Down four pounds and counting...

Bob and I just returned from the vet. He's lost a lot of weight, and it doesn't look good.

About two months ago, I noticed he was losing weight. When I took him to the vet, the results of the blood work indicated possible kidney failure. I was instructed to put him on this medication along with an ant-acid because the medication itself was hard on the stomach.

The medication made him puke.

He was already regurgitating his food.

It seemed to me that the kidney end of him was working just fine, thank you very much. I was sure what was bothering him must be digestive, or something unrelated.

We went for a second opinion. At this point he had gone from about ten pounds to seven.

On examination, the new vet discovered an infection and inflammation in Bob's throat. No wonder he wasn't eating. We treated the infection, along with bi-daily IV injections of Ringer's Lactate - a volume filler akin to saline solution. We also switched him to canned food from his regular dry.

He started eating, drinking and gaining weight. Bingo! We continued the treatments.

Over this weekend, his food intake diminished to about a half-can per day, and over four days he became noticeably thinner. The weigh-in this morning was shocking. He'd gone from seven pounds-seven ounces to six pounds-six.

We managed to get the IV solution into him, but there was no way he was going to submit to an exam, let alone giving a blood sample. It took the two of us and some expert skill on the vet's part to administer a tranquilizer.

The exam went well, but the blood was hard to get. His blood pressure was extremely low.

Bob stayed at the vet's office for a half hour to "sober up" while I went for a coffee at the mall.

The results of the blood work will be available in a couple days. Meanwhile, the pacing continues...