Last Updated: 8/8/16

Photos and Videos
Story

Photos and Videos

The photos are from oldest to newest.

These photos are from the day we got him on 10/14/08.
Barney in his bed. He was pretty unresponsive.
Barney in his bed.
Barney being tummy rubbed by my mother.
Barney - close-up of his head while on his back. You can see his bad eye.
Barney smelling catnip.
Barney in the grass. My mother thought some fresh air would perk him up. He was an indoor only cat.

Barney on 10/18/08.

Barney on 10/22/08.

These photos are from 10/31/08 (Halloween) when Barney was in the laundry room playing with Tinkerbelle.
Barney
Barney
Barney

Barney on 11/1/08 on his first day out in the house.

From 11/8/08:
Barney
Barney

From 11/16/08:
Barney
Barney

These photos from 11/27/08 show Barney and Tinkie playing together.
Tinkie and Barney
Tinkie and Barney
Barney

From 12/6/08:
Tinkie and Barney laying together.

From 12/13/08:
Tinkie and Barney laying together.
Tinkie and Barney a few minutes later, asleep.

I had to take this photo of Gino, Barney, and Tinkie all on my bed on 1/6/09:
Gino, Barney, and Tinkie

The kittens were sleeping together and grooming each other on 4/26/09. I missed a photo of the kissing but they were still holding hands.
Barney and Tinkie
Barney and Tinkie - close-up

These two photos are of Tinkie and Barney on 7/4/09:
Barney and Tinkie
Barney and Tinkie

Barney in my empty 50 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank (indoor tub pond) on 8/11/09:
It's a catfish!

Gino, Tinkie, and Barney on 9/6/09.
Gino, Tinkie, and Barney on 9/6/09, left to right.

I set up the 50 gallon Rubbermaid tub basement pond on 10/20/09. Tinkie and Barney were anxious to "help."
Basement tub pond with their assistants.

Barney and Tinkie on 5/26/10.
Barney on 5/26/10.

Barney on 7/3/10.
Barney on 7/3/10. You can see the eye goop in his right eye which he got often (I cleaned it soon after the photo).

Roaches - 1063 KB, mpg movie. Barney can be seen at the end. He was watching them too. The video was taken on 11/14/10.

Barney made himself at home on the recliner on 1/3/12:
Barney
Barney

Here are three photos of Gino (on the right) and Barney (on the left) together on 4/10/12.
Gino and Barney
Gino and Barney
Gino and Barney - Barney was yawning in this one

On 10/15/12, I was playing with all four indoor cats (although I did not get photos of Tinkie with the others who was standing nearby).
Barney
Barney, Gino, and Emmy

Video of Barney, Emmy, Gino, and Tinkerbelle playing on 10/15/12.

From 5/17/13 when Barney was rolling on his back:
Barney
Barney

Barney on 7/27/13.

From 8/24/13:
Emmy, Barney, and Tinkie
Emmy, Barney, and Tinkie - Barney was yawning.
Emmy, Barney, and Tinkie - Emmy was stretching.

Barney, Tinkie, and Emmy from left to right on 6/7/14 playing with a laser toy.

Barney and Tutty in the cat tree; they both had "evil" green eyes, on 8/20/14.

Barney after his surgery on 8/23/14. Warning: Graphic photo of Barney's opened abscess.

Three cats on 10/22/15; from left to right, Barney, Emmy, and Tinkie.

Barney on 12/25/15.

From 2/26/16:
Barney sitting like a person on the couch
Barney roaring like the stuffed tiger behind him

After I found out that my angel Barney was dying, I took a bunch of photos.
These photos are from 7/1/16:
Barney
Barney
Barney

Barney on 7/2/16.

