4 kitty updates and a bonus:

1.  Abbey, my 4 yr. old girl kitty diagnosed with chylothorax in May.
She's doing great!  Her fur has all grown back from having her sides
shaved to drain her chest, she runs, jumps, plays, does all her old
tricks.  You would never know she had a problem unless you carefully
watched her breathing.  She does breathe oddly, pushing the air with
her diaphragm.  She is still on lasix and rutin and also potassium
because of the diuretic effects of the lasix.  She hates being pilled
still but knows she gets treats afterwards.  Yesterday I had to go pick
up her lasix from the vet and I ran into him in the parking lot.  I
told him it has been almost 5 months since she was diagnosed and that
she's doing great and asked him what he thought her prognosis might be
now (he had originally told me she had less than a 10 percent chance of
survival) and he said it was all wonderful and it sounded like she was
going to live for a long time!  Of course, that is not a vet visit but
I don't want to take her back for awhile, she hates it so, and it
doesn't seem necessary although I do wonder how long she should be on
lasix.  I will be scared to take her off it...maybe she should always
be on it.

2.  Oliver, the outdoor stray kitty (aka Twin) who got a home with one
of Tony's coworkers in June.  Also doing great!  He was scared for
quite awhile but got over it and is now "running the house."  He never
tries to get outside (I was sure he wouldn't care about that), sleeps
where he wants, loves to get in laps.  But...Tony neglected to mention
to me when we gave Oliver to them (and I never even thought to ask)
that they also have 3 dogs!  They are chihuahuas so they are smaller
than Oliver and they spend much of their time outside but I probably
would not have agreed  to give him to them knowing that.  It's just as
well I didn't know because all is well.  He ignores the dogs for the
most part.  One of them wants to be his friend but he doesn't share the
feeling.  They steer clear of him when they're inside.  He dislikes one
of the males and hisses at him and has been known to pee on this dog's
blanket.  Fortunately, the people find that amusing.  They also have
birds that Oliver doesn't bother so their little menagerie co-exists
pretty well.  But Tony's coworker always says that Oliver is in charge.

3.  Henry, my mom's cat, who is on a diet and needs to lose about 5
pounds (!).  He likes his r/d, both canned and dry, and doesn't beg for
more so all is well there, too.  I doubt if he looks much thinner yet
since it's only been a couple of weeks since he began his diet.

4.  Marbles, my aggressive kitty.  Still on low-dose elavil, half of
his prescribed dosage.  Scottie and Abbey still hide from him when he
comes out but they run to their hiding place a little slower and Abbey
will sometimes venture out a little while Marbles is out.  Even Scottie
has ventured out a little on a couple of occasions.  Marbles will still
attempt to chase them if they come out...usually...but sometimes he
will just watch them for awhile and his chasing is not as aggressive.
I really think he would like to be friends but they'll have none of
that.  So, I would say *slight* improvement here.

5.  Not an update but, unfortunately, we have a new stray cat outside
that we are now feeding.  He is a young orange/white cat, maybe 6 mos.
old, very vocal, appeared out of the blue yesterday.  Looks well cared
for.  I'll be asking some neighbors if they know him later today and
posting a couple of signs as well as a Found ad in the paper but I
assume--as always--that no one will claim him so, hopefully, I can get
him into one of the no-kill rescues.  Meantime, he has to stay outside
as I have no other places to segregate cats inside as my own 3 live
segregated from each other.  Ugh.  People suck.  Send him good thoughts
for finding his owners or a new home, if you can.

Candace