Bailey was admitted to the hospital tonight!

Don't beat up on yourself - you are doing all you can and she is in the right place. Stay calm for her. I do hope they find theproblem and can treat it easily.

Awww, thank you so much everyone! It's so nice to be part of a community where people understand why I care so much about my cat and why I'm willing to put so much time, energy, and money into making her happy. To me, she's not "just a cat," as I'm sure all of you understand. She's even more than family to me- she's my precious little baby! So many people don't get it and think I'm just obsessive, but I'm ultimately the main person responsible for her health and happiness. And I do what I can for her not out of obligation, but out of love. She's been there for me through so much, and she's a wonderfully kind, loving, special kitty.

Ugh, I just ran out of tissues. I can't stop crying at work! I just spoke with the internal medicine specialist. She's concerned about her elevated calcium levels since it could possibly be a sign of cancer. She's going to do a CBC, urine test, chest x-ray (to look for any abnormalities), and a more in-depth blood test which will give more specific information on her calcium level (I don't remember what it's called). I'm guessing if they don't find anything, they're going to have to do an ultrasound, and then who knows? All I know is that as hard as it is for me to leave her there, I NEED to find out what is wrong with her so that she can the proper treatment. I'm tired of playing guessing games, and I don't want to gamble with Bailey's health. Even though I want her home with me, if she's not going to eat or drink at home, it's probably best that she be under supervised care... I wonder how long this is going to take.

The specialist is supposed to call me later today to talk about the CBC, urinalysis, and x-ray. The calcium blood test won't be back until next week. I'm pretty sure at this point that they're going to keep her on fluids and may give her steroids in an attempt to lower her calcium level, and then redo blood work in the morning. This is so hard!!!

Im wishing you the best and hope Bailey gets better soon!

Oh yeah, Beandip- she was supposed to start antibiotics before her dental procedure (which was scheduled for this upcoming Monday, but I don't know what's going to happen with that). She was ideally supposed to start taking them tomorrow, but when I told her regular vet that she wasn't eating normally, he said we should hold off on the antibiotics until the day of since they might further decrease her appetite. I believe they gave her an injectible antibiotic last night in case she had some type of infection. I can't even think straight

for you and Bailey. I totally get why you feel the way you do, and I understand how hard it is for you to be at work and waiting for news. I am praying they find out what the problem is soon, so you can get Bailey back home and get on with whatever treatment is necessary.

Good vibes for you and Bailey. I really hope its not cancer. I had to send my beloved Howard to the rainbow bridge about 2 months ago because he had cancer in his intestines. He kept vomiting and getting constipated. We finally did a barium series and found ot it was cancer. Sadly, it had already gone to his brain.

Dont blame your self for anything! When I found out he had cancer, I kept thinking "what if I had pushed harder for more tests or brought him in sooner." "What if I would have thought the vomiting was not just hairballs but something more..." None of its your fault. Your doing everything possible for your baby. You just have to put the rest of it in god's hands. Hopefully your baby is just being a pain in your rear and nothing more....

Aw, poor Bailey and poor you. You're not a bad mommy. There are so many people that thinking their cat going off food will help them lose weight, so they don't even call a vet! I hope you get good news, and it's just some weird levels for a while.

I am sending love and prayers for you both! Keep us updated!

Thanks again everyone!

I'm seriously about to freak out. Her chest x-ray didn't show any abnormalities, and they sent out samples for a CBC and urinalysis. I won't know the results of those until tomorrow. She said she doesn't think it is necessary to do an ultrasound at this point, but they may do it tomorrow depending on the lab results. They're going to keep her on IV fluids today and overnight and redo the basic blood work again in the morning.

She still hasn't eaten anything. I asked her if they planned on force-feeding her, and she said she is trying to avoid it since force-feeding could make her aversion to food even worse. I asked how long they would let her go without eating (she hasn't eaten since 6:00pm yesterday, and it was a tiny amount!). She said if they can't get her to eat by tomorrow morning, they may consider placing a feeding tube.

Does that seem like too long? I'm worried about her sitting at the vet and not eating, especially since she hasn't eaten nearly enough over the past 5 days. I'm so frustrated!! I don't know what to do!!!

Prayers and positive vibes sent your way JennyJen

Oh, no i'm sorry....I wish him a speedy recovery!!!! It's never easy to watch a pet endure an illness. I'll being sending good vibes your way!!!

love and hugs for your beautiful Bailey

Many prayers for Bailey.

I'm so sorry to read your post. i'm sending good vibes to Bailey. I went through this with my two who got sick from recalled food. They recovered nicely, with I.V.'s and meds. I'm sure you took her in as soon as you knew something was wrong. Your vet will make her better and all the good vibes from this site will help.

