Barney is an Angel Now.

[Purr-tender]

Now he's all handsome for his little trip to the vet tomorrow! There's nothing wrong with that baby's purr machine!! Music to my ears!

Praying for a really good check up tomorrow. Maybe once the vet is able to clean his ears out thoroughly he'll feel even better. What time is his appointment? I think you are 3 hours behind us here in Ohio. Needless to say, I and many others will be anxiously waiting for what the vet has to say.

More prayers and hugs,
Mary

[Emeraldgreen]

Now he's all handsome for his little trip to the vet tomorrow! There's nothing wrong with that baby's purr machine!! Music to my ears!

Praying for a really good check up tomorrow. Maybe once the vet is able to clean his ears out thoroughly he'll feel even better. What time is his appointment? I think you are 3 hours behind us here in Ohio. Needless to say, I and many others will be anxiously waiting for what the vet has to say.

More prayers and hugs,
Mary

I know, his purring was out of control! It actually worried me a bit because it sounded very rumbly, kind of like Tiger's did, and that was not a good thing. I will mention it to the vet. I'm hoping because he is so little, that when they do the xray's of his skull that they will be able to get his chest in the picture at the same time. That way they could see what his lungs look like too.

His appointment is at 10:20 tomorrow. I wish he was even cleaner. I just can't figure it out. That cat has been washed a total of at least half a dozen times in less than 2 months and he is still kind of waxy feeling to the touch. I had so many sudsy bubbles and scrubbed him alot. He only washes his paws and face mostly so he doesn't help the situation but I just figured he'd be fluffy after this last wash! lol Darn it!

I want to find a picture of what he should look like so I can use it as a goal marker. I've looked online and have found alot of long haired black and white tuxedo cats but none are of the small build like Barney. If anyone spots a picture of a cat that you think Barney 'would' look like if he were healthy, please post it. I need the encouragement!

Mary, I'm sure if Yodie was ever subjected to a bath, he'd have a less rustic experience than the old rubbermaid containers! lol Poor Barney, he is such a trooper. His nose looks better today so maybe the polysporin is doing something afterall. And, I've been getting Surolan into his right ear twice a day for the last 4 days so I'm sure it's helping. The bleeding in his left ear seems to have stopped so we're making some kind of progress.

[Catty1]

Here you are, Barn-Barn!

[momtomany]

The Dunn gang will be waiting impatiently for what the vet has to say about Barney. He does look a little better to me. How is his dry food holding up? Hopefully I will be able to get his next bag of food for our Barney boy.

[Moesha]

I love that kitty!!!

I completely understand what you mean when you say you don't know about updating because you feel like your repeating yourself. That's how I feel about commenting. I love seeing photos and videos of Barney, but I feel like I say the same thing everytime you post one. That causes me to not respond as often as I should. Everytime I see him I just fall more in love with him. I really do think that his eyes look like there's more life in them now than at the beginning of his story.

[Scooter's Mom]

I love reading Barney updates, too. I just don't post very often b/c of time constraints.

[Lizzie]

While waiting for your update on Barney, I thought I'd comment on your remark about:

"His appointment is at 10:20 tomorrow. I wish he was even cleaner. I just can't figure it out. That cat has been washed a total of at least half a dozen times in less than 2 months and he is still kind of waxy feeling to the touch. I had so many sudsy bubbles and scrubbed him alot. He only washes his paws and face mostly so he doesn't help the situation but I just figured he'd be fluffy after this last wash! lol Darn it!"

I know just what you mean. I thought that when I bathed Lorna and got the old, actually ancient, poop off her she'd look so much better but even after a couple of months of bathing she looked and smelled better but her fur still didn't look the way I'd hoped. With others who have lived longer, it's taken several months of bathing to get the ingrained staining out of their fur, and both bathing, good care and good food to get the fur looking good. It will happen. We can see the difference already and, six months from now, we will hardly be able to recognize him.

[Emeraldgreen]

Barney had quite a day and I'm sure he's glad it's over. My husband had to drop me off at work after the vet appointment on the way home so I didn't get to see Barney until this evening.

He meowed all the way to the vet clinic which I think is a good sign. The first two trips to the vet, Angela said he was quiet as a mouse.
First the good news... Barney gained a full pound!! That is alot for such a little guy. He was 4.15 at his last exam and 5.1 at this one!

The first thing we did was address his ears. I held onto him and he was being so good. Robin cleaned out his right ear and it might be the most disgusting thing I've ever seen! So much icky goop came out of there. I said to Robin "I think I might throw up!" and she laughed and said "don't!, If you do, I will!" LOL She went through about a dozen of those long q-tips covered with ear washing stuff and had to leave the room to get more because they were so dirty. I don't think his ears ever got cleaned the two times before because they were too painful but today he seemed to almost appreciate it.
I'm so glad that it is done because now the drops I've been giving him twice a day will go into a much cleaner ear and get down to the canal where it's supposed to.

She looked deep into his ear afterward and said that he either has a growth in that ear as well or the cartilidge has grown from all the scratching and has narrowed his canal alot.

