This page was getting much too long so I broke it up into 2 Pages. A 1999 page and a year 2000 page.

UPDATED January 12, 2002

January 12, 2002 This will probably be the last update to this site for awhile. On Wednesday evening, January 9, 2002 at about 6:30 PM my poor best little buddy of the last 11 years was gone. He lived much longer than anyone ever thought he would and was a little fighter that used all his 9 lives to the hilt. He even managed to conquer cancer two years ago but the FIV he's always had finally caught up to him. He had been nursing a cold type virus for the past 3 months and was being treated with antibiotics. He never fully recovered and over the past two weeks developed a fever. His blood test a week ago showed his immune system had finally broken all the way down. His white cell count, which was always low, had dropped to 500, which is almost non-existent. His red cell count that had always been in the low normal range was at 2900 in October and had dropped below normal to 2300. He made a little come back New Year's Day but started going downhill again on Saturday night, January 5th. When he was weighed last week, he had lost a pound and a half since October and was down to 8.5 pounds and was thin with his sides sunken in. I know he had lost even more this past week because when you petted him you could feel the bones on the top of his spine. He was walking extremely slowly and having problems negotiating stairs. His appetite had gone down despite the antibiotic Baytril he was taking and the Cyproheptadine (Periactin) we were giving him to stimulate his appetite. It had gotten to the point where we had to slightly warm baby food and spoon-feed him to get him to eat anything. Tuesday night, January 8th, he had a lot of trouble just trying to turn himself around in his window hammock and couldn't get comfortable. When it was bed time I had to carry him to bed and he just laid where I put him instead of getting himself settled like he usually did. Wednesday morning, January 9th, he ate very little and could hardly stand and when he tried to walk he limped and wobbled. As hard as it is to lose him, and he will be sorely missed and never forgotten, we all knew it was his time and he had run out of miracles. As much as we didn't want to take him in, it would have been selfish of us to let him continue to weaken and get to the point of being in pain and not being able to move at all. As it was he must have ached all over because Tuesday and Wednesday he would meow loudly when you picked him up. It was what was best for him but terrible hard for us to do. Among cats he was something very special and always acted more like a puppy or a small child than a cat. There will never be another like him. Hard to believe that in 1999 we had 4 cats and now are down to one. The house seems terribly empty without him and I have been and will be crying off and on over him. It's especially hard mornings and evenings. He used to make sure we were up at 5:30 AM every morning to feed him, even on weekends. When I'd come home from work he would often be sitting in the window waiting for me and when I got out of the car he would jump down and run to the door to greet me. Every night he would wait for me to turn out the lights and then follow me to bed and snuggle up in the crook of my arm near my head like a little living Teddy Bear. At least I know he got a lot of love and gave it back to us immensely. He had a very strong personality and made sure you always knew he was around. We went through many illnesses and other happier things together. I was able to hold him in my lap for about an hour before we took him out and I held him on my lap wrapped in his favorite blanket all the way to the vet. He just laid his little head on my arm as he had done so many times before and I gently petted him all the way out. It will be very hard to sleep at night now. I'll miss that and everything else about his unique little personality. Anyway, there is always this web site dedicated to him and the many pictures and memories I'll have until I'm gone. I love you Whitey. Be at peace.

January 8, 2000
Whitey was rechecked by Dr. Nogrady this past Wednesday, Jan. 5th. His lymph node seemed fine. His temperature was fine. His weight held at 9.8 pounds. She did another blood test and phoned me Thursday with the results. The bad news was that his white cell count had dropped down to 1500, less than half what it was before his last chemo treatment. The good news was his red cell count was still good and his lymphocytes number was still low. She said another type cell, his neutrophils, were up and this is supposed to be a good thing. She felt the chemo probably knocked the white cell count back down again. The chemicals used in chemotherapy are toxic to bone marrow over time which is why the blood needs to be constantly monitored. She felt the best course of action is to let him go two weeks and recheck his lymph node and blood again unless something happens before then. Right now he is looking and acting real good and eating fine. He looks as good now as before he got sick last year and before we battled all the secondary illnesses. If he is still doing well in two weeks she may skip the next chemo again to give his white cell count a chance to build back up. He even travelled better in the car this time. Naturally before we got a mile down the road he urinated and defacated and I had to pull over and change his cage materials. However for the first time in a very long time we made it all the to the vet and back home with no vomiting. Thank god for small favors. I continue to keep my fingers crossed and say my prayers that this good patch Whitey is having continues for a long time.

