Thanks all. I will extend your sympathies to little Bear. She seems to be doing a little better today. At least the wheezing has stopped. She has antibiotics to help settle her stomach. When I gave it to her she started foaming at the mouth. I got scared. I managed to grab her and a towel and kept wiping her down. At least she didn't throw it up. I opened a can of tuna for her and poured just the juice in a bowl and she lapped some of it up. I tried mixing mineral oil with her dry food, but she turns her nose up to that too. She really isn't eating at all. She loves water, but she hasn't been drinking water now either. The vet said that was the only thing that kept her hydrated. When I weaned her off the LF to the DVP I started her on the Duck and Green Pea formula. Since she liked it so much I thought I would give her a variety and bought the mixed ingredients for her. That seemed to be the start of her problems. Mixed ingredients contain lamb, green peas, oatmeal, chicken, beef. The vet thinks she was allergic to something in the mixed ingredients and that is what caused the problems she is having now. I am hoping that once she gets over the trauma of being hospitalized and her stomach settles she will start eating again. I am going to stop on the way home from work and buy her some baby food. My problem is if she isn't eating I can't get any fiber into her. I am afraid once she starts eating this may happen again. I don't think she is having a problem smelling the food because when I made chicken last night she came in the kitchen crying for some, but then she wouldn't eat it. She tried to eat some, but she was gulping air when she tried to chew it. Thank God my son is home, and my daughter is over to stay with her today. They are going to call me if anything changes. I watched her like a hawk after her first episode, and took her in almost immediately when she started showing signs of distress this time. It's like she wants to eat but can't, or she is scared to eat. She has lost weight in the three days since this started. If she doesn't eat soon I am afraid she isn't going to make it. Jenny

Depending on the variety of clematis you have, the clematis sounds like it has clematis wilt, a common occurrence for type II clematis. This is especially true if you noticed no breaks on the stem where the part was brown and wilty looking. All you can do is remove the part that has wilted and wait and see what happens. All clematis should be planted several inches deeper in the ground than they were in their original pots since this buries dormant nodes that allow the plant to resurrect itself from clematis wilt or if a critter comes along and chews it off. For what it is worth, knowing what you purchase and its pruning class are paramount for successful clematis growing. Even the type I and IIs which typically don't get cut back should be cut back to within a couple of inches of the ground the second spring they are in the ground. This encourages root development and can cause dormant nodes to break, resulting in more vines out of the ground. In my garden the type IIs which don't typically get cut back, are treated as type IIIs which get cut back every year. For those that I have done this to, they are bushier, more robust, and more floriferous than if I don't. Usuallly by mid summer, the type IIs get browned out severely regardless of how much watering you give them. I just whack them back by half and am rewarded by more blooms in the early fall. Here is a picture of Proteus and Piilu, both type IIs planted together, earlier this spring after I cut them to the ground. The hacking back to the ground has not affected them one bit, they are back just as vigorous as ever, and are now about ready to bloom. Here are the plants today with some blooms and many buds on them ready to pop. Moral of the story is don't be afraid of cutting back all your clematis. You may delay or put off blooming for one year, but in the long run, you will end up with a much healthier and robust plant for it.

donnas, I totally agree with you on outdoor cats, cannot stand to see them in my yard. However what you described kinda sounds like a hawk kill. They defeather the bird before eating. We find feather piles around quite often and can always tell what kind of bird was eaten by the hawk. Mostly around here it is mourning doves and young robins. We have watched a hawk pull the feathers off its catch, they are quite efficient at doing this. The House Sparrow will kill another cavity nesting bird in a birdhouse/cavity, it pecks them to death mostly decimating the head of the other bird. It does not eat them and you will find an almost headless bird when you see the result of a House Sparrow kill. Donna

I would look for aphids. Looks like it could be aphid induced. Your damage could also be wind and heat damage. I would recommend removing the vegetation around the base of the tree for a good 2' out and then applying a layer of mulch. Dont mulch right up to the base of the tree leave a few inches of bare dirt between the trunk and mulch. Make sure the soil around your tree is staying damp.