His other ear, the one with the polyp (or tumor) was also cleaned out with wet q-tips and gauze and she said it was improved since the last time she saw it and there was no infection now, just blood so that was good to hear.
They did xrays of his skull and got the rest of the body in there as well. The skull was hard to see and she said that it does almost look like he's got a growth in both ears but she can't be sure. The rest of his xray revealed that he has two broken ribs on the left side. I told her that I wouldn't be surprised if he had been kicked by someone when he was living outdoors but she thought he might have been hit by a car. She said there wasn't much to be done about it. I asked her if they would be painful and she thought that yes, they might cause him some discomfort when he breathes but hopefully not too much.

The xrays also showed that his liver is more than twice it's normal size. She was surprised to see that because on his last round of blood tests, his liver levels were all normal. She said that it could be due to the diabetes and something about fat being drawn out of the liver?! I received so much information in the one hour that it was hard to keep it all straight.
She was also concerned that he might have Lymphoma.

They drew blood and sent it off to check his thyroid and his white blood cell count. She asked me if he slept alot and I told her that he does. She was wondering if it was the Tapazole. She told me that on Barney's first exam, they never tested his Thyroid, they just assumed it was hyper because it felt large and Angela was trying to keep the bill down. I always thought this test had been done and that is why the Tapazole was prescribed. So for 2 weeks he got 1/2 a pill two times a day and then on his 2nd exam his thyroid was tested and it came back low so they lowered his dose to 1/2 tab once a day. She felt it again and is wondering if it might be his lymph node and not his thyroid and he might not even be hyperthyroid at all!! We will know shortly and hopefully I can stop giving him the Tapazole altogether.

Because she was concerned about this lymph node, she drew a sample out of it and sent it off to the Central Lab. It will show if has Lymphoma or not.
They did an inhouse blood test for his glucose and it is still high. She said that she thought it was time he went on insulin and showed me how to give him the injections. He had his first one this morning. Poor guy was poked so many times today.

I asked if they could help me with the mats because it's hard with just one person since he tries to bite me. He was also really docile at the vets so it seemed like a good time to do it. They also combed his fur and got out a bunch of mats. He started biting towards the end though, so they had to stop. But they really made some progress.

The bill came to about 345.00 and they didn't charge me for alot of stuff which was great. When I got there, another donation had been called in by Emily the Spoiled, thank you soooooo much! And the total donation at the clinic was 155.00 plus the other donations I brought with me today so I only had to pay an additional 55.00 which I was very happy to donate.

Thank you everybody for your kindness and your support. I will know more in a few days about what is going on with Barney. I hope it is not cancer, but if it is, we will make him as comfortable as possible and give him lots of love and food until it is his time. And, who knows, maybe he is going to live for YEARS! He is a tough little guy.
p.s. And the blue e-collar was only 11.00 instead of 20.00. The receptionist was just guessing at the price when I was in there two days ago, so that is good news too.

The Dunn gang will be waiting impatiently for what the vet has to say about Barney. He does look a little better to me. How is his dry food holding up? Hopefully I will be able to get his next bag of food for our Barney boy.

He still has the bag you bought him and a quarter bag left of the old one. Thank you so much for that.

Thanks everybody for your posts. I enjoy reading them and it helps me keep going with Barney Bear.




Here is a pic of him and below that, a video.

[Moesha]

I have to stop watching your videos! All I can think when I watch them is how much I love that sweet little boy! That blue color just is the best!

How wonderful that he has gained weight and that he was able to get his poor ears cleaned out. Did you ask about or get any feedback on his nose issue? You can tell him that Jenn's Calloway starts insulin now too. So he isn't alone and neither are you in the injection giving department.

And I'm not thinking about the other possibilities mentioned until test results come back.

Thank you so much for all you are doing for Barney and for sharing him with us.

[Purr-tender]

Whew, sounds like he did have quite a day. That is great news that he's finally putting on weight and he must feel better getting all that goop out of his ears. As far as the lymph nodes, could it also be that he still hasn't gotten rid of all the infections? I think that could make his glands swollen. I'd rather think that than the other. I wonder how long it will take for the blood and lymph node tests to come back? It will seem like an eternity! He seems to be doing just fine with his new collar. He looks so darn precious it brings tears to my eyes!

More prayers and hugs,
Mary

[Randi]

Aww, Barney really is a trooper - what a day he had! But I bet he feels better after getting rid of all that goop in his ears. And he has put on weight? Isn't that great! However, I'm sorry to hear he has two broken ribs.

I so hope his tests will come back showing it's not too serious, and that whatever it is can be treated. In the meantime, I'm sure you'll do just fine giving him the injections and I hope they'll help.

It's good to see him eat, and that new collar seems much better. I'm wondering about the size of his bowl - do you think it wouls be easier for him to eat if he had a smaller one?

Do you have enough sheet/blankets? I hope you have a washing machine.

Did the vet mention what age he might be?

I enjoyed watching the video, he does seem more active.

Please give him lots of kisses and gentle scritches from me.