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Yes, Tupelo was named for Elvis' home town. We were on a road trip near Tupelo and came across a 6-week-old kitten that had obviously been dumped by the freeway. So he came to live with us. Love the name Dublin, BTW.

The Feline Lipidosis was new to us too. Apparently when cats stop eating (or eat less than they were before) their bodies go into starvation mode and the liver tries to compensate by utilizing fat stores to generate energy. Unfortunately, their livers are not equipped to handle the extra fat and so it gets deposited in the liver and causes liver disease. The only cure is to get the cat eating again, so that the liver can regenerate and heal itself. This is not easy because the increased liver enzymes cause anorexia and nausea. Anyway, if the cat will not eat on its own, it either need to be force fed (something we didn't have to do, thank goodness) or have a tube inserted into its esophagus to feed it. Sorry for the long explanation--just trying to get the word out about the Feline Lipidosis!

Wow, hard to process how much has changed since I started this thread. While Tupelo rallied for a while, he recently started exhibiting similar symptoms to the ones he had before--occcasional vomiting, eating less, losing weight. We stepped up our treatment for the fatty liver, even assist-fed him for a while, but his malaise continued. Our new vet felt there was something more complicated going on and referred him to the Texas A&M Small Animal Clinic, where he has been since Wednesday. It appears that he probably has lymphoma, but they are unable to do a biopsy as he is severely anemic as his body seems to be destroying his own red blood cells faster than his bone marrow can produce it. They have given him a couple of transfusions with the goal at this point to at least get him home to us so that we can spend some time with him, but it's kind of iffy right now. This is tearing me up inside. With Louie having incurable osteosarcoma and now poor Tupelo, we are facing losing two of our pets within a short time of each other. Fortunately, Louie is still doing well at this point, but I am having loads of anticipatory grief that is making it hard to get through our daily life. If you all can spare a prayer for my kitty that he can at least get well enough to come home, I would appreciate it. I feel so bad for him having to be in the hospital there, even though I know he is getting excellent care.

Tupelo had a great Monday with us--voracious appetite, ate everything in front of him, was social with us, perky and bright. Yesterday his appetite was not as good and he vomited in the evening (and then ate some more). I could see though, that he was breathing faster again and sitting under the table again, so I called the vet and made an an appointment for this afternoon to bring him in to be euthanized with all of us there. He did lay with us on the couch the whole evening while we watched TV and seemed very content. This morning he came up on the bed and lay with me for a while, then indicated he wanted to go outside. I let him out in the backyard where he looked comfortable laying the sun. I kept checking on him and petting him and he moved a couple of times. I brought my computer out back then to keep him company as he lay around the corner from me. I got up to check him again and found him with agonal breaths, dying. I stroked his fur and told him over and over how much we loved him, until he was gone. And that's it. He beat us to the punch, much to my sorrow. I didn't even cry until he was gone.

Just wanted to let you know. Thanks for letting me talk about it, and for your support. I know that he has gone on to a place where he is healthy again and happily playing with Putzy and Punky, his kitty siblings that have gone on before. But it still hurts so much.