January 23, 2000
Whitey was checked by Dr. Nogrady this past Wednesday, Jan. 19th. The weather was very cold so he made up for his last few good trips by vomiting, urinating and defacating enough times so that I had to stop and change him in the car 4 times on the way to the vet. His weight was off .1 pounds at 9.7 pounds. He had another CBC test. The vet called the next day to tell me his white cell count had gone up to 3100 and his neutrophils were up more. We skipped this chemo treatment and will recheck him again in two weeks. He has been doing a little sneezing the past few days but so have the other two cats. I'll be keeping a close watch on him. With his low white cell count and shot immune system I'd hate for him to get a cold now that he's doing so well.

February 10, 2000
Our last trip to the vet was last Wednesday, Feb. 2nd. The vet gave him a thorough checkup and did another CBC test. His White cell count dropped back down to 2200. Dr. Nogrady thinks the low count is due to a combination of Whitey's FIV and the cumulative effects of the chemo treatments on his bone marrow. Luckily the numbers for his other blood components are still good. So the new course of treatment is to continue postponing his next chemo treatment for awhile while doing a thorough checkup and blood test every two weeks. His cancer is in remission and hopefully it'll stay that way for quite awhile. He looks good, acts good and eats like a little pig. His weight stayed at 9.7 pounds. So unless something changes in the meantime, it'll be a checkup and blood test every two weeks for awhile. Our next appointment is Feb 16th.

February 19, 2000
We visited the vet on Wednesday, Feb. 16th. The vet gave him a thorough checkup and did another CBC test. The good news is that he gained a little weight. He went from 9.7 pounds to 9.9, almost at the 10 pound mark. The trip to the vet was semi better. We only had to make one stop to change the cage but I had to clean him with a washcloth since he decided to sit in his mess right after he did it. Dr. Nogrady called today with the CBC results. Looks like his white cell count dropped again. It's now down to 1500. Everything else looks good. Dr. Nogrady said she'd call Cornell next week to see if there is anything we can/should do to get his white cell count higher.

March 6, 2000
Our last vet visit was March 1st. Whitey got a good check up and another CBC blood test. The results were pretty much the same as they have been the last few months. Everything looks good except for the persistently low white blood cell count. It rose slightly to 1700. Whitey even gained a few more ounces and finally tipped the scale at a solid 10 pounds. This is remarkable considering he went from a healthy 12.5 pound all the way down to 7.5 pounds and has now slowly gotten back to a solid 10 pound cat. Dr. Nogrady consulted some more experts but found out nothing new about ways to increase his white cell count. Since all his secondary infections have cleared up and he's been in real good shape now for about 3 months, she said she'd cut him and me a break and not see him again for a full month as long as nothing cropped up before then. As long as he continues doing well we won't be going to the vet again until the first week of April. Keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer that Whitey continues the way he is now.

April 17, 2000
It's been over a month since the last update and that's actually good news. Whitey's last checkup was good and consistant with the others since January so the vet said to bring him back in a month instead of two weeks. The Checkup he had on April 5th was real good. He maintained his weight at 10 pounds but looked fatter. The reason for the fatter look is that his hair has thickened up and all grown back as has his whiskers. They are full length again now. His blood work this time was better too. His white cell count was up to 3100. Still well below the low normal of 5000 but almost double a month ago. Dr. Nogrady says that as long as he's still doing well that this time we'll go 6 weeks between visits. His last chemo treatment was Dec. 28th and so far (knock on wood) he's been doing fantastic and it looks like the cancer is in remission. Let's hope things stay that way. Of course nothing new on his traveling. I still had to stop three times to change his cage.

Not all the news is good. Winter had a cystitus attack, her first in over two years. We had to put her on antibiotics for awhile to clear it up. I also took her to the vet for a physical and confirmed she is overweight. In the last two years she went from 16 pounds to a rotund 17.5 pounds. We now have her on a diet. She hates that because she loves to eat.

May 25, 2000
Whitey just had his first vet visit in over six weeks. He's doing and looking great and acts like a cat half his age. The vet did blood work and his white cell count was at 3300. Just slightly better than the last time. He gained almost a half pound of weight and weighed in at 10.4 pounds. The vet is thinking of cutting back on the 2 prednisone tablets he gets every other day. She said she wanted to do some more research before deciding when to see him again and what direction his treatment should take. I'm waiting to hear back from her. So for now, the news is all good news. Also, this past month he has started to spend more time on my lap and now cuddles up to me in bed at night instead of my wife like he used to do. Guess he's finally decided I'm not the mean guy he thought I was for all the vets trips and meds I was giving him.

