In case you were wondering, the cat is in improving health finally. The primary cause for his malaise was pinpointed not long after my initial post on the subject, but for reasons I will explain I've been keeping it to myself until now. The problem, it soon became extremely apparent, was that the cat had somehow come in contact with some fleas (ironically, my prime suspect is the squirrel that sometimes loiters right up next to the front window, where the cat had recently been spending a lot of time), and those fleas had gone on to infest the entire apartment. Since they like carpeting and bedding and the kitchen is not so cozy like that, Cassius was rightfully avoiding setting foot beyond the linoleum. Once I got some Advantage flea control (and some Petromalt, because all that flea chewing had filled him full of fur, I think) he started becoming gradually more peppy and and normal. He still isn't too sure about leaving the kitchen, though, and I don't blame him because until last night I had not gotten more than 3-4 hours of sleep (per night) for the past 2 weeks or so. Roommate Jay O. is happily not affected, because from what I've read fleas don't like to bite some people and/or some people are not allergic to flea saliva and so don't get an itchy reaction even when bit. I myself am unhappily both delicious and allergic, so my ankles and lower legs (and to some extent my stomach and some other areas) have been completely covered and recovered with very itchy bumps, which is why I haven't mentioned this nightmare here because writing would make me think about it and thinking about it would make the itching even more unbearable than it already is. Or was, because thanks to a whole mess of vacuuming and spraying of highly toxic chemicals the problem is starting to go away, and last night I got almost 8 whole hours of torment free sleep, which was way overdue (sleepless itchiness is not a winning combination when you're trying to achieve total world denomination... or any other time that I can think of, I guess). Next on the agenda is laying down some flea egg killing toxins to 'break the flea lifecycle', so the struggle continues but it is only a matter of time now before the cat is free to roam wherever he pleases (well, within a 550 sq. ft. area, unless he manages to sneak out the front door sometime).