Thyroidy Cats

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Old Girl was back at the vet two weeks ago, where they found she was destabilising despite begrudgingly taking her tablets everyday.

So surgery has been cancelled again, she's on a higher dose of thyroid than she technically should have and her weight loss has halted again; she spends everyday snoring and every night snoring and as little time eating as possible.


I've tried every cat food on the planet and she will just about take a tiny bit if she's hand fed. If she feels like it. And the wind is blowing in the right direction. And nobody looks at her a bit funny.



Just to make me feel better :cool: she's decided to produce a marble sized lump in her tummy as well. The vet says it's fine, it's just another of the cysts she gets on her head - but I nearly lost it when I found that on top of everything else.


Since she's been to the vet today and had yet another blood test (apparently a more detailed complete profile, whatever that is), she's deigned to eat some raw chicken thigh, some sausagemeat, some more raw chicken, two lick-e-licks within about 45 minutes and is back snoring again. More food than she's had in probably a fortnight.


I'm pretty much at my wit's end - one moment she'll eat, the next she runs away as though I were waving a plate of cyanide at her. She loves fresh salmon and Mackerel in Tomato Sauce, but refused both after the first mouthful, she won't eat any of the usual tinned gloop, has had about five crunchies - detests Bozita, won't touch her old favourite Applaws, it's like trying to feed a schizophrenic food critic at the moment.




Seriously - what on earth do I do to get her eating regularly? Her gums are OK, her 3 remaining teeth are a bit crap but the vet says they're not bad enough to be affecting her eating, they didn't stop her eating 10 Dreamies last night.



ARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!

Mrs_Z

Hi,
How old is your 'old girl'? If she's a golden oldie, then just give her whatever she wants to eat (which sounds as though you're doing anyway).

We have a cat who's hyperthyroid and we had an episode around Easter time when she gradually stopped eating, we could not even get her to take the tablets (she's on 2 x 5mg Felimazole per day). I really thought we're going to lose her as she hardly ate more than 2-3 cat biscuits a day. Anyway, to the vets we went, did the blood & other tests. All fine except her thyroid count was off the scale - no wonder as by that point she had not had her medication for a week.

What we learnt was that there seems to be a direct link with her medication and appetite. Miss a tablet or two and she seems to lose appetite pretty quickly. After 1 injection of appetite stimulant and forcing the tablets down her throat she finally started eating after about 3 days. It got better from there on gradually she started eating more and finally also took the tablets with a piece of food.

I really didn't think she would made it past summer, but she's still around eating very well and has not missed a tablet since (we've made sure of that).

Is there anyway that your girl might have secretly been spitting the tablets out?

moggymutt

Have you tried something like hills a/d? Anything is worth a try.You can syrige little bits into the corner of her mouth. Trying anything and everything is the only way, even rhough it's enough to drive you bonkers. I actually find some poorly cats love hills k/d (dry) even when they haven't got any jidney trouble.

I'm a bit confused when you say she's on a high dose of 'thyroid'-presuming she's hyperthyroid, is that a typo (like I make lots of, particularly like now when I cabt find my glasses)?

Good luck, I've been there a lot of times and I end up with so many opened tins, cooked chickens etc, but you cant stop yourself from keeping trying.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

She's 14 and a half - had one thyroid lobe removed when she was about 6 or so, but the other one is going mental now - she's on 15mg Vidalta, much to her disgust now, as she's got wise to the little treats containing the tablets now.



I'm pretty evil to her - she gets three goes with a bit of food to soften the blow and then she gets pinned down and it's bunged down the back of her throat until she swallows.


I've got tons of little treats for her - tripled in volume because there are two other cats - one 'normal' appetite and unfussy, plus one dustbin on legs - and they get a bit of what she has. Tomorrow will most likely entail some crab meat - I've got enough for the two of us (humans) and twice as much to allow for the furry demons' share.


She seems happy this evening, and has actually eaten a bit more. But that's just to lull me into a false sense of security - odds are she'll be turning her nose up again in the morning.



Yep - poor typing. I didn't sleep too well last night as I was so worried about her. Stress turns my usually fairly coherent typing into burble.


I can't give up - I handreared her. She believes I am her mum. So it's my job to keep trying until the vet says 'no more'.


I really thought this was it when I found her lump. But, according to the vet, no problem. And her bloods were really good in September, so something has gone wrong very quickly.



[grumbles about bloody 'new improved' cat food recipes - just keep them the same so the sodding cats keep eating them :mad:]


Thanks for your replies - I'll look up anything and everything - if I end up blending chicken with goat yoghurt, for example, I'll do it. After all, it's not as if we humans need money for food for us to eat, is it?

moggymutt

Good luck.

rising_from_the_ashes

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

[grumbles about bloody 'new improved' cat food recipes - just keep them the same so the sodding cats keep eating them :mad:]

Couldn't agree more Jo ...... ((((hugs)))) hun - brings back memories of Smudge and trying to get him to eat sometimes when he wasn't well .... and the resulting frustration when going to get his favourite thing to find "new improved recipe" written on the front of the box and the resulting sinking feeling that brought on .....

