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Spidey cat lol. I put him on a low branch of this tree, he liked it!


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Making faces at the dog.  For some reason, he acted like he didn't know Lacey. I had her out too while I walked Bear around, Bear acted like he had no idea who she was.  He poofed up and wanted to go charging up to her, probably to bop her in the face lol. 
He totally ignores the dog when they are in the house.
You can see his fur growing back here, the flash made him look brown lol.





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He is at a great weight, only due to me assist feeding him.



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Surveying the land.  He was a little worried about being outside, but I was suprised because he is normally terrified of outside.



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Yes, my meowmy is one of those weridos that walks their cat on a leash.... =)







Something went wrong with the Paypal button, AGAIN.  It was working last night... I am off to go see if I can figure it out!
 
Hi everyone!

Bear is about the same, I am fairly certain that he has gained a pound or so too!  He refused to eat anything on his own for a couple weeks, but I recently got him eating a little again.  I still have to assist feed him 3-5 times a day, he is on the same meds still, and he still has to have fluids every day.  He is still actiong 100% though, he plays, purrrs, is bright-eyed, and more importantly, he seems as happy as always.

He is just the cat that keeps on fighting!  I am still fighting to save up money for his liver biopsy, it is $300-500 that I do not have at the moment.  It is costing about $200 per month for Bear's meds/fluids/food.  I have opted to hold of on getting Bear's bloodwork for a while, it is not helping him recover in any way.  We just do lood work, see that his liver is still bad, and keep on doing the same treatment.  Even if his liver levels were 999999999999999+ when we check, there is NO WAY I could pts a cat that acts sooooooooo normal, happy, and content. If he were suffering and wasting away, yes it would be a hard choice, but it would be the right choice.  So the blood work, IMHO, is pointless right now.  I need to save every dollar for his surgery.  If any of you can help, it would be amazing. 

I should be getting a refund check from school in 3+ months, and I am working on getting a job.  I kinda regret not taking summer classes because I would have recieved a refund check aout now for those, but there was no way I could have taken care of Bear and went to class.  He needed around the clock care, and still does, but I have managed to slowly cut back his fiorce feedings (he is still getting the same amount of food per day) so that I can leave him long enough to go to class.  I have been working for weeks to get him where he is now.  What took so long is that, in the begining, he could only hold down 2-3 syringes of food (he would throw up if I did more), so I had to feed him every few hrs so that he had enough food in him per day.  I slowly worked him up to 5 syringes, and that was all he could hold for a long time.  Today he can hold 7, AND I have the bonus of him eating about a cup of dry on his OWN per day!

My cat is just as perky and happy now as he is in the picture on the top right.  In fact lately, every morning he insist on pulling the blind cords down (I keep them put up so the cats will not have an accident with them) and taps them on the window until I get up.  Then he meows at me like he is telling me off for sleeping or something. LOL!  I love that cat, he is so silly. I don't get mad, in fact I almost die laughing, the look on his face is sooooo funny: "Ohhh Hi!!! Did the noise bother you? ...That's nice, lets play!" Which gets all the other cats screaming "OMG OMG OMG!!! YOUR UP!!! TIME TO EAT!!!! NOWWWW!!!!!!!" So I guess you could say that Bear rings the dinner... erm, breakfast bell in the morning, lol!

All of my other fur kids are still doing great, thank God!  I appreciate every day that Bear is still with me, he is a miracle baby.

I will try to get pics up soon, thanks for all of your support!  We would not have made it this far without you all. <3
 
   Sorry it took me so long to update everyone, I don’t have internet right now. Bear is still hanging on, he is about the same still. I had my vet to fax over Bears records to North Carolina State College Veterinary Hospital, to see if they could help in any way. I don’t have enough money to go there, so this was the next best thing. They were surprised that Bear is still alive, they think he has the deadly and contagious FIP virus. My vet said that he told them that it was the great care that Bear is receiving from me. (Aw) Both NC State and my vet said that Bear needs a liver biopsy, BUT it is questionable if he can make it through the surgery. It costs between $300-500 total (surgery, bloodwork, meds). The reason that it has to be a surgical biopsy instead of a needle biopsy (wouldn’t have to sedate) is because with a surgical biopsy the vet can see the condition of the liver and get biopsies of the parts that are the most affected.