From 7/4/16:
Barney
Barney
Barney

From 7/16/16:
Barney
Barney - the last photo ever of my sweet boy

Story

On 10/9/08, my mother called me at work. She asked me if I wanted another kitten. We had five cats including 10-month-old Tinkerbelle. A year ago, she told me I could get a kitten. I wanted a longhaired calico. We could not find one so we got Tinkerbelle. I figured that meant no more cats but she said I could still get that longhaired calico. I looked for a while until my mother said absolutely no more cats. Then, she called me at work about a kitten at the farm where she buys organic chicken feed. The farmer said the kitten's head had been squished in a door which was why its head was crooked. The kitten also had a goopy closed eye. I told my mother not to get the sick kitten (I figured its neck was broken, and it was contagious), and she did not. Of course, if I had been there, I would have wanted to rescue all 30 some neglected farm cats. Barney was most likely the sole survivor of his litter as no other kittens were around. Other family members were vehemently opposed to the idea of any new cat. But, my mother could not stop thinking and talking about him until I agreed we should rescue him under the condition that he go to the vet before home to be tested for contagious diseases and parasites. I was worried that he had a contagious fatal virus (goopy closed eyes are often the result). A few years ago, I took five feral kittens to the vet, gave them $100, and asked them to do their best. Their eyes were swollen shut and some had ruptured. They had a highly contagious virus. They actually got better but the vet eventually killed them when the virus returned. I did not want to go through that or ever expose my cats to it. On 10/13/08, my mother dropped Barney at the vet around 3 pm. They confirmed he was a boy after my mother looked but they were too busy for an appointment. I called in the morning, and he had been seen late that night.

On 10/14/08, I got the following report. Barney's head was tilted to the left (they got that wrong; it is tilted to the right as you can see in the above photo). He had conjuctivitis in his right eye pretty bad. Both of his third eye lids were up (common in sick cats). He had a severe ear mite infection with a lot of debris. They cleaned it out and put in a one-time-use ear mite killer (milbemite). The vet thought his head tilt was from the ear mites and not being squished in a door. He was 1.9 pounds. His feline leukemia and feline AIDS tests were negative (some good news!). His fecal float showed roundworms and coccidia. He was about seven weeks old. I assigned him the birth date of 8/25/08. Due to his poor condition, they said to bring him back in a week for a recheck and first shots.

My mother and I picked him up around 11 am 10/14/08. When I first saw him, my first thought was that he was much worse off than I thought. They had said he was active and fine (aside from those tons of parasites and problems!). Barney was a short-haired orange tabby with some white on his feet and neck. He got Pyrantel suspension to be given on 10/28/08 as a second dose for the roundworms. He got Albon liquid for the coccidia to be given once a day. He got neomycin and polymyxin B sulfate and bacitracin zinc ophthalmic ointment (BNP ointment for short) for his eye to be used three times a day.

I brought him home and set him up in the bathroom for at least a two week quarantine. He could barely walk or stand up all day. I was worried that he would not make it. He purred a lot (not always a good sign as cats in pain purr constantly). His belly was round from the roundworms. I syringe fed him second step KMR and water since he would not eat on his own. Due to his fragile state, I could not yet bathe him but was told I could start cleaning his ears the next day which I did. He had poop on his fur that I could not get off. He had diarrhea from the coccidia. Luckily, he did not have fleas.

The next day, he seemed a little better and the next day still. He began to eat more on his own. His feces became less and less liquidy. On 10/17/08, he showed his first interest in playing, gently with a ball. It was not until 10/18/08 that he would get out of bed for reasons other than the necessities. He showed interest in life outside of the bathroom for the first time (which would make keeping him in harder). His head tilt was still really bad as you can see in his photo. Otherwise, he seemed to be on his way to eventually being a normal kitten. He was very sweet. I called him Barnster.

Barney took a turn for the worse. He had been doing better. The morning of 10/19/08, he had not eaten anything and would not do anything. He was super lethargic. His urine seemed brown. His ears did not feel hot to me but my mother said he felt hot. When I saw him make a pee in front of me that was blood red, I said we have to take him now to the emergency vet. I was shocked when they said his temperature was 106 degrees F! They used ice packs to bring it down. For almost $200, they churned out blood test results in about half an hour. His white blood cell count (WBC) was super high as were other counts indicating infection. His blood glucose was high at 160 mg/dL. His WBC was 47.94 K/uL (normal 5.5 to 19.5), NEU 40.25 K/uL (normal 2.5 to 12.5), MONO 1.97 K/uL (normal 0.15 to 1.70), EOS 1.53 L/uL (normal 0.14 to 1.50, indicative of parasites?), BASO 0.36 K/uL (normal 0 to 0.10), and platelets low at 119 K/uL (normal 175 to 600). All other results were within normal ranges including his kidney and liver enzymes. The vet on duty said he likely has a urinary tract infection because of the blood in the urine. They gave him 50 mL of lactated ringers subcutaneously and later another 30 mL. They started him on Clavamox antibiotic. They gave him some Metacam too (which can be dangerous for cats). They fed him a mix of KMR and Hills A/D canned food (love that pig lard!). He was eating it. By 5 pm, his fever was down to 103 degrees F, and we brought him home. He wanted to really play for the first time ever; I kept telling him to rest! The total cost for the emergency vet was $441.75 but Barney was priceless.

