "prescription" diet and put him back on his regular food. I feed him low fat, single source protein already, so it's fine as it is. Yes, Bob is off eating RAW but only because Bob is a senior and he has FIV. If, for some reason, I didn't handle his raw food properly, I would not want him to get sick and it IS a bit rich for him to handle. I would feel fine giving my other cats the raw as they don't get raw exclusively and they're all young and in fairly good health, knock wood.

Lastly, here's to Dr. Larry for whipping up a firestorm so Bob can get more focused help from the vets at the hospital. I really appreciate Dr. Larry's passion and determination not to let me, and especially, Bob down.

I also want to thank you all for your supportive words, your helpful advice and affection. This is a rough road. My friend, Deb, calls it the Bob Dollercoaster! I couldn't agree more.

A few months ago, I was contacted by Anne, a very nice lady who works for Yahoo. She asked for permission to use a photo I took of my kitty, Petunia, as reference art for their new series of animal themed emoticons. The series; Emoticats™ went live today!

To view the page on Yahoo, just visit HERE

Here's the original photo

I wish to God the f-ing Doctors would stop over-diagnosing Bob and get down to what is wrong with him before he dies on me. Now they say he has slightly elevated thyroid so he's on thyroid meds now. Of course the second he went on the meds, he stopped eating. He won't eat the food he is supposed to eat. He won't eat it warm, with tuna water on it. No. He might eat the grain-free dry food the other cats get, but he can't handle that!!!!!! I am watching Bob waste away on me while these Vets tell me to just take it slow and it's ok that he vomits then doesn't eat for 12 hours or more.

If someone doesn't figure this out soon, Bob is going to DIE. I don't have the expertise to know what to do for him. All I do is fumble around, clean up his vomit, treat him with loving-kindness as much as I can and try to get him to eat what he is supposed to eat, when he is supposed to eat it. I am TIRED. The stress and anxiety is driving me to the brink.

It's been 16 days. When am I going to get some answers that aren't guesses and that start showing me that Bob can turn around from this???!!!!

The past few days have continued to be an up and down roller coaster of emotions. I'm dedicated to finding a way to help Bob feel good, consistently, not just for a few hours or a day, but it's taking it's toll on my health, now, too. When Bob is sick, I feel sick with worry. Whatever is ailing him, we still do not know for certain. The candidates range from pancreatitis and/or inflamed bowel disorder affected or caused by, cancer, hyperthyroid, heartworm, bartonella, who knows what.

I do know that Bob came home on Friday night and seemed to be glad to be back. His appetite was good and he kept his food down. The next morning, I heard vomiting. I jumped out of bed to find Gracie vomiting up a hariball! Can I PLEASE get a break here?

An hour later, Bob vomited, too. A BIG, HARD, HARIBALL! I was furious! Was THIS the reason for Bob being sick all this time? $4000.00 in Vet bills for this??? Surely that is not the case!

Bob did well that day, but the next day I woke to vomiting again. I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest! This time it was Spencer vomiting up a hariball. Man, I don't know why the timing has to be like this! At least Bob kept his food down, but...

...only until 1 hour after he ate. On Sunday at 1 AM he barfed up his food. I was despondent. He continued to vomit at 2 AM and 4 AM, both times mostly just foam or a tiny bit of fur. By 10 AM that morning, Bob was hungry and ready to stuff himself again. I was surprised, but relieved. Bob only gets 1/8 c of food, 4 times a day, so he gobbled everything up and was ready for more. Big meany-me would not give him more... (to see photos and more about Bob, click link below)

Enjoying the sunshine after his long stay in the hospital.

More on Bob's journey soon.

BOB

IS

COMING

HOME!

Bob MAY come home tonight. He kept his food down last night and yesterday. Now today they wean him off the reglan and hope he can still keep food down. If that's the case, he comes home.

COME HOME BOB!!!!!! COME HOME!

Our CiCH friend, Jennifer, has been holding my hand behind the scenes, giving me LOTS of helpful advice throughout the day on how to best help Bob and how to interpret what we're finding out about his health issues. I think Jennifer should be a Vet. She has such a broad understanding of feline health problems and has no fear about treating them, even if it means scary things like giving SubQ fluids. She also understands how their delicate digestion works and how to work with it when it begins to fail. I aspire to be as knowledgeable as she is some day.

She's a great detective, too. I think I would have saved a lot of money if I just had Jennifer take a look at Bob. Also, this woman has a really BIG heart. Jennifer set me up to speak with an Animal Communicator named Dawn. At this point, with so many varied possible problems facing Bob, I quickly accepted Jennifer's offer to cover the costs for the consultation.

This morning, I spoke with Dawn, the Animal Communicator. All I had to do was give her the cat's name, age and description of the cat. She would tune in to the cat and speak with them, then pass the message on to me. All I said was; "The cat's name is Bob Dole."

"Bob has to be an orange cat, right? Most orange cats prefer to have human names for some reason!"

Then Dawn sighed. She told me that Bob is quite ill. The left side of his head, his left lung, his left nostril are sore or ache. His kidney area, lower back hurts, too. He feels weak so he can't take care of himself right now. He is so sick he isn't worried that he is at the Vet's office. He knows that they are there to help him. He is not in a lot of pain. He is more comfortable today than he was yesterday, but he is not cured. I asked her to ask him if he wants to keep living or if he feels that it is his time to go and she said that he wants to live if he can get better. He wants to come home and he loves me very much.

I also asked her about my other cats. First, we focused on Petunia. I was very impressed that she nailed Petunia's personality immediately. She said Petunia was very complicated, very nice, but had the aspects of a feral cat who wasn't feral—a wily alertness. She was bitchy with the other cats and liked everyone to cooperate with her. It's her character to be like this, it's not how she was raised. She wants to be loved for who she is and yes, she would love to be in a house where she is the only cat, but she's ok with things as they are, too.

Gracie, left and Petunia on the right

Dawn was dead on, too, by saying Petunia peed in the middle of the sofa and on other furniture, as well as peeing on other cat's beds. She is a vengeful pee-er. Dawn asked her to not do that and to only mark by using her claws and face to mark things that are okay to mark on. As I write this, Petunia is rubbing my leg!

(click on the read more link below and see more photos, too!)