Gracie needs vibes.....  

Gracie, my 13 yr old thyroid kitty has quit eating and need vibes.... I noticed when I came back from my trip she was leaving some food behind.... NOT like her.... Then I started watching her closely - yesterday she ate kitten canned food, then today she stopped completely.
I am force-feeding her..... It is interesting She hisses and growls, kinda scary at times, but I am managing to get 1 1/2 oz feedings at time in her, and have all my fingers left behind Thank GOD for my cat bag She is a feisty little thing that one! She can not be held up, so I scruff her, and in the bag she goes! She is not getting stressed out.... She is fine afterwards....
I have no clue what is going on - if it is hairballs (she does have problems). If the thyroid meds need to be adjusted? Or cringe..... kidneys? Her behavior is completely normal, and she is happy, talkative and drinking normally - just her appetite is off, which is giving me hope. She will eat treats...... Hopefully nothing serious.... She is just such a pigglet, this is definitely out of the ordinary
She did throw up Friday, but only once - and it was food colored, so I did not think much about it.... To me, Friday, there was nothing wrong with her.... at least as far as I knew (I was out of town 'til then).
I have her on appetite stimulants already.... and of course will keep force-feeding until she starts eating again.

I will take her to her vet tomorrow if she doesn't get better. If she does get better, I will take her to Bugsy's vet Friday when I get paid. They don't have her history there, but Bugsy's vet is amazing..... and is a full on hospital if she needs something.... I might start her there.
Can you guys spare some vibes for my little old lady?

Oh God, the power of force feeding, appetite stimulants and Vibes
Our little old girl is eating on her own again : It's amazing what bringing back a kitty's blood sugar up and rid of the nausea, I guess (?) can do...
I am not taking a chance though.... She is a senior.... so I guess I rather be safe than sorry
I am taking her to the vet today at 2pm for a senior blood panel and a thyroid check - will pickup some A/D, some more appetite stimulants (I always have it at home just in case, for emergencies...... come in handy!) and try to find out what is going on. Hopefully there is nothing wrong with my little girl... The blood panel should come in today - the Thyroid takes longer....

Thank you Laurie She did eat well during the night, and I force feed her almost a can yesterday, but today she had barely eaten by Vet's time.... Nibbled on dry and wet, but not much....
The appetite stimulant I give her is Cyproheptadine 4mg - 1/2 pill 2x a day... I always have home for her and Bugsy (his own prescribed one).
Thanks
Possible.... but not likely..... I go out of town too much, and she is always fine.... She adores Kelly, who spends the nights here when I am away....

So here is how the vet visit went:
She was a good girl at the vets today... threatened, but did not bite:) Her hisses are pretty Scary, but her vet is such a cat person, she made momma proud . Blood tests results, including thyroid should be in in the next couple of days... The vet said she appears to be doing really well (and feisty! lots of comments on spunky purrsonality), there are no masses that can be felt (she did NOT appreciate that!), so it is really anyone's guess what can be wrong at this point. I am to continue to force feed when she doesn't eat (she did eat almost 1/2 can of A/D so that's excellent!!!)!
One of my concerns is that she is drinking too much water and her pee clumps are big too - since she is old - there is a possibility for kidney problems or Diabetes.
She has a patch of hairloss, and dandruff on the base of her tail - the vet said that totally looks like yeast.... The best thing to do would be to bathe her with a shampoo often..... but that's a NO on my book with Gracie. Fish Oil/Omega-3 is a no, per the vet for cats with thyroid problems (some studies indicate that it can affect the thyroid, and we better be safe than sorry). She told me to get this: Essential 6 Spot-on for Cats instead - she said it works wonders, and online is cheaper than in the vets .
She said definitely stress could be a factor on her not eating, upset stomach, pulling hair, etc, and Hyper-t cats can be more stressed out than normal cats, which might indicate her meds are off dosage. Her heart sounds good...... Oh, yeah - Her leaky eye is a blocked tear duct - Vet tested with a funny green liquid thing that's supposed to drip through the nose if it's not blocked.... Sure enough.... Blocked as an old blocked copper pipe. She said there is nothing to worry about, it will just leak.... and she will clean it off.... but as long as her eye is not red, and I am not seeing a sign of infection, it is perfectly fine - She has had that forever, it is not now that's going to be an issue
We will see..... hoping, really really hoping it's nothing of the sorts. Aside from that.... I will give her a few more days of appetite stimulants to be on the safe side..... Aside from that.... She is 12.6lbs (from 7.5lbs a year ago when she came to live with me, flea ridden, skin and bones, malnourished, knocking on death's door, basically ) The vet commended me to be a good meowmy, and her for being a GREAT kitty!
and keep her not as annoyed - Lucky is not helping - She keeps jumping into her area now to keep me Company ! She does not speak any of my languages at these times, you know? Definitely the boss that one!
(I am letting it, as it is a way to introduce them) - has been actually fine! nose to nose and low hisses!

