Fingers crossed that Diesel turns around again. The problem is anytime that something else goes wrong they have no energy to fight the new problem plus the effects of Orijen. Same applies to changes in temperature and don't forget you have just moved house and that must be a huge deal for Diesel. So hopefully once Diesel's paw starts feeling better and she realises that where you now are is home she will get on top of the effects of Orijen again. I know with Quoi we go along great guns she seems to be improving and then she gets a UTI and we go crashing backwards. Its like we take one step forward and one step back sometimes if we are really lucky it is 2 steps forward and one step back & other times like now with Diesel its one step forward and 2 back but as long as overall we keep moving forward I think we will eventually get there.

I could not be more shocked at the positive turn around with Evie and after 13 mths to improve so much over the last 2 mths (she has gained 900gms and it is all muscle along her spine and over her hind quarters which has made a huge difference to her gait - much more stable and "normal") so that really gives me hope for our older girls who are still struggling along - if Evie can sudden pick up so can they they just might take a little longer.

Thinking of you and Diesel

Jo

This is good news about Evie, Jo. Evie is about three or five isn't she ? It's interesting, Colette has really filled out lately too. However I have been giving them all drinkies of Whiskas cat milk a few times a week and they get to lick out the cream carton and the ricotta tub when empty. All good protein and much enjoyed. I just love watching the three little heads with pointy ears bobbing closely together over the bowl as I leave the house in the morning.Lap lap lap.

The paws curling thing is one of those things that comes and goes too isn't it? We have good standing days and not so good standing days. I have to position her and sometimes she can and sometimes she can't but she is crouching to eat if I position her first and holding that for some time. Sometimes when standing the right rear leg is all bowed outwards and other times it's good. It is this variability that is so distressing for us.

Tonight I tried measuring her for her cart. I had to brace her against the door to keep her upright and straight. Really needs two people. I had to remove her pad to measure from crotch to floor and I got drenched in urine. I wear the oldest grottiest clothes around the house now.

This has changed our lives in more ways than anyone could ever imagine.

Jo, could Quoi be more independent in the toilet zone by having a box that she could drag herself into? If she isn't in nappies but is clearly able to "hold it" then if she could independently go and relieve herself this might obviate the need for your husband to help and for the UTIs. I bought one of those plastic storage boxes with lids, a medium size one to give turning room (not one on wheels!) and got the guys at work in the workshop to cut out one side so that it was flush with the ground - no lip, the whole side out. This gave us a three sided litter tray with very deep sides to support her if Colette did manage to get in and enough size to turn around and drag herself out again. I lay a pee pad in it and just sprinkle a little Breeders Choice in (what she was used to using) to give the right idea. Each time I change her nappy I stand her in it and make her paws scrape it a bit with my hands. I also hold her over it to defaecate. So she knows what the box is for and where to do these things. My hope is that one day she will start to move towards it when the urge comes. The problem is I am not here to remove the nappy but I figure if she makes the right moves and goes in the nappy she's learning anyway. If Quoi had a similar set-up, she might be able to drag herself in there and use it and pull herself back out again. I keep mine in the laundry opposite the other girls' regular hooded tray.

Jo that is wonderful news that Quoi will let your husband help her. It must be so good for him to now feel his little daytime companion is again letting him back into his life on this intimate level and it also does show some improvement in her in a way, that she can accept this need to be helped. Is Quoi in nappies or do you just cope with the mishaps? I have Colette in Huggies Newborn at night (better leakage control in the bedroom) but because they chafe her legs if she is actively moving around in them I have her in the Ruddocks [female canine] Pants by day with Poise Super women's inco pads. This works quite well for us. It's a financial burden though, they keep going up in price.