July 16, 2000
We were able to go another 6 weeks between vet visits. This time both Whitey and TC went to the vet. Whitey for his checkup and CBC blood test and TC for a 6 month followup blood test to make sure the Radioactive Iodine treatment for his hyperthyroid did the trick. The numbers came back great on both guys. Whitey's white blood cell count was now up to 4200. Still below normal but rising. His weight increased again slightly, he is up to 10.7 pounds. He looked fine in every other way so we're stretching his next visit to 2 months. So as long as he stays healthy we won't be going back to the vet until the end of August.

September 6, 2000
Whitey and Winter made a trip to the vet this past Saturday, Sept. 2nd. For Whitey the news was good. He's put on almost another pound and is up to 11.4 pounds. Have to start watching that he doesn't get too heavy. He weighed 12.5 before getting sick 20 months ago. Hard to believe it's been this long. The vet says if we get past 24 months that there is a good chance he's been cured instead of in remission. His CBC blood test came back today and his white cell count was still at 4200. Low normal is 5500 and the vet thinks this is as good as we can hope for since he's also FIV positive. As long as he keeps doing well she doesn't want to see him again for 3 months this time.

Winter's news wasn't as good. We took her in for blood work and urine tests 2 weeks ago. Her appetite had gotten even more ravenous than normal. Her blood sugar level was at 504 and the vet suspected Diabetes. The blood work also showed she picked up Whitey's FIV and is now FIV positive too. The most likely cause was that she got into a bad habit of licking Whitey's bowl clean after he had been eating and probably got it via his saliva. The vet had me stop her Prednisone and checked her again this past Saturday. She has gone from 17.5 pounds in April to 16 pounds now but had only lost .2 pounds these past two weeks. Taking her off the Prednisone helped some. Her ravenous appetite backed down to her normal eating and her blood sugar level dropped from 504 to 279. Still too high since normal is 80-120. The vet has put her on Glypizide twice a day and wants to see her again in two weeks for another urine test and blood sample. I'm hoping the pills work because I'm not crazy about having to give the poor thing Insulin shots. I'll update her condition again in two weeks and when I get time may even start her Diabetes treatments as a separate page here on the site.

October 5, 2000
Whitey is doing real well and the vet doesn't want to see him again until December. We are still trying to get Winter's diabetes under control. We gave her 2.5 Mg of Glipizide twice a day for two weeks. Her blood glucose level was at 279 when checked. So we tried another two weeks at 5 Mg twice a day. When rechecked she was still at 278. So last Saturday, Sept. 30th, we started her on insulin shots of 1 unit twice a day. She was rechecked at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 4th, and was at 375. The vet had me increase the dose to 2 units twice a day and Winter will be rechecked on Saturday, Oct. 7th, at noon. I give her the shots at 6 AM and 6 PM which is why they want to check her at noon. I hope this does it. I hate giving her shots but so far she doesn't seem to mind. Wish us luck.

December 23, 2000
Whitey had his first checkup since early October on December 20th. He weighed in at a little over 11 pounds so he hasn't gained any more weight but didn't lose either. The vet said he was looking real good and was super pleased with how well he has done. His CBC showed a white cell count of 3900 which was a little lower than the 4200 last time. It's hard to believe it's already been 1 year since we stopped giving him chemo treatments. His recovery has been remarkable and he looks and acts like he did before he got the cancer. The only down side is the poor little guy somehow caught a cold last Sunday and has been sneezing and snuffling. We put him on Baytril right away to help keep away any other infections because of his low immune system. The vet said that like people it should run it's course in 14 days or so but if he seems any worse and not getting better during that time to give her a call.

March 16, 2001
Whitey hasn't been to the vet since December 20th. He appears to be in good health and his cancer is either gone or in remission. Since all his blood tests over the past year have been pretty stable, the vet says unless something changes there is no need for her to see him until maybe June for another recheck. Right now all our efforts are at trying to get Winter better. See her page for the health problems she's been having. Click HERE to go to her page.

July 1, 2001
Whitey went to the vet on June 20th for a follow up CBC bloodtest since it has now been over 6 months since his last vet visit. He has lost about 8/10ths of a pound and weighed in at 10.2 pounds. Overall he looked good and the vet gave him his Rabies booster shot which will be good for another 3 years. She felt that was one vaccine it was best not to do without. When the blood test results came back we weren't very happy. All his blood count numbers were down. The vet is a bit worried because in the past it has only been his white cell count that was down. This time it was red cells, platelets and white cells. We've started him back on Interferon in the hopes it will build up his blood again. Her main fear is that his FIV may be affecting his bone marrow. I'll be taking him back again for another recheck in a few weeks. Otherwise he looks and acts very healthy.