Gracie is very sick

I did not speak to the vet, but got the lab results, and got what the vet said through Kelly (vet was on surgery all day). If I can't talk to the vet tomorrow, I will go for a second opinion Friday, when I get paid....

She has definitely liver disease - I am to continue to force feed her - right now I am force-feeding her 1 1/2 cans of Hills A/D.
Apparently, by the sound of the conversation..... Fatty Liver can be the best case scenario..... Kelly has a tendency to sugarcoat me, and does it all the time. So it is hard to get a straight answer until I speak straight to the vet - but I was told I need to get an Ultrasound and a liver biopsy. (why???)

Gracie is not jaundiced, and if this is FL, we caught right in the beginning.

She stopped eating as soon as I went out of town.... When I came back I noticed her appetite was low, but kept making sure she ate (did not force feed though, as she was eating...). The day she stopped eating on me, I scheduled the vet visit for the next day - it was too late.

If this is fatty liver, it happened fast. This is why I keep telling everyone to feed your cat no matter what - just feed them. Force feed them, because it sure can happen. It kills me, just breaks my heart in a million pieces that it happened inside of my home.....
I am glad though I am here, at home, and if this is the problem.... She will be taken care of.....

This could not have come in a worst time financially.... I am flat broke. I have no money for myself, and literally counting dimes to eat because of all my trips..... But I will do what need to be done for her..... I just hope and pray this is not the worst case scenario.

The blood results, 3 pages are below, if someone wants to make sense of it while I don't hear from the vet himself.....




Edited by Carolina - 11/16/11 at 9:28pm

Yes, she is - it was a long process to get her stable at the current dosage... It's a long story.... She was basically abandoned for a while before I rescued her, and off meds for about 6 months. Then she was extremely over medicated by her old vet (about 3 times her current dosage). Took a long time to get her stable.... Now her numbers are off again - last Senior panel was in May.
I will talk to the vet tomorrow, I am not sure if she wants to mess with the dosage before figuring out what's going on with the liver - increasing the meds can curb her appetite even more

Of course.... I am all for that... I actually suggested changing meds to Carbimazole, but she hadn't heard about it, and I guess is afraid of it.
I was looking through Gracie's history right now.

On August 2010 her WBC was also low, 3.96 - normal 5.5 - 19.5. Alt High 270, normal12-130, AlKp high 136, normal 14-111.

Nov 1, all numbers were Normal, except ALKP 135.
All the tests show Thyroid 7 up to when she came in.

So this happened once before.... There are no diagnostics on her records, just the numbers, and saying they changed thyroid dose, and such. (FIV, FeLV tests, heartworm, etc, performed by the last owner prior to adoption too...)
I know they used to give her methimazole, but then when the lady for got about her.... that was it for the meds.
She lost a lot of weight - she came in at 7lbs - she is 12.6
I will keep this out to discuss with the vet tomorrow.....

