Hi all -

Thanks for 'being' with me during the trials of Millie's illness.

On the weekend things were great - her appetite returned and she was
chowing down on food and apparently her personality was coming back. The
vet mentioned that there were some more sores appearing on her back that
he was monitoring and a new one appeared on her leg. He took blood and
was going to get the results today to clear Millie to go home.

Well he phoned this morning - it appears that Millie's liver can no
longer cope and has failed or is in the process of failing. She is no
longer able to produce fibrin (sp?) which the vet explained helps with
wound healing. The wounds/sores on her back have grown bigger and more
have appeared. He said he normally would suture them closed but he'd
have to put Millie under and he's afraid that the anesthesia will be
harmful. He said he could try and glue them with surgical glue - but
they are too large for that. He has sedated her - so she isn't in pain
but he explained that you can see the muscle in some of the sores and
it's only a matter of time before they could be infected. He said this
this is definite a result of an underlying condition that she was
probably born with.

The vet explained that as a result of her liver failing she neurological
functions will likely fail too. He explained that the options for
treatment are to keep giving her fluids on an IV as long as she's
comfortable or to put her down. While he didn't say it, I believe that
she probably won't make it more than a few days. It seems that she is
too far along to be saved further and I believe that he has done
everything he could to save her.

I was supposed to visit her today. I haven't seen her since last
Tuesday. The vet said that it might be best not to come - I would likely
be frightened by her condition and he said "sometimes it's best to
remember them as they were."

I guess I'm in shock, I am in shock - I was cleaning up this morning in
preparation to bring her home on Wednesday night.

I'm in tears right now - I haven't been able to absorb this properly
since I've been at work since he phoned. I really thought that she would
make it. I never thought that our time together would be so short.

I guess I don't know what to say - thank you for all of your support and
advice. I wish the outcome of this would have been happier.

DC