On 10/20/08, my father took over a urine and a fecal sample to the vet. He had a 6 pm appointment (rescheduled to a double booking to get him in faster).

At the vet on 10/20/08, I talked with the vet for a long time. Barney's temperature was still 103.3 degrees F. First, his fecal came back negative. So, if it tested negative again the next week, he may not need a course with a different drug for coccidia. His urine showed blood, white blood cells, and some bacteria as expected. Because the emergency vet had seen fleas, this vet put on a dose of Advantage which had the advantage of also killing any remaining ear mites or worms. This vet did not see any fleas and neither had I. They cleaned his ear in deeper with saline. The vet said if he did have a ruptured ear drum, only saline could be used for cleaning. Barney's ears were too small for the vet to tell if the ear drum had ruptured on one side but he might be able to tell when he was older [Note: After Barney died, I read through his page to put things in to the past tense, and I wanted to note that the vet never said or indicated that the ear drums ruptured. Barney did retain a slight head tilt his entire life, giving him a quizzical look). If the head tilt was from a ruptured ear drum, it would be permanent. The vet was worried about his really high white blood cell count. If he just had a urinary tract infection, he said it should not be that high. The vet was worried it might be FeLV (the in-vet test is apparently not as accurate as the lab). They drew blood to re-test Barney's blood counts and also for an infectious disease panel (the FeLV again as well as toxoplasmosis and some others). The disease panel all came back negative so the vet said the odds that Barney had feline leukemia (FeLV) were a million to one [Note: When updating this page after his death, I have to wonder if Barney hit that million to one because he died of kidney lymphoma, something that normally happens to cats who are FeLV positive.] Barney's WBC was down to 25 so either the emergency vet value was improperly high and/or Barney was getting better. His blood work also showed he was a little anemic. While at the vet, Barney was running around, the most active I had ever seen him. He continued to improve and started getting in to the bathtub on 10/21/08. If his next fecal on 10/28/08 was negative, he would be out of quarantine. He would get his first shot then too.

I finally gave Barney a quick shower (not really a bath) on 10/23/08. He finally smelled pretty good. I had a lot of hugs and kisses to make up for now that I could really touch him.

On 10/28/08, Barney went back for his checkup. His fecal was again negative. His weight was 2.7 pounds. His temperature was 102.2 degrees F but, from 10/24/08 to 10/27/08, I had been testing his temperature with a new IR cat ear thermometer. His temperature was consistently 103 to 103.8 degrees F. He seemed better now though. The vet was ready to give Barney his first distemper combo with protects against distemper and other viruses. My mother said no, not yet. So, I made an appointment for 11/3/08 for his first shot. In the mean time, he was not supposed to be free in the house only because of GK who went outside because Barney was not vaccinated and could get something from her. I really wanted to get Barney out of the bathtub so I could use it for my aquariums on Saturday! Plus, I wanted him to have fun; he was bored. Tinkie had spent a tiny bit of time near him. She was interested in him but hissed if he got too close. Barney was done with all his medications. He got his second de-wormer dose and last Clavamox dose after I got home from the vet.

On 11/1/08, I let Barney out in to the house. He had a lot of fun and little sleep investigating everything and playing with Tinkerbelle.

Barney went back to the vet on 11/3/08 to finally get his distemper combination vaccine. His weight was 2.9 pounds. His temperature was 101.9 degrees F. Luckily, he did not become lethargic or get a fever from the vaccine (my cat Doodally did get a fever every time).

