Barney is an Angel Now.

[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.

[Scooter's Mom]

I am SO glad Barney has gained a little weight! A whole pound is awesome.
Keep eatin' Barney!

[Medusa]

Oh Lara, what a sweet boy Barney is. His adorable little face just haunts me. And to think that he gained weight to get up to 5 lbs. At her heaviest, Puddy weighed 5 lbs., so I know how tiny that is but Puddy was a tiny cat. Barney has been to hell and back to weigh so little but he's surely in heaven now w/you.

I'm w/everyone else; I prefer to think good thoughts and that he doesn't have lymphoma. We're going to think positive here because this boy doesn't deserve that. However, I know you'll do everything possible for him. I'm not going to wait for my next check to send another donation; I'm going to send one now because you just got another vet bill even though it was at a discount and I'm afraid that w/the holidays here, the mail will be slower than usual and it may take too long for the check to get to Canada.

Barney looks so adorable and pathetic at the same time w/his collar on. I don't know how you keep from sleeping out there w/him. LOL Lara, I'm so proud to know you. Even though we've never met in person, I consider you to be a good friend. You're such a quality person, a gentle spirit, and God has given this assignment to just the right person. How blessed you are and, as a result, Barney is blessed as well and so is everyone on PT who knows you.

[lvpets2002]

Oh Woo Hoo Barney that is Great News of your weight gain.. Sorry about the ears problems still.. Hopefully we can get all of that under control.. Your E-Collar & Video is the Cutest.. Hang in there Baby Barney.. We all sure do Love You.. Sending Lots of Whisker Kissess & Huggss..

[Moesha]

I woke up and for some reason Barney was one of the first things I thought of. It hit me this morning that you said he had broken ribs! Did the vet say how long they would take to heal? Barney has been with either you or Angela for several weeks now. Surely he must be getting close to the end of the healing process for those soon. Poor little guy! I can' imagine him at his small size surviving being hit by a car! He sure has been through so much! I'm so glad, no matter what comes from here on out, he'll know love and warmth and have the best you and PT can give him.

[Taz_Zoee]

Awww, Barney and Taz have matching collars now. How is he doing with the collar? I hope it's working.

I still think about Mr Barney each day and always hope to see another good update on him.

[Catty1]

About the liver - I have read on PT that cats who are not eating or starving (as Barney was) can develop something called "fatty liver disease".

I found some interesting info - here is an excerpt:
http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/fatty_liver.htm

The disease progresses this way:

* A previously overweight cat stops eating for whatever reason
* Lacking food, the body starts sending fat cells to the liver to process into lipoproteins for fuel.
* Cats' livers are not terribly efficient at processing fat, and much of the fat is stored in the liver cells.
* Left untreated, eventually the liver fails and the cat dies.

FLS is Reversible if Caught in Time

The treatment for Fatty Liver Disease is dietary, and works quite well in reversing the condition if diagnosed early. The idea is to force feed the cat enough nutrients to reverse the metabolic malfunction that caused the condition in the first place.

Since Barney's appetite is good, I hope this gets reversed. Given his diabetes, I hope there is some kind of richer food that can help reverse this.

HUGS to precious Barney! Prayers that he does not have cancer, just that the lymph system is still 'carrying out all the dead' after the war with the infections (which is what the lymph system does). That can really swell up the lymph nodes. I am hoping that since the big node is in his throat, and the big infection was in his ears, that the two are connected somehow.

Any harm in giving the Transfer Factor? It's supposed to help chronic diseases as well.

I LOVE that Barn-Barn! Maybe he will start to show signs of hearing now that the drops can get where they belong. But he sure knows his Meowmie (and daddy too, I hope!).

