Barney is an Angel Now.

[krazyaboutkatz]

He sure is looking a lot better and seems to have much more energy too. I hope he continues to improve.

[Medusa]

You sure know just the right words to say, huh, Lara? Reading your description of how he strained to pull himself up was heartwrenching but it made me so happy at the same time. To see him play was icing on the cake. I had to chuckle at his reaction to the scratching post, as though he was saying "I may be sick but I'm still a cat. I'll use it if I feel like it." LOL Mighty prayers headed your way, Barney and Lara and Scott.

[lvpets2002]

WoW Barney you have improved so so much.. I just want to snatch you up & give you bunches of whisker kissess & huggss.. I sure hope you get to stay there & it be your furrever home.. If not we have to sneak you in a carrier & bring you to Tx.. So glad to see you doing so good & well..

[Randi]

Aww, it's good to see Barney is a bit better. His eyes are fairly bright and the fact that he is playing a bit and interested in climping out is great! And he certainly enjoys his food - it's just fantastic!

Do you sit with him in the crate sometimes? It looks like he can't get enough attention. LOL!

I so hope he can get his ear sorted out soon and will keep getting better. Please give him lots of kisses from me - and thanks for all the loving and care you give him.

Will you let me know whether you got my last envelope - I thought it would have arrived by now. I sent it tuesday last week.

[Emeraldgreen]

Aww, it's good to see Barney is a bit better. His eyes are fairly bright and the fact that he is playing a bit and interested in climping out is great! And he certainly enjoys his food - it's just fantastic!

Do you sit with him in the crate sometimes? It looks like he can't get enough attention. LOL!

I so hope he can get his ear sorted out soon and will keep getting better. Please give him lots of kisses from me - and thanks for all the loving and care you give him.

Will you let me know whether you got my last envelope - I thought it would have arrived by now. I sent it tuesday last week.

Hi Randi, I haven't received it as of yet but yesterday was a holiday. Our mail comes to the post office around 1:30 each day so I will check after work this evening and will let you know asap.

I do climb into the enclosure a couple of times a day and sit in there with him. Sometimes I just hold him and other times I use small scissors and trim the mats while he is occupied with eating or drinking. But I can tell that he is needing more exercise and stimulation by the way he tried to climb out of there! So I will begin taking him out more and maybe walking him on a lead or putting him our smaller outdoor enclosure. I have a big one for my other cats but until I know he is FIP negative, I don't want to put him in their enclosure.

kt_luvs_kitties wrote:

I dont have time tonight to read all of the posts, but can you tell me what exactly is wrong wth him? Besides that he is a old man, I can tell that from his face

The vet is unsure of his age because his 'old man' appearance might have been caused by starvation.
He has hyperthyroidism which he is now on 1/2 a tab of Tapazole for and diabetes which we are trying to reverse with diet right now. He is FELV/FIV negative. He has/had a raging infection somewhere in his body that the vet thinks is most likely his ears that he is on Clavamox for (another 5-6 days to go) and he has a polyp (or tumour) in his left ear that requires surgery at some point. Other than that, he's in good shape. lol Seriously though, he's really coming along. I think he is gaining weight, his energy level is up and his ears do seem somewhat improved. My hope is that the upcoming bloodwork shows definite improvement as well.

Catty1 wrote:

hope he can get his ears cleaned soon.

Me too! I'm going to work in an hour and my boss called me to tell me that the quote arrived by fax from the vet regarding sedation and ear cleaning.

Medusa wrote:

You sure know just the right words to say, huh, Lara? Reading your description of how he strained to pull himself up was heartwrenching but it made me so happy at the same time. To see him play was icing on the cake. I had to chuckle at his reaction to the scratching post, as though he was saying "I may be sick but I'm still a cat. I'll use it if I feel like it." LOL Mighty prayers headed your way, Barney and Lara and Scott.

LOL! That's funny. I reread it after I posted it and thought, these words do not do justice to how sweet his determination to get out really was. But it sounds like you got a good idea. I might try and get it on film tonight because he was sort of trying again this morning.

Thanks krazyaboutkatz and lvpets2002 for your words of encouragement too!

[MoonandBean]

Agghhh....I can't see the new pics from here at work. I will definitely get on my computer at home tonight to get my daily dose of Barney The description of him pulling himself out of the enclosure sounds awesome!!!!!!!

[Emeraldgreen]

Agghhh....I can't see the new pics from here at work. I will definitely get on my computer at home tonight to get my daily dose of Barney The description of him pulling himself out of the enclosure sounds awesome!!!!!!!

I got some footage of Barney trying to repeat his escape (which is below) but after two tries I stopped filming because I felt kind of mean watching him struggle. He couldn't quite get up the way he did last night. Not sure if he needs to be super hungry for that kind of manuever or what! lol

Moesha wrote:

I love reading Barney's updates. I'm so glad that there are signs of improvement with him. Keep us posted and I'm going to try to make another donation soon.

I'm so glad the updates are not boring everybody to tears! lol


I got to work today and received the fax from the vet. They didn't put a quote together for me for the polyp removal because they said that Robin (vet) is too concerned about his diabetes and the anesthesia. I am still going to ask for the quote when I go in next though because I need to know what they would charge if Barney has it done there. I did email my old vet, the one I'm doing the website work for and asked him about Barney. I offered to contribute 150.00 if he would do the rest for trade for the site work. I haven't heard back from him but I attached this picture to the email so I think it will help!



Anyway, the rest of the fax went on to say that I can put polysporin on Barney's nose but I can't give him the Nutrical paste (high caloric paste) that I have because of his diabetes. And I can give him 2 drops of Metacam mixed in his food once a day for the pain in his ears. I have some Metacam left over from Tiger.

They suggested that I have skull rads done on Barney to get a better idea of how deep the polyp/tumour is growing and have his glucose tested again. That estimate was I think about 230.00. It's upstairs in my purse and I'm too tired to go and get it! LOL I'm heading to bed in a few minutes but I will post the exact amount tomorrow.
My thought is that if my old vet decides to do the surgery for website work, then I should let him do the xrays so I save Barney's money for exams and bloodwork now. But I have to find out if my old vet will do it or not first.

Randi, I went to the post office after work and your card was there! Thank you for your donation and for the wonderful christmas card featuring Fister! It's our first card of the season.

Thank you 3catcondo for calling in a donation to the vet clinic!! I really appreciate all this amazing help!!!

This is where the donation total is now at: 206.00 plus Barney's bag of change from the cans which I have to recount and roll. I think there is about 90.00 in there for a grand total of: 296.00.

Here is tonight's Barney movie!