10-05-23 Another disheartening letter to write. Bandit has crossed the rainbow bridge. He did not eat breakfast on Tuesday which is HIGHLY unusual. He was so hot to the touch. We checked his temp and it was at 106 degrees. He of course was rushed to the vet. They gave him Ketofen to drop his temperature immediately down while bloodwork and x-rays could be done to find the source of the fever. Temperatures that high usually put a cat at risk for seizures so that was the first step to start treating him. The Ketofen did its job and brought his temp down. X-ray showed everything was normal with no masses or abnormalities. Bloodwork came back relatively normal. His urinalysis showed bacteria in his urine so we sent that out for further testing. The vet's comment was that she had never seen a UTI cause such a high fever. His culture from the urinalysis came back with no UTI. It furthered the suspicion of leukemia, cancer, one of the dreaded suspects. We started the "The Holy Grail" of an antibiotic/antiviral medication combo to treat this masked foe. His fever was not getting any better without having to use Ketofen. Ketofen can quickly destroy the kidneys so this can't be used for days on end. When his temperature was in the normal range he would begin to perk up and eat. Come Thursday morning the vet and I felt as though we could manage Bandit as a "Hot Cat" and let him come home. If he was eating while the fever was down and behaving normally we wanted him to have the chance to try to fight the battle at home instead of inside a cage at the vet's office. Last night, around 4:00 pm the staff became concerned because he still had not eaten dinner on his own. This was a different cat from this morning. We took him back to the vet where the decision was made to let him go. Bandit was both FIV & leukemia positive. A nice lady rescued him from her apartment building parking lot. He was so friendly she thought surely someone lost their cat. As she spent weeks putting up flyers, posting on social media, and calling local shelters to try and find his possible owners. She got him fixed, treated his upper respiratory infection, and tried to find a home for him. He tested leukemia positive and other local rescues couldn't take him to adopt anymore. She was not able to keep him but really put her best effort into finding him a home. Bandit and his big ole cheeks are going to be greatly missed. He was so friendly and just loved people. He would start meowing and chirping as soon as we started the day for you to come to say hello with a big side of breakfast. Life is just not fair sometimes.. We wanted to give him way more than 3 months. He deserved that. We are so appreciative of our sponsors, sustainers, and all supporters for that matter that champion the blind, felv, and fiv cats. Without you all, Bandit would never have had a chance of constant attention, a buffet of food, amazing vet care, and all things he wouldn't have had the chance of knowing. Instead of being euthanized by being taken to animal control. We are so sorry, Sam