On 12/5/08, Barney got his next distemper shot and his first rabies shot. He did not need any more shots for a year. Next up was his neuter in a few months. I was sure he would be thrilled. He was thriving.

Barney was neutered on 2/18/09. He was 7.2 pounds. He also was microchipped. When he came home, Barney was hyper and loopy. The vet said it was the ketamine.

Barney went in for his checkup on 10/13/09. I asked about his hard fat rolls, missing tips of his two bottom incisors/fangs (broke off?), slightly gunky eyes, and slightly waxy ears. The vet did not have a clue and did not think any were reason for concern. She pulled out vaccines which confused me because he was not due until 12/5/09 for his shots. But, she had already loaded them. After she assured me that it would not hurt to give them to him two months early, Barney got his rabies and distemper boosters. Barn was up to 15.7 pounds!! He was so heavy!

Nicknames for Barney included Barn, Barn-Stable (from mom), Stable Head (from me), and Mr. Head (from me).

Barney had his yearly checkup on 10/12/10. He was up to 17.6 pounds, so heavy! There was nothing new of note. He got a distemper shot.

Barney had his yearly checkup on 10/19/11. He was 19.4 pounds, way past my previous heaviest cat! The vet said to limit his food but how do I do that in a house with four cats, two of whom were underweight? Barney got a distemper shot. The vet found that one of his teeth had lost the enamel, was red at the gum, and bled when he touched it. He recommended having it removed. My mother said as long as Barney was still eating and not showing that it bothered him, she would not allow him to be operated upon. Of course, cats hide their pain. They cannot talk.

Barney had his checkup on 10/16/12. He was up to 20.8 pounds but I thought he was more than that. He got his rabies shot but I was now having his distemper shots moved to every three years. The tooth that was red the year before appeared to have fallen out. Now, the equivalent one on the other side was bleeding. It did not seem bad enough for surgery though. This vet (different than the one last year) agreed. Not only would my mother be against it but I had no income (no job at the time) so we were all living off limited savings. Barney meowed from the moment he went in the carrier and most of the time until we got home. This would not be unusual except he never meowed otherwise! He just squeaked.

Barney had his check up on 10/18/13. He made his yearly meows since he never talked at home. He was up to 22.1 pounds! Aside from infrequent asthma attacks and teeth he lost a long time ago, his health checked out fine.

On 8/23/14, I pet Barney along the back in the morning and found a huge lump! I knew right away that it was an abscess. I knew that the "new" cat King Tut must have bit him. Barney was so sweet that he wanted to make friends with Tutty even though Tutty was still learning to be a normal cat as he was feral. Barney kept saddling up to Tutty and trying to make contact. I had to rush Barney to the vet. He had emergency surgery to lance, drain, and clean the abscess. [Note after his death: I wonder if they did pre-op blood work or perhaps not since it was an emergency; I wonder if blood work would have showed signs of early lymphoma.] The vet left two holes in his back, one about the size of a large silver dollar and a smaller one an inch lower, near his tail that was about the size of a nickel. I had to put a warm compress on it and clean the area a little a few times a day. It was still bleeding when I first brought him home and then mostly switched to seroma-like fluid coming out. I confined Barney for the rest of the day as I did not want the other cats to pester him, hiss at him, etc. Plus, I needed to know where he was and give him pain medication in the morning. He got a shot of Convenia for the antibiotic and 6 mg of Onsior for the pain medication (given that day and the next two mornings). They also gave him some IV fluids. He had a fever of 104 degrees F when we got to the vet. The vet also gave me a 10 minute speech on his obesity even though I now noticed that he was down to 21 pounds from 22.1 pounds. I still could not figure out how to give Tinkie and Tutty the food that they needed while restricting the food for Barney and Emmy who weighed too much.

The morning of 8/25/14, I watched as Tutty walked up without any reason or warning and bit Barney's tail hard while he was eating treats. With supervised time together, I watched Tutty attack Barney with all nails and teeth like he meant to kill him on 8/30/14, and I never let Tutty near Barney again. Tutty was put outside to live on 9/1/14 due to continued aggression towards all three indoor cats.