It took me several days to decide what to do, this is a very hard and personal choice. My cat ACTS fine, he plays chase with the other cats, uses the litter box fine, and is very alert. You can’t even tell that he is sick, except he barely eats on his own, and his skin is still yellow. But he can not live like this forever, his liver will kill him eventually, treatments are not working at this point. I can not pts at this point either, he acts as normal as he ever has. He hasn’t given up, why should I? I plan on going through with the biopsy and hope he can make it through it. I am still in a bad place financially too, Bears meds and fluids are costing about $200 every month. I need help getting the money together for this surgery, please even if it is just $1, or even less, we would greatly appreciate it. I don’t want him to die, he doesn’t act like he is ready to die.

The biopsy will help the vet find out the cause of the liver problem, he thinks it is FIP but we will not know for sure without doing this. The vet said it could show something treatable, we just don’t know. I have decided to stop doing bloodwork and save that money towards this surgery, I asked the vet if Bear really REALLY needed the bloodwork, it isn’t showing us anything that we don’t already know (his liver is bad) and it isn’t helping him get better. The vet said that the biopsy is most important at this point. We will do bloodwork before the surgery though, that is included in the total price of the biopsy.

I have once again been forced to separate Bear from the other cats, I hate that I have to do it, he is a very social cat. But if this is FIP, then they could catch it, it is highly contagious. It spreads from fecal/oral route. So sharing litter boxes, food bowls, water bowls, mutual grooming, ect can spread it. It is easily killed with normal household soap, so that is a huge plus for me. I have to be very careful and wash my hands after every time I handle Bear, before I can touch my other cats. I can not handle going through this again, I will just die if another one of my cats get as sick as Bear. It is A LOT to go through emotionally. If it is FIP, it WILL kill him. There are no treatments for FIP, it is fatal. There are no effective vaccines for FIP, there is no way to prevent it really. Even the test for FIP is sketchy. Just because a cat tests positive for FIP, it does not mean that they have it, it just means that the cat has been exposed to the Corona Virus. It is the same for if they test negative, that does not mean that the doesn’t have FIP. Very little is known about this virus. That said, Bear has not given me any signs of giving up or dying. Even if I get a firm diagnosis of FIP from the biopsy, I will not pts until he starts having bad days.

He still acts like a ray of sunshine every day, he is chipper and acts happy. If I had never seen his bloodwork, if he wasn’t yellow, and if he ate, I would swear to you that this cat is completely healthy. I truly and honestly would, that is how normal he acts. He has had very few bad days since this all started 3 months ago. I would say he has had about 4 days total that he did not feel good, and acted like he was uncomfortable.

Once again, I need your help to get the money together for this, I really hate asking. But I have to try everything possible for him, he deserves every chance. I hope we can get the money together, and I hope my boy can make it through the surgery, but at this point it is our very last option. I want to thank each and every one of you for your help thus far, it means the world to me. It may be a while before I can update again, but if something substantial happens I will have someone leave a comment to inform you all. Thank you all a

 
Bear didn't eat anything on his own for several days, but he started eating a little bit 2 days ago.  He ate about 1/2 cup of baked chicken today, and even showed some interest in the other cats food last night (but wouldn't eat it).  We haven't had anymore barf attacks lately, he's been keeping 95% of his food down.  I guess it will just be a roller coaster for a while.  I don't care if I have to assist feed him forever, as long as he is happy and not in pain I will do whatever it takes.  

He is sleeping next to me right this second, in a cardboard box that I sat on the bed for him.  I put a winter jacket in it for him to lay on, all of my cats are jacket hogs lol. The odd thing is that the other cats seem to know that this box is for Bear, they leave it alone and let him have it to himself. <3

One of my other cats has been extra clingy lately.  Poodle has always liked to snuggle, but for the last couple weeks I can not sit down without having Poodle by my side.  Cody and the puppy have both always followed me wherever I go, now I have a 3rd lol.  Now I know how celebrities feel! lol. =)
 
Bear hasn't changed much since my last update. He hasn't thrown up for a few days now, so that is great. He plays a little every day, and is still following me around like a shadow. <3

Thanks again for all of your help, you are all very special people!
 
Bear was due for bloodwork today, and his Bilirubin was better!  Remember my last post when I said "he looks half as yellow?"  Well I was right because his Bilirubin is HALF as bad as it was.  It went from 14.7 down to 7ish.  Bilirubin shouldn't be higher than 0.6!

Bad news, two of his other liver levels were a little worse... but Bilirubin is what the vet was most concerned about.  Our regular vet was not there today, I have to call him tomorrow and ask him about his opinion on Bear's bloodowrk.

Well we are almost $300 in the hole at the vets now. We still need help with that.