August 24, 2001
Whitey went to the vet on August 18th for a follow up CBC bloodtest. He lost about 2/10ths of a pound and weighed in at 10.1 pounds vs the 10.3 the vet said he weighed last time. Overall he looked good and his blood test numbers were better. His white cell count went from 2100 to 2500, his red cells were at 28 points this time with 29 being normal and she said his platelets looked good. We had reduced his Prednisone to twice a week from three times. The vet now wants to reduce it to only one pill per week and wants to keep doing the Interferon every other week since it appears to be helping. Unless something comes up before then, the vet doesn't want to recheck him again for two months which would be around the middle of October.

October 22, 2001
Whitey went to the vet on October 17th for a follow up CBC bloodtest. He lost about 1/10 of a pound and weighed in at between 10 and 10.1 pounds. Last time he weighed 10.1 pounds so he was virtually unchanged. Overall he looked good and his blood test numbers were OK except for his white cell count went from 2100 to 1500. The vet says this may be due to his having a little bit of a cold recently that has caused some sneezing. He has been taking Baytril once a day for about a week now to help with the cold. Otherwise he gets Prednisone once a week and Interferon every other week. The vet hasn't said yet when she wants to see him next. Other than the little cold, he eats well and looks well and acts his normal, lovable self.

December 28, 2001
Today started off kind of bad. Whitey didn't seem to be feeling too good yesterday and mostly slept all day. I figured it was from the cold he's been fighting for 3 months now. With a very low number of white blood cells he doesn't fight disease well. Anyway when I got ready for bed I went to pick him up and he started screaming and hissing. I put him down and looked at him and tried to pick him up again, same thing. He seemed to be in real pain whenever I tried to pick him up. He did follow me up to bed but I noticed he was walking up the stairs slower than normal. He jumped on the bed and snuggled next to me as he usually does but felt pretty warm to me. This morning he ate a little and I could see it looked like he was walking a little differently and slower than usual like his hip was bothering him. I tried to pick him up and the same thing so I called the vet and made an early appointment. I was really afraid of what she'd say since just before both Winter and Frisky had to be put to sleep they had problems walking. We took him out and she checked him all over. His temperature was 103.5 and 101 is normal for a cat. She said everything felt OK and that he was yelling almost anyplace she touched him. She figured he was probably like a human with a bad virus where you ache all over. So she gave him a shot of penicillin and gave me some anti-biotic pills for him. With the FIV and cancer and all he's been through she keeps trying to prepare me for the worst. I know the day will come when I'll have to let him go but I don't think I'll ever be prepared for it. Of course I won't let him suffer either just to keep him around. Anyway, I'm hoping these antibiotics work and that he's his same old self again soon but until then I'll worry about the little guy. He's also lost a little over a pound of weight since his last vet visit back in October. He barely tipped the scales at 10 pounds then and today was at 8 3/4.

January 5, 2002
Whitey went back to the vet this past Wednesday, January 2 for another check up and CBC blood test. The good news is that his fever was gone and his temperature was back to normal. He was still moving a bit slow but was more like himself than he had been in about a week. His weight was down to 8.5 pounds from 10 in October. To help stimulate his appetite she gave him a Vitamin B-12 shot and gave me a prescription for human allergy pills that are supposed to cause an increase in appetite in cats and dogs. She told me to call Saturday (today, January 5th, for his blood test results. He has been eating very well again since Thursday night.

I got some semi-bad news today when I called the vet for the results of Whitey's blood test. She said the numbers were really bad this time. In October his white cell count was only 1500 and now it's dropped to 500. Also his red cell platelets were always in the low normal range, last time at 2900, now down to 2300. Basically she said his immune system is now shot and completely gone. She said he seems a little weak because with a lower red cell count he's slightly anemic. She says she really doesn't know what else we can do. With the cancer and everything else he's been through she's surprised he's lived this long. He's about 14 and we've had him for 11 years. She said this is the longest she's ever seen an FIV cat go. Guess he's just a little fighter. Anyway, he is acting better and eating well again so we just need to keep an eye on him and basically make him like the "Boy In A Plastic Bubble" by keeping him out of drafts and anything that might cause him to get sick. She said there's no way to predict how long he'll continue living a decent quality of life. Could be 1 day or 1 year. There's no way of knowing. As I told her though, as long as he's eating well and mainly himself and not in pain I'll do whatever I can for him. Once he crosses that threshold where he's suffering or so weak there is no hope for him, then as hard as it will be I'll do the right thing and let him go. I won't let him suffer just to keep him around. So for now I'll just have to settle for taking things one day at a time and being Thankful for every day he's still with us.

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