On 9/9/14, Barney had a recheck at the vet. She pulled off his two scabs (ew!!) so he started to bleed again. She said they were itching him (as if she would know). She decreed his injuried back "beautiful."

Barney had his yearly checkup on 11/17/14. The vet shaved off his scab! He had just grown his hair back and now he had a shaved area with a bloody wound again! The vet called in the vet who had operated on him before who agreed the wound should have been more healed over by then but she also said it looked "beautiful" again. He was 22.2 pounds. He got a distemper shot.

I discovered a lump on Barney's forehead around 5/9/15 and took him to the vet on 5/14/15. The vet did a needle aspiration of the lump and sent it out to the lab. She claimed he was up to 24.3 pounds. I weighed him the next night, and I got 23.5 pounds! So, I changed how I feed the cats. They got small amounts of dry for 10 minutes two times a day but the dry food was not out all the time. Since all three did not really like canned food which is better for them, I left out canned food all day, one 6 oz can and one 3 oz can of another brand and flavor. Normally, the next day, only about a third to half was eaten which then went to the outdoor cats. I sure hope Barney can lose some weight! I also ordered an exercise wheel. [Updates after Barney's death - the cats did learn to eat the canned food because it became their prodimant option; Barney never lost weight until he was dying because of his metabolism; I never did get Barney to use the cat wheel!]

So, I got the results of Barney's needle biopsy late on 5/18/15. The results were inconclusive. There were a lot of lymphocytes on the slide. This could either mean that he had skin cancer (lymphoma)[Note after reading this page after Barney died: Since he did eventually die from lymphoma, this may have been an early sign of that], or he was just having a localized reaction to something like a bug bite. So, what to do? Well, a punch biopsy could be done under local anaesthetic for about $350 which would probably then result in them saying to remove it. A removal operation would cost about $850 she said so probably more, and she would have to cauterize the opening as it was right above his left eye, and there was no extra skin there. Plus, there would be no guarantee that she would get it all or that she could even spread the cancer which is what happened when Gino had a cancerous tumor removed. On top of that, she said she would not operate on him at his current weight. So, that meant we waited. She said to put cortizone on his boo boo for a week or so to see if that helped. I tried to measure his bump and record his weight regularly. There was hope that both would go down. If the lump grew, then I would have to consider surgery. I hated to spend so much money but, if it saved his life, it would be worth it. There were no guarantees. I was lucky that I could afford the surgery if need be. This whole thing just sucks. Barney seemed okay behaviorly, and his wheel was in the mail. So, Barney's bump size on 5/19/15 was about 0.4 cm high and about 1.2 cm in diameter.

I weighed Barney on 5/22/15 after a week on a controlled diet. He was 24 pounds! What, he was heavier?! How? He was definitely eating less. I was really confused. On 6/2/15, he was 24.5 pounds! He just kept getting fatter! On 6/7/15, he was 23 pounds. Did he finally lose weight or what?

I thought Barney's lump was getting smaller so I measured it on 6/10/15 and got 0.9 cm high and 1.5 cm wide which was bigger than before! It sure felt smaller though. I hoped I was not imagining it. On 6/13/15, Barney was 23 pounds. At least he was not fatter since the last weighing! Ok, he was up to 23.5 pounds on 6/21/15. Ahhh!!!!!!!!!!!! On the plus side, the lump on his head was almost completely gone! I weighed Barney on 7/10/15. You guessed it; he was 23 pounds. On 9/14/15, Barney weighed in at 24 pounds. He truly was not eating a ton, not more than Emmy. His metabolism was just shot so free feeding or twice a day like it was made no difference. The lump he had went away completely.

Barney had his yearly checkup and a rabies shot on 11/17/15. His weight was at 23.9 pounds according to their scale. The vet admitted he must have a metabolic disorder since I no longer free fed. She said he could not tolerate any carbohydrates and that he should only get canned food. The dry food I fed though was all natural with meat; it was not a carbohydrate-based food. I tried to reduce dry and moved more towards canned but he really did not have much interest in it. I also asked about his wound from 15 months ago. It still scabed and then bled when the scab fell off. She said that the fatty tissue under there was harboring bacteria which would not allow it to heal. I put Neosporin on it daily for a few weeks to see if that helped. He could not lick himself there (or much anywhere else for that matter).

