We only had her from mid-Sept until late Dec 2003. She was born towards the end of July (though our vet's office insisted she was at least a few weeks younger than she probably was in actuality because she was so small when we adopted her). She was fine when we got her, active, playful, eating well. If I'm remembering correctly, she threw up one evening (shortly after we returned from the vet for a dose of wormer) and then acted "sick"--not eating, sleeping a lot or just a general lack of activity. We took her to the vet, she got fluids, we coaxed her to eat and just nursed her back to health, tried to get her to play, and she finally became her perky little self again. This same pattern repeated itself throughout the few short months she was with us, each time it was more difficult to get her to come around to her former self, and she was definitely more lethargic than she had been, even after she started eating with a decent appetite. It seemed she'd be fine for a short period of time, and then not. In November we got another kitten (so they could grow up together). For a few short days, it was great. They played together really well. Their first weekend together, they spent the morning wrestling and chasing each other, but by early afternoon our first kitten just pooped out. I don't think she ever did regain her full energy level after that. We might have had a brief boost at one point or another, but I think that was really the beginning of the end. She spent more time sleeping or huddled in front of the vent at the bottom of the refrigerator or baseboard in the bathroom, and wasn't interested in playing with our other kitten (who adored her and shadowed her every move). The last week or so that we had her, she was running a fluctuating fever (non-responsive to antibiotics or prednisone?), and we were syringe feeding her and trying to tempt her with roast chicken. The dr at AMC was pretty much convinced that she had FIP based on her history and her symptoms. I think the dr just drew the fluid from her belly to give us something more "definitive." She showed us the syringe before she tested the protein level (which, if I recall, was high), so we saw that it was straw-colored. Needless to say, I hope they are able to eradicate this awful disease someday soon.... I will keep my fingers crossed that your little one does not have FIP, and that whatever she does have, is easily curable.

I just lost my precious baby boy, Romeow, to FIP this morning. I had only had him for two weeks and he was only "normal" for about two days. Then the loss of appetite started, weight loss, lethargy. We took him to the vet (twice) where they gave us meds for hookworms and antibiotics for fever but he just became more and more lethargic and sad. I had to feed him with a syringe and give him the high-vitamin cat gel. Anyway, he just seemed worse and worse so I took him to the emergency vet this morning and his little tummy was so swollen, his third eyelids had been showing for the last few days and his gums were white. They drew fluid from his abdomen and they said it was likely that he had FIP. I had him put down because I didn't want him to suffer. I've been crying non-stop since then, and I also have five kids who are heart-broken. I AM SO ANGRY AT THE BREEDER. She eluded that something could be wrong with him (AFTER WE PURCHASED HIM). She wanted us to put him to sleep without even trying to figure out what was going on with him! I'm so sad I can't even think straight right now. Even in two short weeks he was such a wonderful little guy. I miss him so much.

What a handsome kitty Dustin is! I applaud you for giving this sweet guy a second chance at a caring forever home. I know he won't disappoint you and you will have a loyal companion for life. Definitely get him neutered and vet checked. You also want to become established with a vet because things do arise with pets that need veterinary attention. You have received some great advice from the above posters, but I would like to mention a thing or two about his diet. Don't be afraid of feeding him canned food. Canned food is SO much better for cats than dry. I am giving you a link to a wonderful website that can explain it all better than I could here, but feeding a canned diet will help prevent many illnesses and diseases that occur from a cat eating dry food. It took my one of cats becoming diabetic to get me educated in feline nutrition and in the past year I have learned so much and now all my cats are so much healthier because of it. Also another fun website you might like to consider joining is Catster. You can make Dustin his own web page and join in the various discussions in the forums. It's a fun group of people that share the common bond of being true feline lovers. I hope you and Dustin enjoy many happy, healthy years together. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help any way I can. Janet Here is a link that might be useful: Feeding Your Cat

OK, so the BUN went up but not the creatinine? Usually that is a sign of either a kidney problem or GI bleeding. Any NSAID such as Previcoxx can cause GI bleeding or kidney problems. There is still a lot of controversy regarding when to recommend a low protein diet for animals with renal disease. Some say to do it as soon as renal disease is discovered, others say to wait until uremic (feeling absolutely crappy due to high nitrogen in the blood). I personally would not do a renal diet in your dog's case because only the BUN went up and the creatinine stayed the same, which to me says more GI bleed than kidney problem. Dogs need their protein unless they can't metabolize it for some reason (liver or kidney failure), so I personally don't believe in restricting protein unless absolutely indicated. Others are quicker to recommend protein restriction. Tramadol is safer for patients with liver and/or kidney issues than any NSAID, and is much less likely to cause GI bleeding than any NSAID. There can be some CNS effects such as agitation, depression, ataxia and must be used with caution in patients with known seizures. But liver and kidneys are safer with tramadol than with NSAIDs. I don't know where chickadeedeedee is getting the information regarding not using tramadol in patients with liver or kidney disease. Tramadol is safe to use with NSAIDs when they are not providing enough pain relief. I've used Tramadol with Rimadyl in my own K'Ehleyr for a long time, until I switched her Tramadol for Gabapentin. There are some types of medications that would be dangerous to combine with Tramadol, such as SSRIs and MOAs which are behavior modification/anxiolytic drugs. But Tramadol, being a synthetic opioid, is safe with an NSAID. And Tramadol has a wide margin of safety with animals, so anywhere from 25 to 75 mg (and probably more) would be OK for a dog of mazer's size. The most common side effects are sedation, ataxia, and GI distress which can be severe in some cases. But most animals tolerate it well. K'Ehleyr is also on Duralactin for chronic inflammation. This is a concentrated milk protein that does not act on the COX pathway as all NSAIDs do, so is safe with NSAIDs. She was on rimadyl, duralactin, and tramadol for 2 years before we switched her tramadol for gabapentin in July, which seemed to address her specific source of pain more directly (neuro) than tramadol. Also, I don't like Deramaxx for long-term pain management because it tends to be more ulcergenic than carprofen (rimadyl) and other NSAIDs. Any animal on chronic NSAID use needs monitoring of liver and kidney values and any NSAID may cause liver or kidney damage. However, every patient is different and if the Deramaxx is working for your dog, than stick with it. The most important aspect of a pet's well-being is NOT vaccines but examinations. Any schmoe can stick a needle into an animal, but only a vet can perform a physical exam, get a thorough history, and make a diagnostic/therapeutic plan for each patient. THAT is the most important part of veterinary medicine, not giving shots, although I HATE it when people apply the same vaccine protocol for every animal regardless of lifestyle and risk. Any vet who just shoots every pet every year with every vaccine is not worth using, IMHO. Those vets are 1) exposing your pet to potentially serious health risks (IMHA, IMTP, anaphylaxis, cancer) 2) wasting your money since the vaccines last longer than 1 year and not all pets are at risk for all diseases and 3) being really lazy and not addressing the health needs of YOUR specific pet. If a vet recommended yearly vaccines, I'd switch immediately, no questions asked. So that was a bit of a tangent and I never even went to food issues, and BTW I'd appreciate it if RUNSWALKIN didn't lump ALL vets into a certain category of recommending crap foods and over-vaccination because some of us do a really good job of assessing EACH patient individually and making specific recommendations accordingly. Stepping off soapbox now. As promised, once again, a reasonable guide to vaccines by the really really great Dr. Richard Ford, who happened to be my professor in school (absolutely NO bias LOL!). Here is a link that might be useful: Vaccine protocols and comments