Have you tried scrambled egg?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Have you tried scrambled egg?

She will take a tiny bit if there's enough butter and salt on it


This morning, Her Ladyship has decided the pot of homemade chicken stock sitting in the fridge for my carrot & coriander soup is the only thing which will do, literally climbing into the fridge to let me know about it. :wall:

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Well -

Things escalated and she was diagnosed with liver disease, prescribed medication and antibiotics, as well as milk thistle/Sam-e supplementation last week.

And she promptly decided to refuse all food, having been happily polishing off my steak and other meals up until the day of the appointment.

Spent all Friday & weekend syringe feeding her every time I could but she just got thinner and weaker. The vet said come in Monday, as it could be waiting for the antibiotics to work and she was still being fed as well as drinking unaided and using the litter tray.



Come Monday morning, I was pretty out of it, having 'slept' on laminate beside her (she felt hot, so was choosing there rather than a bed), staggered down the vet and told them she was seriously dehydrated, I couldn't get food or water into her fast enough and I thought she needed admission, iv fluids and tube feeding with something like convalescent support, handing over her medication at the same time. I'm on medication myself which isn't doing a great deal for my looks, and, to be honest, I knew I couldn't do another night.


She had gone down to 1.9kg from 2.7kg last month. _pale_

The vet was initially telling me she's probably got breathing problems/heart failure because she sounds wheezy, then put her stethoscope to her skinny ribs. The vet looked up at me.

'Ohhhhh. She's purring like a little bird'. Mog then chose that moment of awww from the vet to haul herself up and totter over the table to me (where I was using it to hold myself up, lack of sleep & meds I have to take were making me dizzy), where she flumped down into my arms, curled up with her chin over my wrist and blinked at her with bright, clear eyes, as though to say 'this one's mine. Now, are you going to do your vet thing and help me?'


She was admitted immediately. And the last thing the vet said was 'go home and get some sleep'. Which I did, from 5.30pm, just faceplanted into the duvet, fully clothed, shoes, the lot.




I phoned them this morning. Not only is she a little bit brighter, the scrawny ratbag is eating of her own accord. A prescription diet, too. Something that's good for her!!!!!! And, not only is she taking her million tablets without complaint out of the nurse's hand (I know he is cute, but still, tablets?), she's letting him take her out for cuddles - and purring properly :eek:


She's still there for at least another day, she's not out of the woods yet, but, honestly, the treacherous little beast!

Fire_Fox

Well that is positive news! :j Could they prescribe an appetite stimulant?

rising_from_the_ashes

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Her Ladyship has decided the pot of homemade chicken stock sitting in the fridge for my carrot & coriander soup is the only thing which will do, literally climbing into the fridge to let me know about it. :wall:

Big cat is a nightmare for this ... frequently come down to find him with his head in the bowl of stock while it's cooling:(:cool::eek:;)

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

I phoned them this morning. Not only is she a little bit brighter, the scrawny ratbag is eating of her own accord. A prescription diet, too. Something that's good for her!!!!!! And, not only is she taking her million tablets without complaint out of the nurse's hand (I know he is cute, but still, tablets?), she's letting him take her out for cuddles - and purring properly :eek:

Ohhhhhh JoJo (((hugs))) - tablets out the nurse's hand :eek::rotfl:ohhhh little monkey! Keeping everything crossed she's home soon xx

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Thank you.

Collected her this afternoon, having gone to the supermarket and spent £50 on cat food, washing powder, paper towels and all the things the PDSA reception said they were absolutely desperate for, because the cash contributions go to Head Office.

Every time I have taken a pet there, I have brought large amounts of items they have specifically requested (usually the £30+ mark), and the receptionists have always been very happy, as have the vets when they've been coming out as we've been bringing things in. The plan was to find out how much her admission would have cost and donate items that the animal hospital use regularly, to make up that total over the following weeks.



I then got told off by the discharging nurse (not the lovely one who runs the cattery) so loudly everybody could hear outside that I had never made a single contribution to the PDSA in the cat's life and everybody was on benefits, so that would be no excuse if I was going to try that one.

:cool:

So, as I was paying for the prescription food, the next nurse started asking me for a £10 cash donation in the waiting room. I wasn't rude, said 'there's £50 of goods I've just brought in with you' and she replied 'We don't want that, we want cash'.

:cool:



So, as the nurses both told me they don't want the stuff that has been asked for anymore, I can only assume the handwritten posters the other staff have put up are imaginary.


Sad, really. They'd rather lose £40 a time, not have the foods they use to feed the animals that are admitted, the kitchen paper to clean up after them, the washing powder, the fresh chicken and fish or anything else that clients are specifically asked to bring, just so long as they get an extra tenner towards their target at Head Office.



However, the important thing is that Madam is home again, eating and drinking and purring :j and we'll see how she does this week.