in article t, Phil at
wrote on 4/9/05 11:06AM:

Took our sweet little guy Scooter to the vet yesterday. He had been loosing
some weight, but lately he appeared to have breathing difficulties also.
Vet said his heartbeat was badly irregular and lungs did not sound good.
X Rays revealed fluid around his heart and lungs as well as a partial lung
collapse. There was also evidence of a probable lung tumor.
We felt further diagnostics such as echo cardiagram, cardiac specialists,
and exploratory surgery were not in Scooter's best interest. At this point
we don't really need to know *exactly* what will kill him. He is going and
nothing can stop that now. The fluid can not even be aspirated since it's in
several locations as opposed to one main spot.

So we brought our kitty home to spend his remaining time with his family in
his familier home.
One bright spot in all this is that Scooter does not seem to realize how
sick he really is. He still wants to be with us as he always has. He always
felt more comfortable around his human family members as opposed to our
other two cats. (Ripley and Jack)
So we plan to treat Scooter as our little buddy as usual. Not our dying
little buddy.

This is going to be rough. My wife and I have had Scooter for over 15 years
and we can hardly remember a time when he was not around.

Phil

Here are a few Scooter pics:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...terRocks02.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...ooterBed01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...otBasket02.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...erPillow01.jpg


All I could say when I saw the title of your post was nononononononono. I'm
so very sorry he is so sick. I'm just in tears for you. I am still touchy I
guess because of Grant. It's never ever the right time. I'm so glad though
that he can be at home with you a while. I would have given a lot to spend
some quality time with Grant knowing how short the time was left, but that
was not possible. Give Scooter scritches and kisses from me. Just so hard.
((((((((hugs))))))))). Karen