Please be aware that rats and mice develop tumors much more easily than dogs or people. I read this on the AOL vet board. Furthermore, the tumors they are correlating with the microchips formed right around the microchip, and they are not seeing this in pets. My dog did die of a brain tumor, but since she was a wandering breed, I feel it was prudent to microchip her. And her tumor was very deep and not close to the chip. I am fairly confident the 2 were not related, though certainly I can't be sure. Then again, every time she escaped, it was the tag on her collar that was used to find me.

When I finally got serious about taking the extra weight off of my household of fat cats, I adopted a three-point strategy. 1) Remove the all-day kitty buffet and start feeding scheduled, portioned meals instead. 2) Switch to a low-carb/high protein kibble (Innova EVO), and swap one kibble meal for canned (kibble a.m., canned p.m.). 3) Weigh all cats every two weeks (1st and 15th of each month)on a digital baby scale. Adjust food portions after every weigh-in, if necessary, to achieve 2-week weight loss of between .2-.4 lb. Any cat who lost less than .2 lb during the previous 2 weeks had kibble portion reduced a little. Any cat who lost more than .4 lb during the previous 2 weeks had canned food portion increased a little. The ultimate dietary goal was to minimize kibble in the diet while gradually and safely achieving optimal body weights in the cats. I started this feeding strategy in 7/07. It took about 18 mos to return all of my cats to optimal weights. Now, more than 4 yrs later, I still weigh all of my cats every 2 weeks, and I still adjust food portions, as necessary, to maintain those optimal weights. Most of my cats eat 1/8 c of EVO kibble for breakfast and between 2-4 oz of canned food or RPM (Raw Prey Model) for dinner. I would bet that the so-called "diet" kibble you're feeding is high-carb and not doing your cat any nutritional favors at all. Laurie

Thank you, Jess and Khalid for your comforting words. I went to the PA (physician assistant) on Jan 20. He checked my ears and found the right ear badly blocked, same with the left ear. When the cold virus attacks the body, it inflames the Eustachian tube. Some info. from Mayo clinic: "With plugged ears, your eustachian tubes — which run between the middle of your ears and the back of your nose — become obstructed. You may experience a feeling of fullness or pressure in your ears. You may also have ear pain, dizziness and muffled hearing. As swelling from the cold subsides, the obstruction usually resolves." My experience is very much like what the below doc. went through: http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/healthyliving/SpecialFocus/Pages/a-common-cold-can-cause-vertigo.aspx " Dr Young, 33, started an otherwise ordinary day with a mild sore throat and a runny nose – like he was coming down with a cold. However, by the third evening, he started to feel light-headed and awoke the following morning with severe vertigo. He felt as if the room was spinning around him. “For the first two days after the vertigo set in, I couldn’t eat, drink, turn my head or even move my eyes from side to side without vomiting or feeling the room spin around me,” he said. It turns out that Dr Young had labyrinthitis, a condition where the labyrinth (the inner ear) is inflamed and not functioning normally. Dr Young, an infectious disease specialist from Britain who works at a local hospital, self-medicated with vestibular suppressants and anti-emetics. These are prescription drugs to suppress dizziness and nausea. “But they had little effect." he said. “The acute vertigo usually lasts from a few days to two weeks. As it resolves, the patient experiences slight imbalance or unsteadiness while walking. This rehabilitation phase may last for one or two months. The hearing function may or may not fully recover. The recovery period is fastest during the first month but the patient may still recover up to six months after the onset of the disease,” said Dr Tan. Labyrinthitis is often spontaneous and idiopathic but can occur after a cold, flu or upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). “These infections don’t usually affect the inner ear. More often, in URTIs, the middle ear is affected when bacteria and nasal secretions pass through the eustachian tubes to the middle ear causing fluid accumulation. A bad middle ear infection can lead to the spread of infection to the brain, or in rare cases, labyrinthitis as well,” said Dr Tan. **** From Straw, the P.A. who examined my ears recommended an MRI of the brain (magnetic resonance imaging scan) to show the inflammation. The cost? $1,000. I said, "NO way, I'm going to rinse my ears with hydrogen peroxide". I went home, fill a glass-dropper with hydrogen peroxide, rinsed my left ear. That cleared out completely. The right ear which bled, I had to rinse it 3 times with hydroxide peroxide ... and my vertigo went away !! I was able to stretch my head backward in all directions. Hydrogen peroxide kills all three: bacteria, fungi, and virus.

I think this post would be better on the herbalism forum. Rodney