I took Fugu into the vet Wed because his coat was doing poorly, he was not eating, he had been suffering from ataxia for a couple of days, and his litterbox habits were off.

The vet discovered low liver enzyme counts, anemia, low/normal liver function, with a diagnosis of a congenital portosystemic shunt. Although the liver was functioning at normal/low values, the blood was not filtering through it thus causing the toxins to buiild up in his blood, anemia, and jaundice. The probability of neurologic damage was high and because of his weight, age and size of his veins I was given about a 60% chance that a $5000-$10,000 surgery would even fix the problem. The doctor at the referral only emergency clinic in chesapeake gave me very realistic odds, and I was grateful for her candor.

I am distressed to say that the decision was made to save him prolonged suffering and he was put to rest on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007. I need to tell you that he was loved more than imaginable. He was the perfect cat. He loved me as much as I loved him, and I am extremely distraught at the decision I was required to make. He was only with us for 2 months, but they were the fullest two months ever. My heart and my home belonged to Fugu and they are now empty. I miss him more than I
could have imagined. We slept together and sat together and ate together and ... he was my constant companion.

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