This is not a common practice. I have been trading on GW, OBF and Garden Decorating for 13 months. August and September of 2007 was the first time I have EVER sent a late box. I posted and emailed when I could. Before I could get the boxes to the postoffice and mailed my father in law was taken back by ambulance to the hospital. I am sorry for being late. Those that I have traded with previously on Garden Decorating and OBF know I am never late and always send boxes above what is required. My father in laws heart surgery and complications were the only thing I could deal with at the time. I have no computer access at the hospital because I never took the time to order the laptop last spring. I have now gotten all GW issues clear as far as boxes being sent and someone (my sister or another member - to be determined as of yet) to handle the seed swap. I will not be participating in swaps until my personal life is taken care of.

I had blood infection changes at time of every chest pain and since 3 years+ diagnosed with a 2cm haital hernia that was the cause of the diaphragm pain/ chest pain. I firmly suggest 3 days 7ltrs of water, to heal, eating soft foods like pear before and after meals, and also not eating chocolate as this leads to inflammation where other foods like larger meals cause the actual chest pain. The mentioning of water 7ltrs a day for just 3 of the days of each week will ensure less scaring and from what im reading is whilst hernias will enlarge every chest attack it is the actual death of cells that could be the cause the infections or blood changes. Hope this helps those sufferers of chest attacks linked to diaphragm and hernias. Lastly advice of chest strengthening would be breath in and slowly let breath out there are other breathing exercises such as holding breath as you leat breath out and even chanting words like PUP PUP repeatedly as breathe is let out. You will feel the diaphragm strengthening. To avoid strangulation or blood restriction 7ltrs water really helps and maybe inhibitors and betablockers etc. may help temporarily but stick to the above. Avoiding chocolate, citrus and medium size meals, go small meals and pear before and after etc

Thoughts and prayers for an excellent recovery. As others have said, cardiac rehab will make a huge difference in his recovery. Best wishes, Jamie

Thanks everyone for your responses!! Actually I'm pretty familiar with pancreatitis - our IBD cat was diagnosed with it. The web pages you mention are really good too. What I didn't really follow was the connection between dental work and pancreatitis. On one of the webs I had read something about trauma being a cause - could that be it? Or something about the drugs they give during the dental work? He did have three extractions in addition to the teeth cleaning. Just to keep this straight - Bo is the cat currently having problems. Cougar is the IBD cat previously diagnosed with pancreatitis. With Cougar we did all the blood work and an ultrasound. His condition is maintained with pred and pepcid ac. He flares up every winter so we have to be more careful then. Most of the time Cougar insists on eating the same prescription diet food the other two cats eat but seems to know instinctively when to eat his Low Residue food. One thing we have learned with Cougar, is you give him what he will eat, just roll with it or he will starve himself (or vomit and loose weight that way). The vet has been OK with that. For a while he ate ID food, but he turned his nose up at that. We will always bring him to the vet early if he flares up and we can't seem to control it. Our vet actually said she thought Cougar was going to die when he first got sick, but that was a few years ago and although he needs care he is doing really well. Cougar is a small tabby, but we have always suspected that he has some siamese in him. Some place I had read that digestive track issues are more common with siamese. Bo is showing some of the same eating signs. Over the last few weeks he has got more and more picky about his food, more distracted when eating. Thursday was the 'last straw'. It took me 40 minutes to get him to eat that morning and he didn't even eat 1/3 a cup of food. He was an 18+ lb cat!! In the evening he would not eat. I pulled out Cougar's Low Residue and he finally ate some last night. (I had actually tried a couple weeks ago to give him some - but it was mixed in with his normal food and he didn't go for it.) This morning I was so happy when he ate 1/4 a cup of the Low Residue and then asked for more. But then he wouldn't eat again this evening - this the cat that normally is always hungry! Just before bed I did get him to eat some. The vet says he needs to eat just over 3/4 cup to maintain his weight. He had lost about a pound since he was there in January - and I think most of it was this week. So, we are watching him closely. I did give him pepcid ac this evening so perhaps that is why he finally ate. It's hard to know for sure as he did seem like he was having problems with the large kibble - lots of it falling back into the bowl half chewed, acting like it was getting stuck in his mouth. Either way, the vet thinks it's good food for him because it is bland for his digestive track, plus small size. The Low Residue is dry food that he ate, but did also try giving him some of the canned and he ignored it completely. Regarding blood work, he had everything (blood, urine) before his dental work. There was some blood showing in his urine at the time - we tested again and the vet determined it was OK. We did take blood today for a CBC so she can compare the white blood count. Will know results on Monday. Will go from there to see if he needs more blood work, or an ultrasound if he isn't eating. I will probably continue to give him the pepcid this weekend. The vet knows we have tried it but not continued it before. Nothing found with the physical exam - mouth healed OK, no tenderness in the abdomin. He had a premolar pulled on both sides so perhaps thought that could give him issues with the large food. So, any thought about why the rare link between the dental work and possible pancreatitis? Thanks for your input. You all are a great group! (And did I mention Wilson - the cat we think has allergies and sores at the corner of his mouth that haven't gone away since last spring. Currently on pred and antihistmine. Will continue with that for another couple of weeks and then more testing for him if he still doesn't improve. We had tried both pred and the antihistamine before, but never together. Talked about allergy testing today with the vet - at least it isn't the same pin prick method I had done on me!! His sores do not look like the granuloma I've seen pictures of. )