[llapan]

First, I want to apologize--some of the posts saying "no lunch meat whatsoever, including ham" look like they were posted BEFORE my question asking "can I continue giving very tiny slivers of ham" -- and because of that, it appears that I am simply ignoring the very good advice given in this thread. However, those several posts saying "No--absolutely not" must have come in while I was writing my lengthy post, and I didn't see them before I submittted my "ham inquiry" -- in effect, passing in the mail the repetitive, and very smart advice to "nix the ham."

I think the suggestion of one poster that "baked chicken breast might be a good substitute treat" is a brilliant one -- I bet it will be the very treat that Miss Kitty will like well enough to allow me to use it as a training treat-- offering only tiny slivers, of course. I can't imagine that she would eat any veggies as her special treat--some of the foods she turns down smell so good and meaty that I would eat them !!

I guess I should stop posting these food questions here? Now that the dire emergency has passed, should I start a new link in the health and food forum for any additional questions I have? Right now, I'm all out of questions, all of you have been so thorough.

Tomorrow is Miss Kitty's next appointment. I'll be sending a copy of this thread with my husband with highlighted portions showing the pancreatitis markers to look for in the blood work (thanks Dwerten!!) so that my husband can ask specific questions about the new blood work results. I'll also make sure my husband brings home a copy of the results (as suggested in this thread), so I can start a file on Miss Kitty (and so I can post the complete results for everyone's inspection in this thread). I would love for this episode to have been a fluke, and that she'll be healthy for a long, long time into the future (since I'll be feeding her a low fat diet ever so carefully from now on). But, just in case, I'll have her current blood work results to compare against any new blood work that has to be taken, if she takes ill again.

So--to keep from "wearing out" this Emergency forum any further, I won't paste any more "food/diet-related questions". The last post from me in this thread (unless her new blood work is bad, perish the thought) will be Miss Kitty's blood work results from tomorrow's vet visit. If the results of the blood work are as good as I hope, I'll say a glad goodbye to this Emergency thread.

I can't help but repeat myself--all of you guys have done so much to assuage my worries and answer my many frantic questions. I'm so glad I wandered onto the forum. So is Miss Kitty, otherwise she might have been the "dearly departed Miss Kitty" by now. So many posters on this thread encouraged me to immediately take her back to the vet on Saturday (even though I had been sent home from the vet with meds on Friday), and even though she appeared to be getting better. It was because everyone was so aghast that no blood work had been done on her that propelled me from where I was "teetering back and forth" about whether I should take her back to the vet, or just "wait and see" for a day or so. If not for the advice of this forum, I might have done just that--waited for awhile. As it turns out, we took her back to the vet in the nick of time. I believe she would have died if she hadn't been taken back that very morning, and immediately placed on an IV. Now that's a scary thought--how close I came to losing her.

I don't want to jinx her by crowing about her recovery, but I do want all of you to know that I realize you all played a large part in that recovery (thus far). Hopefully, she will stay on this upward spiral. (Right now she's playing in my lap like a madwoman!!--she is such a kick when she's feeling good!)

I'll talk to all of you tomorrow, when I report on Miss Kitty's new blood work.

P.S. I love how polite this forum is--even when people have differing opinions. That is very rare on a web forum.