Well, I finally got home to give an update on Sam. I expected all night for the phone to ring, but it never did. This morning at 9 I went to the vet's and asked about him and was led to his "suite" ( hooray! he made it through the night!). As I walked in he raised his head up, started purring, and looked at me through eyes that were much more alert! He'd just had his meds so was breathing hard from the stress of that, but still was doing better than last night. I was definitely in a happy shock. I left a can of tuna for him if his doc approved, hoping it would tempt him to eat. I wasn't able to talk to her, but she called me later on and let me know that last night the on call vet called her and let her know that he didn't think Sammy was going to make it through the night. I guess he surprised everyone because they all said he's doing so much better today. He didn't eat the tuna, but his nose is stuffy from yesterday's feeding tube attempt...maybe he can't smell and therefore can't taste either. His xrays are no better, no worse, but are different in the location of cloudiness/fluid. Still no fluid when tapping the chest. The heartworm test came back negative, so his illness is still a puzzle, but his doc is treating him now for congestive heart failure. She let me know that the subq fluids have left, and are usually the first to do so, so the lung fluid should be next (hopefully). She also said it is possible that he has a very aggressive lung infection which has caused the pulmonary vessels to compress against the heart (?) and that may explain the differences in the xrays from time to time. Sam did have a respiratory illness (sneezing, runny nose) in December or January that actually was brought home from the vet's by Huey (the oldest who was in for a UTI) and passed through the household. All got antibiotics and recovered from their symptoms, but maybe poor Sam didn't get all the bacteria out of his lungs. Needless to say, all my guys and gals are going to the vet pronto for serious exams and chest xrays.

So, bottom line is we still don't know what it is, but we've got to be getting closer by process of elimination. Doc has contacted a specialist at the University of Alabama for suggestions and ideas and we'll have another chest xray tomorrow to compare to today's. I'm on my way back in to see him now. Keep the prayers comin', 'cause they sure helped out last night! Thank you all so much...it helps me so much. I'll keep you posted.

Jen