The latest on Phoebe...
Well, unfortunately your last note was the correct prognosis. Phoebe was sick. Very sick. She just returned from a 3 day vacation at the vet, and is doing better. Turns out she had/has a form of hemolytic anemia, with extremely low red blood cells. The labs a week prior were normal (39 PCV - "packed cell voume" is the unit of measurement for RBCs). Sunday night we came home and found her sitting in a puddle of urine and not looking very well. She was very weak and frail. We cleaned her up and considered an emergency visit to the vet right then. But she seemed stable, so we took her to bed with us where she stayed most of the night. In the morning she went to the vet, and they admitted her. They ran lab tests again and her PCV was now 11. Apparently 13 was the lower limit for a transfusion, so she needed a transfusion. Her blood type was unknown, so they used a synthetic product called Oxyglobin instead, and meanwhile ran her blood type. That would take a couple days. This all went down on Monday. Yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon she was much improved, so we took her home (along with a lot of prednisolone and kitty Pepsid AC). They're not sure exactly what caused the drop in RBCs, but they've ruled out luekemia and a few other diseases. Friday she returns for a checkup, and probably this weekend we're taking her for an ultrasound to look for cancer or any bladder stones. I'm happy to report though that last night she sat happily on our laps watching TV, and used the litter box and ate and drank on her own. I later brought her in to bed with us and she slept on top of us (easy with a 6 lb. cat!), a sure sign she is not afraid anymore! She seems to be getting back to her old self.

Thanks for your suggestions. On a side note, the scabs and bleeding sores are a completely unrelated skin allergy. The steriod should help clear that up though.

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