Thank you Lynne. I want to make sure you understand though that Brumley was not an FELV cat. Altho some of the vets that saw him thought he was presenting with FELV typical symptoms (the eye), he was tested twice- once at 2 lbs by the shelter- and once by me at 6 mths of age, so if he had initially been a false negative, it should have shown up at the 6 mths test when he was undeniably symptomatic with some kind of infection/possible virus. If he had been Felv+, he would have been "viremic" at that point and shedding the virus and the test would have caught it. We suspect he had dry FIP- which if you are not familiar with it- sheesh- it's a whole other can of worms and practically impossible to diagnose- a very complicated and ugly disease. I thought Felv was the worst thing I'd ever see, but I hadn't met FIP yet. At this point, I'd pray for a kitten to be FELV positive in lieu of facing dry FIP again- if we had choices in these matters. But I just wanted to make sure that Brumley's death didn't make you despair, as he was not FELV+. But I have been on this list almost a year and the people here helped me so much with my FELV cat Monkee that they are my first "go to" contacts when I have a foster doing something--anything- FELV or not- as I build my cat-care learning curve. It's these people who led me to the FIP support group that has given me tons of support, advice and help with Brumley. But I wanted to let the people on this group know what happened because they learned of Brumley when I first took him in and came to this group for initial advice. caroline
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Re: Brumley is goneDate: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 15:05:23 -0500 Caroline, I am so very sorry for your loss. What a wonderful guardian you have been for your Brumley. This disease is new to me and my new Himalayan and I'm learning so much from this group already. Again my heartfelt condolences. Lynne ----- Original Message ----- From: Caroline Kaufmann To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 1:05 PM Subject: Brumley is gone Hello all. Sadly I have to report that my sweet foster kitten Brumley is gone. I know that so many of you championed his cause and helped me with his very intensive care that started the minute I took him home from the "condo" at the store on Dec. 22. I so wanted him to be a success story and in a way, he was. His story was about not giving up, even in the face of impossible odds and other vets writing him off as having FIP and then not wanting to continue forward with alleviating the pain his affected eye was causing him. But my mom and I kept going and by the time we got to our 5th vet, we found someone who was willing to keep working on Brumley and in the meantime, alleviate the pain his eye was causing him- which he did and Brumley's quality of life increased and I thought he might make it. He didn't stop eating and drinking until the 18th of Jan. and that is also when he became ataxic. But he never stopped interacting with his environment and doing the small little things that he wanted to do- like continue to walk around, even tho he fell sometimes- that never stopped him, hang out with the dog whom- he loved, sniff things, curl up on me and purr, bird watch, family wathc, and try to eat soil from the plant, etc. He never stopped purring either until the very end. I was worried that with Brumley I wouldn't know when it was time. And his vet even said to me about 5 different times that he would "drag his feet" on this one because he loved Brumley's grey and white coloring and the way Brum was such a trooper and would just not give up at all! So I worried that if the vet drags his feet, and I drag my feet, will we keep a cat going who is suffering? But that didn't happen. I don't believe Brum suffered much, if at all. He was perky last night and purring away in a cat box he found the other night- after somehow making it all the way up the steps to the housecats room and climbing in it! He had started to fight me a lot with syringe feeding (which I have done since Jan. 19th) and the subqu fluids- also since the 19th. So I was concerned that the fighting- which he had never done before- was either a good or bad sign. But he was fine last night- he got his two prednisones and it was my typical evening of treating, medicating, feeding, and babying The Brum. But this morning, he was not standing up in his crate and looking around and meowing- which had become his usual morning routine. He was laying flat and my mom thought he had already passed. His little front paws were gripping the crate and I had to pry them off- he was obviously in respiratory distress- as this is my 3 time since Monkee died in my arms in July to see this, so I know the signs b/c I live in fear of them. He was craning his neck like he was trying to breathe and his breathing was rapid. So I threw on clothes and we rushed him out to the emergency clinic- the same one that also took my Possum on the 22 of Jan. Brumley's regular vet wasn't in until 9 today and he had surgeries scheduled, so we couldn't go there. Which I think is good b/c when I saw his vet, I would have started balling instead of being composed and I just think it would have been a mess for both me and him b/c he really liked this cat. The emergency vet said it was grave. Clinically, he was dehydrated (despite my 2x day fluid treatments), his liver was failing, she suspected kidneys were next, she found granulomas throughout his body (other places besides the eye), his temp was down again to 94, and she strongly suspected brain damage. She said he was definitely dying and whether it was dry FIP, Toxo (which she doubted), or she proposed a very severe fungal infection-- either way, none of it was reversible and everything that could be done for the cat had been done. It was definitely time. Which I already knew when I decided to take him out there. I was with him. Brumley was so bad off that the ER vet couldn't get a vein, couldn't get the juglar and had already decided to euthanize with a shot to the heart. He was even less alert than Possum was when we did this with him, so it was definitely the right time- he just crashed so fast and so hard in light of how he was last night. Since the shot went to the heart, Brumley left this world very quickly. The vet gave me a hug and told me I did a good job. Honestly, I am exhausted. I have been doing very intensive care on Brumley and it has taken up all of my mornings and my entire evening. I would get up, take care of Brum, go to work, come home, take care of Brum, go to bed, and it would start again the next day. So mentally and physically, I am just worn out. But I know that- especially being a foster cat- Brumley got more care and better care than he ever would have if I had not intervened. In his short, sad little life, he never got frustrated, he never got mad and I don't really think he knew he was sick, but he definitely knew love and had things in this world that- for a very brief time- made him happy and made his existence better. I have offered his body to his vet who's been treating him since Jan. b/c he had a special interest in Brum and I wanted to make the offer in case he wants to do a necropsy or just take a look at the eye. So maybe we will get some answers, maybe not. If he doesn't want to do a necropsy, then I will leave it at that. Thank you to all who cared and helped me with Brumley's extremely difficult case. Oddly enough, I had a dream about Monkee last night and I haven't dreamed about him in a while. Yes, I think about him every single day, but he hasn't visited me in a dream as clear as he did last night in a long time. As soon as my mom woke me up to tell me Brumley was not doing well, I knew it was time because I think Monkee came to me to tell me it was time and he was coming to take Brumley home. Caroline K. Climb to the top of the charts! Play the word scramble challenge with star power. Play now! Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser! 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