I have called that number probably in excess of 200 times since yesterday morning. The number is busy, busy, busy. Why is it so hard to put out a list of the affected foods, numbers, etc.? I have also found that the IAMS site that I am directed won't load, I guess it is overloaded???? If the food recalled were manufactured for human consumption, you can bet there would be more information available to stem the tide of lawsuits. Because it is confined to pet food/animals, these manufacturers don't think it is as important because they don't face lawsuits. However, they would think it important if their foods were boycotted because of their ignorance and inattention. Has anyone been able to get through on the number QQ posted? Just ridiculous and very frustrating.

Hey, if you win the lottery, I'm going to start charging you BIG BUCKS for my oh-so-sage advice. LOL! Funny, but that "foot" thing bugs me, too! My mom was always a stickler for any sort of typographical or grammatical mistake. When I started my personal website, she would even post messages in my guestbook telling me to correct the grammatical and spelling errors that OTHER PEOPLE made in their entries in my guestbook! LOL! You're going to love the medical spreadsheet once you get that started. It's going to help you feel so much more empowered and confident in your management protocol for Tigger. If you don't already have one, a digital baby scale is a very important investment, particularly when caring for a cat with a chronic, progressive illness like CKD. My experience with feline nutrition is a lot like my experience with putting up hay for my horses. In college, I took an equine nutrition course that taught me what I believed at the time were all the basics I needed to know about putting up excellent hay for horses. I knew about forage types, the optimal stage of maturity for cutting forage, drying times, and baling techniques. I thought I knew it all, and I was ready to make one perfect bale after another happily ever after. When I eventually bought my farm and was faced with my first actual haying season, it became tragically and frustratingly evident that one MAJOR element had been left out of my education. At no point during any of the lectures or in any of the texts in that equine nutrition course was mention made of the blackening effects that a week of rain would have on cut hay laying on the ground, or of how hay would rather rot than dry on cool, overcast days with high humidity, or any of a hundred other variables that were completely out of my control when trying to put up those "perfect" bales. Feline nutrition isn't any different. I could spend the rest of my life studying the intricacies and aspects of feline nutrition. I could learn everything there is to know and become the world authority on the subject. I could bring all of that impressive, unmatched expertise home to my own cats and prepare "perfect" meals for them ... and then watch them snub the meals, turn tail, and unceremoniously strut from the room with dismissive arrogance and empty bellies. What????? Laurie

JJ, Renal failure is extremely common in elderly cats (and often in not-so-elderly cats). Unfortunately, it is as variable a disease as are the number of cats who endure it. There really are no "norms" where renal failure is concerned. There are cats who live for years after diagnosis, and there are cats who fail very quickly. The only thing you can "expect" with renal failure is the inevitable end. It is a terminal diagnosis. As lf mentioned, many of the symptoms of CRF are manageable. The keys to management of CRF are education and vigilant caretaking. You have already been given the URL to one CRF website, but the website which I consider to be the "CRF Bible" is linked below. If you spend as much time as possible reading through these sites, you will learn a tremendous amount about this disease, its associated ailments, and its management. There is nothing more important you can do for your cat right now than to educate yourself about CRF. To answer your questions, at-home subQ fluid administration is a critically important skill to acquire and practice. Your vet can and should teach you how to do the fluid administration, and the websites offer pictorial tutorials to reinforce the procedure and offer helpful tips that your vet might not mention. You'll probably find it a bit nerve-wracking at first, but you'll get the hang of it, and your cat will become more and more cooperative as you become more proficient. It really is a life-saving procedure that provides considerable health benefits to the CRF cat with negligible (if any) discomfort. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of CRF is that a cat's condition can change from day to day, sometimes hour to hour. A cat who is critically ill one day may rally to relative health the next ... or not. We CRF caretakers tend to hold out for the next rally because it's so difficult to tell when a bad day will turn around or when it really does mark the end. If your cat does require hospitalization at some point, you will just need to trust your instincts and your knowledge of your own cat to help you decide whether to give him a chance to rally or to let him go. I, too, have a cat who is in the early stages of CRF with slightly elevated BUN and CREA values. He's my fourth CRF cat, and I know that he could become critical at any moment, or he could live in reasonable health for years. I've been down this road before, so I know what to watch for. I'll be having bloodwork run on him every 3 mos or more frequently if he becomes symptomatic. When his brother developed renal failure a year ago, I couldn't get his condition stabilized and was having to run bloodwork every couple of weeks to keep up with his changing blood values and symptoms. Unfortunately, I lost Bitsy just 3 mos after diagnosis. My first CRF cat, though, lived quite happily for 4 yrs after diagnosis. That's how variable this disease can be. I know you must be feeling overwhelmed right now, and you'll probably feel even moreso once you start reading the CRF websites. Don't let all the info make you crazy. I had to read the same info many, many times before it sank in and stuck. Just remember that the more you know about this disease, the better you'll be able to manage your boy and keep him comfortable and reasonably healthy for as long as possible. I wish you and your cat the best, Laurie Here is a link that might be useful: Tanya's CRF Information website

Even my husband who says "do I have to eat something green?" will eat these. Lettuce and Slaw Salad 1 16 oz. bag of shedded lettuce 1 16 oz. bag of shredded cole slaw mix Mix together, put the desired amount on a serving plate. Dress with a fat free or low calorie salad dressing. Add tomatoes, carrots, walnuts, dried cranberries, olives or whole wheat croutons with each served salad. Sauteed Cabbage or Sauteed Brocolli Slaw 1 head cabbage, cut into thinly shredded pieces or 1 package of Brocolli Slaw 1 or 2 pieces of bacon, cut into tiny pieces or when we are dieting we use Smart Balance Margarine optional: 1 pkg. of button mushrooms Melt the margarine in your skillet. Amount will depend on what you are cooking. For 1 head of cabbage I use 1/2 stick of SB margarine. For the broccoli slaw, I use about 1 1/2 TBSP's. If using bacon, saute it in a skillet until it releases some of the oil. Add your cabbage or broccoli slaw and saute it until it is tender. Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. I sometimes add 1 pkg. of button mushrooms to the broccoli slaw. Fresh Broccoli Trim broccoli and cut into small pieces. Boil until tender, then drain well. Melt a little Smart Balance in a skillet. Add broccoli, saute a couple of minutes to coat broccoli. Season with lemon pepper. Zuchinni Lasagna In a 9 x 13 pan, line the bottom of the pan with zuchinni that has been sliced into rounds. Spread 1 16 oz. container of Fat Free Cottage Cheese or Low Fat Ricotta Cheese. Add a layer of Turkey Pepperoni. Add another layer of thinly sliced zuchinni. Top with a bottled meatless spaghetti sauce. Add some reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 for 1 hour. Hope this helps. Here is a link that might be useful: MY BLOG - The Japanese Redneck