In June of 2016, Barney started eating less dry food and more canned food. I thought, "Good, he'll lose some weight." The vet had wanted him to change. But, then around 6/26/16, I knew something was wrong. On the morning of 6/28/16, when he stood over the dry food bowl with treats and did nothing but look at it and me, and then went to drink water, and he was flicking his tongue in and out, I knew something was wrong in his mouth. I made an emergency appointment for that night. He had a huge abscess over his right canine tooth. The vet was leaving from seeing us to go on a week long vacation! So, she gave Barney a shot of Convenia to head off the infection and an injection of Onsior for the pain. She gave me three Onsior pain pills for three days. The FDA does not allow use to last longer than that. By then, the antibiotic shot should have reduced the swelling and pain. They also took blood (required before surgery). He was scheduled for surgery the morning of 7/5/16. It would have included removing anywhere from three to five bad teeth and a cleaning. They do digital x-rays before starting to tell which teeth are bad. The total cost would have been about a month's pay for me but I could not not do it. He was an angel. His weight was down to 22.3 pounds (from this problem mostly). The vet planned to also cut out where King Tut bit Barney on the back two years ago. The scab would just not heal. She said it needed new flesh/skin. Since he had not been eating dry food, I was now cold stopping dry food for him. Emmy and Tinkie would get some on the side but I was changing to all canned food even though it meant a few more dollars a day.

Shock. I was in shock when the vet called on 7/1/16 with his pre-op blood work. Barney was in acute kidney failure. The normal maximum for creatinine in cats is 2.0. His was 17. The highest maximum for BUN in cats is 36. His was 216. For comparison, I have had three other cats with chronic renal failure, and these are their worst results: Samantha creatinine 4.6, BUN 77; Elvisina creatinine 7.4, BUN 123; and Tootsy BUN 61. Barney's results were so high that he should not have been alive. His ALT (liver) was also above the maximum of 100 at 188.

I took Barney to the vet on 7/2/16. They tested his BUN and creatinine in house. The results were above the limits of the machine. His hematocrit was also retested, and it was okay. He lost enough weight that she could feel his kidneys which were twice normal size. There was no doubt. He had kidney lymphoma. She said he would not live more than three months and could die at any time. We were going to try to keep him comfortable. She gave him subcutaneous fluids which I would be doing daily for the remainder of his life. I would do 150 to 200 mL a day depending on how things go. She also gave me some liquid prednisolone which would help with appetite and inflammation. He got half a milliliter twice a day. He could not have pain meds; they were all counter indicated for cats in kidney failure. Go figure. He would get a Convenia antibiotic shot every two weeks to control his mouth infection. The high BUN made him uremic which causes severe gingivitis and was why his teeth were bleeding and abscessing. He was eating only small amounts of food as his mouth hurt, and his body was being poisoned since his kidneys were not functioning. His attitude though was still "I am so sweet and nice; look at how cute I am!" He did not act like he was dying. I also ordered some homeopathic cat cancer support solution. It probably would not do much but why not try. He was not yet eight years old. He was the least aggressive cat I have ever met. He had never once bitten me or another animal. He had never once tried to hit me with his claws or tried to scratch me except by accident when jumping away. He did not hiss or growl at the other cats even when they did. He had never hissed or growled at me. He was not a cat; he was an angel.

Barney seemed to be doing well. He had peed next to the litter pan a few times. I did not know if he did not get in the pan as it was hard for him, or if he was in but his rear hung over. I replaced the litter pan mat with a piddle pad to collect any pee. I gave him a dose of the magic cancer medicine, and he hated it. He salivated all over, flicking his head, running, and trying to get the stuff out of his mouth. I was not going to give it to him if he hated it that much. He acted like it was poison.

