Thank you Liz, I do appreciate your efforts to help me find the answers.

At this point, the only facts I have are that, when Bubba died, the fat tissue
on his abdomen was gangrenous, he was acutely anemic and his skin was "paper
thin", but there was no sign of kidney or liver disfunction. What I observed
throughout was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a disease process taking place
within the fat tissue on his abdomen.

He became noticeably lethargic on June 11. The next day he stayed in his box,
not moving or accepting any form of nourishment. The exam on the 13th showed no
bite marks, skin disorders or any kind of trauma. There was a yellow-brown
discoloration of the fat tissue visible beneath the skin, and a single bloody
effusion. He was somewhat anemic at that time, although I was never made aware
of it.

Since there was no biopsy I will never know that it was indeed steatitis. It
could have been tissue death due to anemia from some other cause, or the anemia
could have been caused by the tissue death, which might have resulted from
steatitis. I didn't wait for the reticulocyte test, which would have shown if he
was producing red blood cells or not.

The skin tore off of his neck because it was so thin, which is a symptom of
Cushings disease, which is, in turn, often associated with steroid usage. I
can't say if it was the steroids or a genuine problem with his adrenal gland
but, as buglady suggested, perhaps I don't want to know that right now. One
other thing that I do know, however, is that he wouldn't eat without steroids,
and lost over 4 pounds during the illness.

At some point I will ask for more clues from the vets involved but, for now, I
think I need to get on with life. I've realized that it's just not healthy for
me to dwell on the causes too much right now - anger and guilt won't bring Bubba
back.

But again, thank you, and everyone, for your support and advice.

Steve