Thoughts on a sick cat??

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Wendy&Tiggy(GA)

Wendy&Tiggy(GA)

Member Since 2011
My mother in law adopted a stray two years ago. The cat was older but they have no history on her, maybe 16+ though. She was hyper t and they have been struggling with dose of tapazole for months. She gets 1/2 pill once a day and her thyroid levels have dropped but are still too high. For a while she was doing fine but over the last few months has been losing weight and she went from 8 to 5lbs.

They tried to increase the dose but when they went to a full pill, or even 3/4pill, she stops eating and becomes lethargic. So they continued on the half pill, trying to add a little more where possible.

Then a few weeks ago she started to get picky about what she would and wouldn't eat. And started peeing around the house.

Then two days ago her eating stopped apart from a treat or two. She is sniffing food with interest but makes a lip smacking noise and walks away... to me it sounds like nausea.. They called the vet who said could be any of a lot of conditions and would cost hundreds to test, let alone medicate. Diabetes was mentioned.

I persuaded them to entice her to eat but all she will do is drink tuna water and a little milk. Since diabetes was mentioned I gave them some ketodiastix and tonite they call to say that the urine sugar was high and ketones negative.

So I go over with my kit and test her and she is 195 and clearly stressed being brought to me to test. Breathing is a little labored and I am not convinced that wasn't happening anyway. So I syringe feed 1/2 can of FF but don't want to shoot her that low esp since she isn't eating at all and I can't be around all night to test.

I suggested they try the vet for an anti nausea med and at least see how that goes. And keep syringe feeding. And testing her pee. If the pee sugar gets higher i may go round on Sunday and retest and shoot her if she is high enough and I can stay all day

They won't take her in for many tests if any and are ready to put her down. So any ideas have to be minimal cost... Any other suggestions? The cat is skin and bones and I am not sure there isn't another condition here too..I am not sure she will make it..
Wendy
 
Have they tried 1/4th tablet Pepcid AC, 20-30 minutes before feeding?

Maybe splitting the methimazole in half and doing some am & some pm would allow dose increase. I was able to dissolve it in food and Emmy would chow down. Did that for 5 years before dose increase caused diarrhea.

Renal disease is often masked by hyperthyroidism; in addition to low carb, go low phosphorus with the food, if they'll feed canned. Can cause upset stomach, too; may not be the methimazole, or could be both.
 
Yep sorry, already tried pepcid ac earlier today and made no difference. They stopped the methamazole yesterday morning because she wasn't eating.
 
195 is not terribly high, at least as far as it causing the weight loss commonly associated with diabetes. She's been dx'd with Hyper-T, and that could be the cause of the weight loss for sure.
I've never treated with the tapazole, so I don't know what the side effects are relating to appetite. When I was reading up on treatment for Hyper-T for Mullet a few days ago, I did find this:
Most cats tolerate Tapazole pretty well, but certain side effects are possible. These include depression, vomiting and appetite loss. If your cat exhibits any of these problems, adjusting the amount of medication might solve the problem. Tell your vet about any side effects in your cat so she can make decisions about changing either the medication or the dose.
Click to expand...
Is the kitty vomiting, or just refusing to eat? It seemed to me that trying to use the drug, whether pills (which wasn't really an option with Mullet) or the cream, that it required far too many follow up tests to make sure the dose was right, and a lot of trial and error or experimentation. The med, plus the costs of the blood tests to monitor figured to be more than having the U131 treatment over a year or two, so that's the way I was going to try to go with Mullet.

However, it sounds like neither the meds/test approach, nor the radio-iodine treatments are really good options in this case. Either way, the costs are going to exceed $1000 at some point...

And I would really be extremely hesitant to try using insulin to bring down the BGs without a definite FD diagnosis. If they can monitor the BG with the sticks, at least that will give you some idea if the BG continues to remain elevated. But you still won't know the underlying cause for certain without a vet testing to confirm diabetes.

What a terrible spot to be in, Wendy.

The "labored breathing" is what scares me most. That could be lots of things. Pain, maybe a p-titis flare up (which could lead to high BGs), and the peeing around the house? That could be diabetes, but it could also be a UTI. It's going to be nearly impossible to identity the cause(s) of the symptoms without more tests.

Immediate treatment...I agree with you on the anti-nausea meds. Lip smacking is a classic symptom. And they need to find out the cause of the labored breathing really quickly, I think. And maybe rule out an infection of some sort, like a UTI, that could be causing the random location peeing as well as high BGs?

Kitty has to eat first and foremost.

Hoping and praying for her,
Carl
 
Hyperthyroidism can cause temporary cardiomyopathy which usually resolves once the thyroid is under control. That could possibly b the issue with breathing...or it could be something totally different. I've had two hyperT cats and didnt realize at first that sometimes dealing with the thyroid can be really difficult. It's probably a good idea that they stopped the med for a few days but then they should put her back on and dose it 1/4 pill bid instead 1/2 sid. The other option is to get transdermal gel.

The I131 is expensive but they normally require the cat be stable on thyroid meds before they will do the procedure. A cat with compromised kidneys should not have I131.

I think you need a veterinary dx of FD and be told by the vet to start insulin.

I hope she will be ok. Unfortunately , I think it will take a good vet who can do the dx.
 
I have only had one experience with Methimazole (Tapazole) in a hyper T cat. It made her sick. She was the one in a million that had a negative reaction to it and after being on it for a while she began having petichial bleeding due to it suppression the bone marrow.

I do know that once you get the hyper t under control, many other underlying issues may surface. My friend lost her cat to heart problems once her hyper t was controlled :(
 
They aren't going to do pretty much any more testing so with the above in mind I think we are probably at the end unless they get some anti nausea meds and they work . I did what I could. :(
 
Wendy,

When my civvie Slappy was dx w/ hyperT, the vet had her meds compounded and I rubbed on the inside of her ear once a day. I switched vets and he told me that the dose should be done 2 times a day and we went up a bit on the amount I was rubbing on the ear. After 3 wks., she was tested again and her levels were great. We continued this amount for the rest of her life (about 1 1/2 yrs.) She was 16. She was NOT wanting to eat which the vet said usually w/ hyperT, they eat a lot but still loose weight. She only weighed 6-7#. After a couple of months on the meds, she did start eating and would eat 2 cans ff per day. She had always been a small cat, but finally did gain up to almost 8#!

She became soo sick from not eating, I did have to syringe feed for a couple of months. I fed meat baby food, sardines, f feast, basically ANYTHING that I could put in my magic bullet and get her to eat.
Blood tested and that is when we found out about the hyperT. She was also having problems with her mouth and had 2 teeth removed. Do they know that if her teeth are ok?

The vet also gave Slappy some anti nausea shots along w/ b12?? shot that made her feel much better until that med kicked in.

Wishing happy thoughts for you and that baby girl!
 
They put her to sleep.

They took her to the vet to be checked out and the vet looked at her and said she was in pain and probably kidney failure.

Fly free little one!
 
Oh Wendy, I'm so sorry. :sad:
Very sad week. They did right by her. And they gave a poor little stray two years of love that she would never have felt.
Fly free little baby girl. Look up Mullet on the other side of the bridge. He's the handsome Orinch guy about your age.
 
Sometimes, it's just not meant to be. So sorry to hear they had to let her go the rainbow bridge.

Fly free little one, you will be missed.

A ring of candles in her memory.
 

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Oh, I'm really sorry to read this, Wendy.
You did do everything you possibly could to help. But it sounds like it was just 'her time' maybe....

(((Hugs))) to you and to your MIL.

Fly free sweet little kitty.
 
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