On 7/11/16, the living room smelled strongly of urine. Since he was dying, Barney's urine smelled much stronger than a regular cat's. The problem was that I could not find where he peed. I used a flashlight looking for liquid during the day, and a black light at night trying to find it. He pooped under the piano. So, the next morning, I pulled out a plastic tray originally sold for under Christmas trees but I had used it under plants. I put a piddle pad in it and then just a sprinkling of cat litter. I put him in there, and he peed right away; however, he did not squat, so most of it went on the rug. So, I put piddle pads all around the thing. Tinkie likes to dig to China in litter so she came over and dug around. It was making a mess but better than pee and poop all over the place. Barney was still using the stairs so I did not know if he had trouble getting over the side of the regular litter pans (about 3 inches high), or he was just confused and too sick to bother. I could not be mad at him. When I gave him his water on 7/11/16, he also tried to bite me for the first time ever. He kind of stopped mid bite. Personality changes come at the end but I would still love him.

Barney went back to the vet on 7/12/16. He had noticeably lost weight. He was down to 20.3 pounds. He got a Convenia antibiotic shot. They re-tested his BUN, creatinine, hematocrit, and total protein. The BUN and creatinine were down to 67 and 6.5 from 216 and 17 which was great. Fluids did that. His PCV was 29 so he was becoming anemic. The total protein was 7.4. She said his phosphorus might be high but we had not tested for that. There are phosphorus binders but they require him to eat food to which they are added.

Barney went to the vet on 7/26/16. His weight was up to 20.4 pounds. I told her that he was doing too well to have lymphoma. She thought so too. They took blood and urine, and I was waiting for results. She also did two x-rays. Unfortunately, they showed his huge kidneys and a few other minor possible lymph growths both of which supported the diagnosis.

The blood test results from 7/26/16 showed the following results outside of normal ranges:
BUN 77 (normal 14-36), creatinine 4.4 (normal 0.6-2.4), calcium 11 (normal 8.2-10.8; she said a high value is often seen with cancer), sodium 159 (normal 148-158), triglycerides 170 (normal 25-160), amylase 1877 (normal 100-1200), red blood cells 5.4 (normal 5.92-9.93), hemoglobin 8.7 (normal 9.3-15.9), hematocrit 25 (normal 29-48), neutrophils 81 (normal 35-75), lymphocytes 14 (normal 20-45), and eosinophils 1 (normal 1-12). His white blood cells and phosphorus were in normal ranges. His urine showed no white blood cells but did have a lot of red blood cells and blood. The next considerations wee should we do an ultrasound which gives a more definitive diagnosis and should we culture the urine even though urinalysis saw no sign of infection. I was hoping he had a really bad kidney infection but I would expect white blood cells to be high in the blood and/or urine in that case. He was still in kidney failure, and he was anemic. His behavior remained the same. He seemed content but subdued.

When I was giving Barney his water on 8/2/16, he was desperate to get away before I was done so I let him. He then went and plopped on the hardware floor, let out a horrible caterwaul, and pooped right there. I knew this was the beginning of the end. The next morning, I heard him caterwaul again and went to him at 6 am. He again pooped. It was still dark in the room so I did not notice at first that he was gasping for air. Once I saw that, I knew this was the day my sweet angel would die. Why? There was no good reason for him to die. I put him in the bathroom as he was trying to move around but was agitated. He growled at his own body; I did not blame him. I tried to console him. At one point, he even purred for me although cats also purr in pain. I told him how much I loved him and that he would be joining his grammy (my mom) and Gino who both died in 2013. I cried so hard that I could not breathe and thought I might throw up. It is very hard to watch someone die so I just went to work.

I was shocked when Barney was stil alive when I got home. When I touched him, he cried out. I could not stand to watch him suffer. I called the vet who called back and said they were too busy to help but gave me the number of Peaceful Passage. A lady vet came out about 7 pm on 8/3/16. She sedated him with a shot to the scruff, and he became unresponsive after about 15 minutes. She then tried to get a line in a vein and stabbed him a dozen times. She said he was not feeling anything so I just looked away. He was too dehydrated (he had been spitting up all day) so she just jabbed the poison in to his body. In a few minutes, she said his heart had stopped. And, just like that, he was no more. Barney was my eighth cat to die but my first euthanasia ever. The vet was very nice but death is not. It was a cruel end for the sweetest, most innocent cat that has ever been. Barney never made it to his eighth birthday.

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