[Emeraldgreen]

Hi guys. Thank you, everybody, for the heart warming posts. Mary, your words are so very kind and brought tears to my eyes. Thank you.
I know that if Barney crossed any one of our paths, you all would do exactly the same for him. And it frustrates me to no end that my coworker didn't do more for him for a year, other than toss dry food out for him. The more I think about it, the angrier it makes me. She is back now and has worked a few shifts but I haven't seen her. And part of me is really wondering if those two broken ribs weren't from a kick. If he had been hit by a car, then wouldn't he have more damage to the rest of his body? I know that my coworker's partner didn't want him around and I have to wonder. Even while Angela was staying there, he came over just about everyday and was apparently irritated that she was staying so long and he didn't want Barney in the house. Angela is strong willed and she basically ignored all of that and did what she thought was best for Barney but she left the house everyday to run errands and go to the gym and then returned in the early evening so Barney was alone at those times.
It's just a gut feeling but I could be totally wrong. I can't figure him out, he stops by my work and asks me how Barney is doing but then he says things like "ya, Angela has totally ruined Jack, he gets up on the couch now and I had trained him not to get up there". I said "yes, I know she had left Jack one of those soft microfleece blankets for him on the couch" and he said that he got rid of it?!? I said "why don't you just put it on the floor for him?" and he said that Jack only likes to sleep on the bricks under the woodstove or under the dvd player on the shelving unit. I know that is not true though because everytime I went over there, Jack was loving that soft blanket. Anyway, I heard yesterday that my coworker broke up with him the day she got back and I'm pretty sure Jack stays with her.

Moesha, the vet didn't tell me how long it would take the ribs to heal or if they would heal. I will have to ask her about that. You should have seen the images, his ribs are like little match sticks and these two were completely snapped. Maybe in his case it will take longer because he isn't the healthiest fellow. But now that I know, I will try and lift him, holding more on his right side than his left.

I've decided to let him sleep through the night without the collar and have him wear it during the day. He was so happy when I took it off last night before I tucked him in. And then I gave him breakfast and then put the collar back on. It actually makes giving him his ear drops easier and it helped a bit with giving his injection. I put him on my lap and was trying to tent the skin between his shoulders and he kept trying to swing around a bite me. The collar helped make that a bit harder for him. Once I was able to get the needle in, then it wasn't too bad. He only gets 2 units in the morning.

He now has two litterboxes! Because when he has the collar on he gets a bit off balance and has been peeing over the edge of the box onto the floor. I'm hoping that two boxes next to each other will catch the 'spillage'. lol

Thanks for that info Candace! I think that is exactly what the vet was trying to explain to me except somehow it was also connected to his diabetes. I do hope that continued meals will help reverse the enlarged liver. I think I would like to try Barney on the Transfer Factor but I will wait until the blood work is back and see if I can stop giving him the Tapazole. I feel like he is on so much stuff right now with the Surolan, Tapazole, Metacam and insulin and polysporin for his nose. But the TF is a natural supplement so it probably wouldn't hurt. He needs all the help he can get right now.

Randi, I was thinking smaller dishes might be good too so I might try that. And he does have lots of blankies. He has his favourites, so I just rewash those.

Mary (Purr-Tender), I think the regular blood test with the thyroid results should be back today but the sample that was sent off to the lab might take a few days. It was sent to a lab in Langley which is outside of Vancouver so it shouldn't take too long. I will post as soon as I know though. The vet hasn't ruled out Squamous Cell Carcinoma either and that can only be determined with a biopsy of his growth or from his nose. I showed the vet the scab I saved from his nose (gross, I know!) but she said that the biopsy would have to come from tissue from his nose. I don't want the vet to cut into his nose and if I do go that route (biopsy) it makes sense to take it from his ear. The vet seems to think that surgery would just be too much for him and she said that diabetes is a real problem with anesthesia. I still don't know why, I have to find this out. The xrays were fairly useless with regard to showing how deep the growth(s) is/are in his ears but they did show us alot with regard to his body so I'm glad we did them.

Taz_Zoee wrote:

Awww, Barney and Taz have matching collars now. How is he doing with the collar? I hope it's working.

I still think about Mr Barney each day and always hope to see another good update on him.

Thanks! My thoughts/prayers go out to Taz each day too.

Lizzie, thanks for your comment about bathing him. I have hope now that he will get 'fluffy' at some point. I'm going to try and stay on top of his fur, now that the girls at the clinic got out some of those mats for me that I wasn't able to snip off myself. I had gotten them down to the base but was too concerned about cutting his skin if I got any closer. If I had done that, I would have felt so horrible. As if he needs one more thing wrong with him! lol
They combed quite a few of those out though so he's alot further ahead today.

Thanks Scooter's Mom and lvpets_2002 for your posts and encouragement and thank you 3catCondo for your PM.