I have just learned today of an Orijen-affected cat, owner not on any forums but been in touch privately with me intermittently throughout, has contracted megacolon. Apparently it can arise from neurosis of the spine. Cat had recovered well, now this. Heartbreaking. This constipation issue is something I have been constantly concerned about with this syndrome, I've never stopped giving Colette laxative yet I have always been concerned about its long-term use as well, what side effects it might have. But I'm afraid to stop it in case of severe constipation or megacolon developing. I've cut back the dosage a little though and she's always had a tiny pinch of pysllium husk mixed 5:1 with slippery elm with most meals. This has seemed to work for her and I've tended to stick with what works for fear of upsetting the equilibrium.

Jo how are your cats in the "No 2" department? Do they need laxatives or enemas still?

Good news is that it's NOT megacolon (email read like it was diagnosed but apparently they'd been internet reading and frightened themselves) it was "just" really bad constipation and cat has had a colonic irrigation at the vets and is now OK. ($600 later...)

Yes Jo I know what you mean about blaming everything on the irradiaton but let's face it the nerves are now bu88ered. Even if the nerve sheaths rebuild it is only to a certain percentage strength as before. I've also thought a lot about your several posts about why our cats aren't recovering to the same degree as experimental cats, that once the food is removed and diet changed they recovered. And I've realised something. Let's remember that the experimental cats would all have been young. Experimental lab facilities wouldn't be keeping cats as old as ours - they would have completed their experiments and "sacrificed" them by age - 5 maybe at the most? So no-one except us probably knows the long term effects on older cats fed irradiated diets, all their findings would be based on experimental lab cats of a relatively young age, not  6, 10, 11 and 15 year olds like Diesel, Quoi and Colette. Our cats are the Australian Government's guinea pigs. Those Orijen cats that were younger that survived the ordeal without spontaneous death or euthanasia all recovered quite quickly (Rocky, Stella, Melody etc and were cross-breeds/bitsas) Hunter was an exception of course (perhaps very "finely" bred oriental?) and ours are carefully bred particular breeds. There simply is no historical information on cats of this type of this age. Our cats are the pioneers. One would have thought lab cats would be bitsas/cross-breeds unless they were researching diets or illnesses in a particular breed.

What do you think?

I am so glad to hear it is not megacolon.

I am not for a minute suggesting it is not Orijen that has caused the damage to our cats as it clearly is - and they are permanently damaged this is not something that has just gone away. None of our cats are totally recovered they all still require regular medication (chinese herbs, homeopathics, flower remedies) to fight the damage that has been done to them.

I do agree with your comments on age - that does seem to have something to do with the chance/rate of recover as does body condition. From what I have been told part of the problem with my cats was that they were all lean - lean cats didn't do as well as those carrying extra condition when it came to recovering. Even Quoi who was rising 8 at the time was not caring extra condition she was a lean muscley cat as were all the others. I assumed that because they were on a mainly raw diet, very active, and in some cases entire. And Collette being a meezer probably had a similar body condition.

Hunter - handsome boy that he was - was a Bengal a breed that tends to be lean and very active.

And as we have seen with some of the cats lost, there was damage to internal organs too, the damage done was not just confined to neurological damage.

We do always have to keep an open mind to what is going on if our cats become unwell but with the Orijen cats it is also about what medication their systems may be able to handle which severely restricts chooses our vets can make - even if the condition is not Orijen induced we risk losing them because of the damage Orijen has done to their systems and that also should be remembered.

These are the reasons I keep questioning what really happened, keep thinking there is more to this than we have been told, than we have yet learnt. There was BHA & BHT in the food and that was not suppose to be there - what else was in the food and why? Orijen has never released the lab results on their food testing so so we can see what really happened and ask questions and they clearly won't. Hopefully sometime this year the information that was collected by Michigan state will be published and we may learn a little more.

Jo do you have anyway to use FOIA to obtain the information about the tests that were never released that TCM mentioned? IN US FOIA is Freedom Of Information Act, just thought I'd mention this as a way to have the information but do not know how that would apply or how much information you'd be able to obtain. Maybe someone else on here has more knowledge of this and can add more info on FOIA.