Violet, thank you so much for your reply... I did some research on Methimazole side effects, and in a small percentage of cats, it can get pretty sever, matching her symptoms- liver damage, low white blood count, affect bone marrow... What confuses me here is the lymphocytes- that I am not sure about... But since the other #s happened in the past too, I will definitely bring that up to her vet tomorrow (it's a different vet, not sure if she realizes that has happened in the past). I definitely want to see if she can do better off methimazole instead of going into US right away...
She did mention us trying Hills Y/D, the new diet, but she did confirm while it does work, there are no long term tests... It might be worth a shot though, all things considered...
For now, I am continuing the force feeding, of course, the appetite stimulant, and methimazole, until I talk to her tomorrow... But this definitely give me a lot of hope... So thank you so so much!

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Thank you guys

Ok, had a phone call with the vet today...... And we will wean her off Methimazole, and put her on Hills Y/D - a new prescription food for Thyroid problems. Even though there are not long term studies, short term studies show great results, and Gracie's long term prognosis if she stays on this drug isn't good either. Looking at her past and current blood tests, the vet agrees that Methimazole might very likely be the problem, leading to liver damage (hepatic lipidosis due to anorexia as a side effect to methimazole) and bone marrow problems. Not good. We considered another drug, but even though there are less side effects on the anorexia and depression side, the side effects on the bone marrow are the same - she will be better off on the diet. The vet is not ok with not treating her for thyroid with her past history - she said her numbers will shoot up high, and the results can be devastating for her health (heart and kidney failure).
Good news is, Gracie is isolated, so she is the only one who can get to this food
So the plan is, start today transitioning her to the new diet, weaning her off medication, and keep track of her #s to see if they get normal. If they don't, then we go onto an ultrasound........ to see if there is anything other than drug side effects going on. For now, lets hope 3 things: 1- that that's all it is; 2- that, of course, she eats the diet! as it is ALL she can eat - no treats, nothing else!; 3, that it works!

Thanks for the vibes guys, wish us good luck
Edited by Carolina - 11/17/11 at 9:50am

Thank you
The good news is that she started nibbling on the dry food - I mixed 1/3 of the y/d into the old food, and apparently she likes it - they say to transition within 7 days. Bad news is that she was not really convinced with the mix of A/d and y/d wet.... That one I mixed 1/2 and 1/2. I am still syringe feeding as she needs to eat due to her liver issues.

Hopefully she will like the wet, as I definitely do not want her on dry only....

it says you should see some results within 3 weeks - I will ask the vet when she wants another senior panel to check the other numbers as well. I know this will work for the thyroid.... What I am most concerned right now is her immunity and liver.... hopefully by the time I go out of town her numbers will show some improvement

I will Nat! I will keep posting her blood tests, so it's all here, I guess -

I think in a day or so Gracie will not need any force feeding anymore
I still have her on appetite stimulants, but she is definitely helping me out on the eating part
She ate her dry food last night, and 1/2 can of A/D this am by spoon feeding. This afternoon she hadn't eaten anything for a while, so I syringe fed her 1 1/2 oz of the mixed A/D and Y/D. Tonight she ate some more of the dry on her own..... and nibbled a little on the wet.... I am hoping the dry bow is going to be clean by morning. I will keep spoon feeding her the wet, but she already had quite a bit of food today in between wet and dry (already about 1/3 by now), mostly on her own
Hopefully when she is all off Methimazole her appetite will increase

Sometimes I think of Gracie as such a wise little lady ... She is going through so much right now... So much more stress... A year ago when she got here, she would hiss at the mere sight of my face, or my hand.
Now, these last few days, even though she still stresses out- peed when I scruffed her to put her inside the cage to take her to the vet... Growls when I put her in the cat bag for force-feeding, and sometimes still hisses during the feeding, she doesn't run from me, or hides... Doesn't even run out of the cat bag... Tonight when I went for a glass of water, I sat down and started to give her love... She just jumped right on my lap and started licking me in the most loving way... She was talking and talking and purring... And it just felt like she was saying... "I understand mom, thank you" she was more loving to me today after what I "put her through" than she has been in a long long time...
So... You cat lovers out there... Do you think they get it? We often say they do... I always tell them as I am pilling them, or giving them meds, that I am doing this to make them feel better, because I love them... Do they sense that? Do they feel it? Does she know it? Or is this just me tripping out? It just felt so real- she felt so appreciative... But then... It might just all be my wishful thinking...

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