Originally Posted by
Prairie Purrs
Hagrid left for the RB yesterday. He took a sudden turn for the worse, and I had no choice but to let him go.
The best guess (because the liver biopsy tests haven't come back yet) is that he had liver cancer. It was definitely a liver problem, which apparently crashed his immune system.
The skin issue, incredibly, was ringworm. Or, possibly, ringworm plus complications. It took the skin biopsy results to diagnose ringworm (it didn't show up on the light test). Obviously, Hagrid's compromised immune system allowed the ringworm to take hold and get very bad. I've no clue how he got it, though--no new cats here for over two years.
In any event, I'll have to have all the other cats checked and/or treated, plus a lot of cleaning. Nobody else appears to be affected, but of course I'll take all the precautions.
I'll post a memorial to my sweet boy later today, when I'm functioning a little better. It's impossible to believe that he won't be coming home.