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cats: life is never boring :-)
My vet suspected from his weight loss and high heart rate that Baldur was joining the hyperthyroid club (the other cats have it; why should he feel left out?). While the relevant measure is technically within normal range (T4 of 3.9; normal caps at 4), it's been going up and he has other symptoms, so she's inclined to treat and I don't disagree. I have the relevant drug on hand (the pharmacy long ago switched the text on the label to "use as directed" :-) ), so that's easy.
The vet was concerned about my giving him pills. At the office all the cats needed a de-worming pill (because one had evidence of a problem), and he fought it pretty hard. (And due to his size he needed two pills.) I was afraid he was going to bite someone. But I told her I wasn't worried so long as I could mix the medicine into food as I do for Erik. Baldur never met food he didn't like. :-) (Well, once. Iams, years ago.) As predicted, I had no trouble at all giving him his first dose this morning.
Erik's results were pretty much what we expected. His bilirubin is high (and high for him); my vet speculates that this could be related to the suspected gallstone he has. Dealing with it would require surgery which is risky (especially for him); she is waiting for a call back from a specialist on whether other factors could be causing that. So long as he's eating and eliminating normally, and not turning oranger than usual, we're just monitoring for now.
And then there's Embla. Embla, my "basically no problems (now)" cat... apparently has kidney disease. There have been absolutely no symptoms, like litterbox problems; my vet said the first sign is usually in the bloodwork and you don't even get that until it's fairly far along. Whee. So there are two toxins, "BUN" (?) and creatinine, that the kidneys are supposed to filter out, and she has high levels of those so the kidneys aren't performing up to spec. The good news is that this can often be controlled by diet, so I'll be picking up some prescription food for her. (They'll give me samples of all the options first so we can find out which ones she'll eat before I buy big bags of the stuff.) My vet said there will be no harm (other than expense) in the other cats eating this too.
The less-good news is that I am to start giving Embla subcutaneous fluids to help flush things out. Embla is less skittish than she used to be and I can even hold her for short periods, but holding her to stick needles in her will be new.
There is the remote possibility that this could be caused by an infection; we'll get a urine sample to test. But my vet seems doubtful, particularly as (she says) weight loss is consistent with kidney problems. (I'm not sure why that should be and didn't ask.)
Meanwhile, all the cats seem basically happy and comfortable (aside from Erik's problems), so it sure doesn't seem like things are about to go pear-shaped or the like. This is why we do routine maintenance -- so we can catch these things as early as possible. I'd rather catch them than not, but I'd be thrilled if there were fewer things there to be caught. :-)
The vet was concerned about my giving him pills. At the office all the cats needed a de-worming pill (because one had evidence of a problem), and he fought it pretty hard. (And due to his size he needed two pills.) I was afraid he was going to bite someone. But I told her I wasn't worried so long as I could mix the medicine into food as I do for Erik. Baldur never met food he didn't like. :-) (Well, once. Iams, years ago.) As predicted, I had no trouble at all giving him his first dose this morning.
Erik's results were pretty much what we expected. His bilirubin is high (and high for him); my vet speculates that this could be related to the suspected gallstone he has. Dealing with it would require surgery which is risky (especially for him); she is waiting for a call back from a specialist on whether other factors could be causing that. So long as he's eating and eliminating normally, and not turning oranger than usual, we're just monitoring for now.
And then there's Embla. Embla, my "basically no problems (now)" cat... apparently has kidney disease. There have been absolutely no symptoms, like litterbox problems; my vet said the first sign is usually in the bloodwork and you don't even get that until it's fairly far along. Whee. So there are two toxins, "BUN" (?) and creatinine, that the kidneys are supposed to filter out, and she has high levels of those so the kidneys aren't performing up to spec. The good news is that this can often be controlled by diet, so I'll be picking up some prescription food for her. (They'll give me samples of all the options first so we can find out which ones she'll eat before I buy big bags of the stuff.) My vet said there will be no harm (other than expense) in the other cats eating this too.
The less-good news is that I am to start giving Embla subcutaneous fluids to help flush things out. Embla is less skittish than she used to be and I can even hold her for short periods, but holding her to stick needles in her will be new.
There is the remote possibility that this could be caused by an infection; we'll get a urine sample to test. But my vet seems doubtful, particularly as (she says) weight loss is consistent with kidney problems. (I'm not sure why that should be and didn't ask.)
Meanwhile, all the cats seem basically happy and comfortable (aside from Erik's problems), so it sure doesn't seem like things are about to go pear-shaped or the like. This is why we do routine maintenance -- so we can catch these things as early as possible. I'd rather catch them than not, but I'd be thrilled if there were fewer things there to be caught. :-)
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Another effect of kidney problems is that they tend to get a lot of acid indigestion in their stomachs, so they don't feel like eating quite as much, so they loose weight.
If the weight loss is troublesome, some owners of cats with kidney failure give their cats pepcid daily, which makes them feel better so they're more likely to eat. Chance responded well to it for the short time we had him (he ate about 2x as much when he had pepcid as when he didn't, but he had pretty advanced kidney failure).
Good luck with Embla; we had to E-collar Chance sometimes to give him fluids (when we've done it with Yates he's been fine).
That's the reason I'm working so hard with Juliet though - my vet is pretty sure that she's going to turn up diabetic in a few years. Sticking needles into a skittish cat who doesn't like to be messed with is *not* something I'm looking forward to.
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Don't get me started on antibiotic reactions.
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Hunter has a respiratory infection now and we're trying to find an antibiotic that I can get in him (i.e. not a liquid) and won't make him puke.
With 3 pukey-kitties currently, the house is sometimes full of landmines when we get home from work!
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Good luck with Juliet! In addition to your reasons for doing so, it's just more pleasant to have a cat who doesn't run from you all the time, so socialization is good even when there's no medical driver for it.
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It worked for Hunter because he *loves* play, but I don't think it would have worked for either of my other two. I thought I'd mention it in case it it's something you could try for Embla.
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