I will have to get them to send me a receipt, they were closing and an emergency came in... I will call tomorrow about it.  I was charged regular price for everything since Bear's regular vet was not there.  No discount on fluids, no free office visit.  On top of that we got a months worth of fluids/meds, usually they only give me 2 wks worth. It added up reallly fast.  Bear was put on additional liver med, it's called Lipo-form.

The vet tech was smitten with Bear, lol!  She held him like a baby over her shoulder and told him how sweet/cute/nice he was. The vet even commented "wow, he is a nice looking cat" while petting him. =)  I love Bear so much, he really is a good boy. But I would love him just as much if he wasn't good, lol. 

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Thanks everyone for your continued support, it means the world to us!  Bear sends his love to each and every one of you!
 
Bear's jaundice is about half as yellow as he was when this all started!

He threw up a tiny bit today, but he's been keeping most of his food down. Annnd he ate about 1 cup of Iams in 12hrs! He ate a mouthful of Friskies-dry-crap-food today and drank a bit of water too! And I got him to eat a tiny bit of dry C/D the other day.

I am soooo happy about his color though! Surely his bloodwork will be better this time??? I am so worried that it will be even worse, since it was worse last time - even though he seemed better. We go in this week for bloodwork, meds, ect.

Thanks everyone! I think/hope he is finally starting to turn the corner.

 
Bear got worse over the last 3 days, not eating on his own, throwing up 2+ times a day and he felt bad too. I could not keep his stomach med down him and that just made the vomiting worse. Fast forward to today, I finally got him to keep the stomach meds down (and the other meds too) and he feels better-like he did before the last 3 days. I was SO worried that he was taking a turn for the worse.  He has to keep those stomach meds down, or he can not keep any f

In case someone needs this info one day: What ended up working was feeding him only one syringe (1 syringe - 1 tbs, he usually gets 3) of food 5 hrs before I gave him the meds, then I gave him 1/2 syringe with his meds, then I waited 5 more hrs before I fed him 2 syringes. I am slowly increasing his amount of food, until we are back at 3 syringes.

He watched the birds at the feeder today, wanted extra lovins, ate 1/2 cup of chicken and a few Temptations, and acted like he felt better than he did the last 2 days.

Here are the meds that he is on:
  -Ursodiol 50mg/once a day
  -Famotidine (I think this is Pepcid) 5mg/once a day
  -Metronidazole 1/4 of a 250mg tab/ twice a day
  -Pred 2.5mg/once a day
  -Amoxicillin liquid 1cc/twice a day
  -SubQ fluids/100 units per day, if he is vomiting I give him 200 units.

And I give him about 200mg of Milk Thistle per day, if he is not vomiting. I try to divide it up, I read that it's best if you divide the dose into 4 times a day.

Wooo, see why I need a list when I go to the vet? lol

Someone donated $120 to Bear's fund reccently! I tried to email them a thank you, but their email did not work.... so if you are out there reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart! That is going to help me get his bloodwork, meds, Rx food, and SubQ fluids. The above applies to everyone else who donated too, I just didn't get to email this person a thank you. I emailed everyone else a "thank you" who paid through paypal, since it sends out their email addys.  I don't have to worry about his vet bills for a while! =)



Thanks again everyone, your support is keeping me sane through all of this.
 
Sorry it's been a few days, I've been feeling icky myself the last few days.

He threw up quiet a bit yesterday morning, but he's kept everything down since then.  He still acts like he feels a little off, he wants to rest for the most part.  He did eat some hambuger today, just a bit though. His color *might* be a little lighter, but it's really hard to tell.  I will probably get him to the vet's for bloodwork a little sooner than 2wks because he is getting low on meds.

I will update in a couple days, Thanks everyone! =)
 
Quick update:

Bear threw up today, it was just a little though.  He was extra wiggly when I gave him his SubQ fluids today.  I had to re-poke him because he wiggled until the needle fell out, poor baby.  He isn't feeling as good today, I can tell.  He has his off days though, nothing major.  He just acts like his tummy hurts or something.  I wonder if he threw up his stomach meds, that might be the problem.

He didn't drink any water that I am aware of, which is normal for him right now.  He ate about 1/2 cup of baked chicken on his own, and a few pieces of Iams.  He kept down everything else that I force fed him though.  My boy is still hanging in there, he is sleeping right now.

Time to feed him again, night everyone!

Purrrs and Love!
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    100% of donations go towards Bear's medicine & vet bills.

        Author

    I am mommy to 6 cats and a doggy, we live in North Carolina. I am a college student trying to take the best care of my animals. Right now I have been very busy trying to nurse Bear back to health, but due to the lack of money, I need your help!



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