(Poor Walter, I've bored him with this story 2x now...)

My cat Cleo had her life literally saved by Tribe.Net.

She was vomiting and dehydrated, and I took her into an emergency vet to figure out what was wrong. After testing her for kidney problems and stomach problems, the couldn't figure out what was wrong. They basically rehydrated her and released her to my vet.

My vet was very pessimistic about her chances-- she diagnosed cancer. She was in bad shape and in quite a bit of pain. I spent a free afternoon with her in the animal hospital holding her and crying. I was such a mess that the vet tech let me take her home for the evening. We were going to give her an ultrasound to confirm tumors and then i'd put her down.

The ultrasound found nothing. NOTHING! My vet thought hmmm, maybe feline irritable bowel syndrom and gave her a shot of prednisone.

Now this is where Tribe comes in. Walter, a cat lover and life saver, is the moderator of the very busy and fun cat tribe. And I posted my adventures there, and another cat-lover/lifesaver combo named That Woman wrote and told me about changing her diet to all-meat. I learned a great deal about cat nutrition from her, from that thread and from the various links she sent me to. I immediately switched my cat's diet from driy kibble to all meat, no grain. Between that and the Prednisone, my cat perked right up.

In fact, she's playful now. Not in pain. And her coat is thicker and healthier. Both her and her sister are in much better shape, and now I get to keep her.

The best thing I've found about Tribe is the community-- all of us are willing to share stories, information, friendship and connection. This place is truly precious to me.