VERY big news day in the area of feline kidney disease!

Scientists in China have found a feline morbillivirus (that's the family of viruses that includes canine distemper and human measles) that appears to be connected to a significant percentage of kidney failure cases in cats. Because vaccines can be made easily for morbilliviruses, and they work REALLY well, this could be a huge breakthrough in the actual PREVENTION of this common cat disease.

For so many years we have had to shrug and admit we just don't know when people ask what causes so much kidney failure in cats. Some cases are due to a congenital genetic disorder, but most were always just a mystery.

I am really excited by this news and hope it turns out to be reproducible research, and most importantly that a vaccine is swiftly developed. I have lost too many patients and cats of my own to kidney failure.

Our phone appears to be out today.

No wonder it's not ringing. I am contacting Time Warner about it - my internet is fine. Hmmmm.

1:45 PM update: tech guy on the phone hasn't gotten back to me YET about the service tech's ETA. They can't fix it remotely. Sigh.

3:15 PM update: We have phones again. Phone modem died of old age (it was 18 months old). TWC needs to work on their hardware quality control.

Mar 12 update: Voicemail is out today, no way to leave us a message.

Mar 13 update: Voicemail restored. Time Warned Business Class unilaterally and without prior notice decided that I didn't HAVE voicemail. It took some very loud, angry discussion on my part to get them to accept that I had, in fact, had it for a year (since my account began). And that I am paying for it.