I went to see Bailey yesterday evening at the emergency vet. She was pretty lively and was walking around the room (she was so cute limping around with her little bandaged paw that had the IV in it ). I got her to eat a whole small can of baby food, which made me really happy since it was the most she'd eaten in one sitting in almost a week! I called this morning, and they told me she's eaten 2 jars since then (although it's possible she may have been including the one jar that I gave her last night- I didn't think to ask). Either way, even if she's only eaten 2 jars including the one I gave her, it's still an improvement. Today, they're going to repeat basic blood work to see if her creatinine and/or calcium levels have gone down. They're also going to do an ultrasound to see if they can find any lymphomas or abnormalities that couldn't be seen in the x-ray. The vet said that she didn't think it was crucial to do an ultrasound if cost was an issue, but that it wouldn't be a bad idea. I asked her to do it anyway, because if it has even small potential to show something, then it's worth it to me. I knew I wasn't crazy when I got per insurance!

I'm supposed to hear back from her probably early this afternoon. Also, the blood test that they won't get the results back for until next week is one to test the level of a hormone released by the parathyroid glands. I guess an elevated level of that particular hormone can be indicative of cancer (it also can cause calcium levels to increase, which is why she's having the test done).

I'm going to check with her to see if I should put off her dental. I can't imagine that she should go through with it right now (it's scheduled for Monday). I'll probably get some Feliway too. Maybe that'll help calm her down.

So I guess not a whole lot has changed, and they're still not sure what's wrong with her. But she's been eating, which is a huge plus! I'll update everyone once I know more.

Thanks so much to everyone for your support and kind thoughts!!

Jenny~

Just read through and your last update. Wow what a worrisome week for you guys. I am glad to hear she is eating--appetite is a positive!

I know it's still scary not knowing but you are a super cat mommy.

My Grayboy had a undiagnosed fever recently; he is fine now but it will forever be in the back of my mind as to what went on. The not knowing is the worst.

Here's to more positive healing vibes!

It's great that she is eating! That is one worry off your mind. Now just keep focussed on the other things.

Hopefully I can get her to eat over the weekend... I really need to try to stay calm when she's at home. I put a TON of effort into not stressing out when I went to see her at the e-vet, and she was so cute and actually seemed pretty excited about eating. It sucks because she'll be acting weird, and then it'll stress me out, and then she'll start acting MORE weird, and I'll stress out even more!! It's a vicious cycle. I think we feed off of each other to some extent.

Hopefully feliway will help, and maybe it'll be beneficial (for both me AND her) for me to take MY anti-anxiety meds a little more regularly.

Still waiting for the ultrasound/blood work results!

Alrighty, I just talked to the vet. Everything looked good with the ultrasound. Her calcium level has gone down (it's still high, but lower than before). Her creatinine has gone up from 2.5 to 2.6, but her BUN is still normal, and so were the results of her urinalysis. She said Bailey's CBC looked good (I'm getting printouts of all the lab results when I pick her up). She's been eating regularly- not only did she eat some canned food, but she even ate some kibble! I still have to wait until next week for the parathyroid test results, but I guess they've basically covered everything that can be covered right now. Bailey's an enigma! Hopefully that test comes back normal. If it does, I guess I'll basically just have to keep an eye on her and wait, because they won't start doing more invasive testing unless it's absolutely necessary. I'll probably opt to redo her blood work in the very near future since her creatinine has been creeping up. Her dental has been canceled since Monday will just be too soon to traumatize her again. I asked the vet about Feliway, and she said it certainly wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. Plus, I'm gonna see if Bailey can manage with 2 doses of lactulose per day instead of 3, because I think 3 is just too much for her to handle emotionally.

Wow, the last couple of days have been AWFUL. I had a feeling that I was going to pay a billion dollars (I don't even know how much it is yet, but I don't even care) and they weren't going to be able to find out what was wrong with her. I'm still VERY glad I brought her in though. Even if I spent more than was necessary, I'm glad that we're further along in the process of elimination. Even if there ends up literally being nothing wrong with her, I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'd certainly PREFER that there be nothing seriously wrong with her, but peace of mind is very valuable. Plus, the vets who worked with her were awesome and were happy to answer my questions. They explained a ton of stuff to me without me even having to ask, and everyone was super nice when I called numerous times a day. The one who's been primarily working with her has been so nice and understanding and didn't make me feel like I was too high maintenance. I wish she could be her regular vet! It's nice that I'll be able to take her home feeling like everything that could be done at this point has been done, rather than having to wonder if I should've done more.

I want to thank all of you SO MUCH for your support and kind thoughts. I have to say, it made it easier to get through the past couple of days when I'd see the many replies that you gave. I'll post an update over the weekend (hopefully a positive one!). Please continue to keep Bailey in your thoughts, since I think she could still use some encouragement and positive vibes.

I can't thank all of you enough! I'm off to go pick her up now, YAY!!!!!