LIVER CANCER
At the beginning of 1998, Morgan was very close to his ideal weight and was looking good.  Then he began to drop weight fast and for no apparent reason.  Bloodwork and a physical exam turned up nothing out of the ordinary.  By mid-February he looked a bit depressed, so I took him back in to the vet.  This time, tests showed a urinary tract infection so we started him on antibiotics.
After less than a week, he was not only not responding to the antibiotics, but was looking more depressed and bloated in the abdomen.   We went back to the vet and this time, we did x-rays, which were not normal.   At this point, Morgan's condition was deteriorating, so the vet decided to do an exploratory surgery right away.  The surgery revealed fluid in the abdomen and a large, inoperable tumor on his liver.  There was nothing we could do to help him at that point, so it was time to say goodbye - too soon, as always.

At first, there was some concern that Morgan might have had FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis), which is a fatal and contagious disease which frequently causes fluid buildup in the abdomen.  It is fairly certain this was a false alarm, though, and that liver cancer was the real problem.