Worried, please answer. Possible hyperthyroidism - Is it okay to wait to go to the vet?

I am a paranoid cat mama so please bear with me.  I have been worried about Sasha lately. She is 9 years old, spayed, has no history of illnesses, one pound overweight, indoor only.

She has been exhibiting some symptoms that COULD indicate an illness but also have possible normal explanations.  

She has been throwing up.  However, she is a gobbler and has always thrown up throughout her life if she eats too fast.  However, she has thrown up a little more frequently and yesterday threw up a little bit of foam.  I have been experimenting giving her some raw meat as well (very little amounts), so I don't know if it's the dietary changes or because she is sick?

She has had diarrhea. Again, not sure if dietary or sickness.  I don't believe she has ever had diarrhea before even when changing between brands, but then again I've never given her raw meat in the past. 

She has been drinking more than usual.  She isn't camped out by the water bowl or anything, but usually I don't really see her drinking at all.  I usually feed canned only, but lately have been leaving dry down as I have some samples that I can't afford to waste due to budgeting reasons.  So the increased intake of dry food might be the cause of that.  

She has been eating and playing normally, however I've heard that cats with hyperthyroidism would do this.

Finally, she has had a bump under her chin on her neck for a few weeks now which is consistent with hyperthyroidism.  It can't be seen but if you know where to feel you can feel a round very small lump.  It doesn't hurt her when I touch it.  

It is Saturday and my normal vet is closed all weekend.  I can call on Monday and try to take her in then or on Tuesday.  I was planning to leave to visit my family for Thanksgiving from Wednesday to Thursday but can't leave her if I feel like she's sick.  

So my questions is, should I take her to an emergency vet this weekend or wait until Monday or Tuesday?  Money is an issue for me right now and also I really like my regular vet and feel very comfortable there. I will take her to the vet no matter what, Tuesday at the latest if they have space for me.

Also, do these sound like symptoms to you or am I just paranoid? (I need a second opinion because I once took her to the vet worried about something weird in her mouth and was told it was her gums.  ) 

I should also mention that she had some bloodwork done in January as part of a dental and it came back normal. Not sure if that's important. 

I would be careful feeding a cat raw meat that is meant for human consumption. The raw meat is intended to be cooked so there is likely some bacteria on it that could be upsetting her tummy. If feed my cat raw but it is commercial raw cat food it is frozen almost immediately after processing. As for the vet I would take her on Monday if it will put you in a difficult position financially to take her to emergency. The symptoms don't appear to be too serious just keep an eye on her. Hope she is ok 

Zed Xyzed said:

 
I would be careful feeding a cat raw meat that is meant for human consumption. The raw meat is intended to be cooked so there is likely some bacteria on it that could be upsetting her tummy. If feed my cat raw but it is commercial raw cat food it is frozen almost immediately after processing. As for the vet I would take her on Monday if it will put you in a difficult position financially to take her to emergency. The symptoms don't appear to be too serious just keep an eye on her. Hope she is ok 

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Thanks for your quick response and for your advice!  She is acting normally and doesn't seem to be in any pain at all, which is why it's hard for me to tell!  I'll update after I take her to the vet. 

Vomiting foam often indicates stomach acid upset. At least with kidney cats, though I would assume it's the same with others as well.

I would definitely take her into the vet. They'll probably run a thyroid test and likely a kidney panel as well. Could be wrong on that but that would be my guess based on my own experience.

The good thing about hyperthyroidism is it's very treatable. In fact, whenever I have to take my older cats in for a problem, I consider being told they have hyperthyroidism as "good news". 

Seems like you are making a lot of dietary changes all at once. I agree about the raw food. Be very careful. If it was me, I would probably put her back on her original food ) if these changes are recent) until you have this all figured out. Please try not to think of the worst.

Donutte said:

 
Vomiting foam often indicates stomach acid upset. At least with kidney cats, though I would assume it's the same with others as well.

I would definitely take her into the vet. They'll probably run a thyroid test and likely a kidney panel as well. Could be wrong on that but that would be my guess based on my own experience.

The good thing about hyperthyroidism is it's very treatable. In fact, whenever I have to take my older cats in for a problem, I consider being told they have hyperthyroidism as "good news". 

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Ligwa said:

Seems like you are making a lot of dietary changes all at once. I agree about the raw food. Be very careful. If it was me, I would probably put her back on her original food ) if these changes are recent) until you have this all figured out. Please try not to think of the worst.

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Thanks for all the responses and advice. I guess Sasha is at that age where I'll have to be more vigilant about her health.  She's the oldest pet I've ever had, so it's a learning process for all of us.  

I do rotate her food around a lot.  She has never been sensitive with changes but I'll stop giving her raw meat until we figure out what it is.  Thanks for the kind words. 

I'm glad that it doesn't seem to be an immediately pressing matter.  Going to the vet is stressful for all of us since I'm only working part time and am low on cash, don't have a car, and the cats find it super stressful, but to the vet we shall go.  I'm going to wait it out until Monday.  

The most common clinical signs of hyperthyroidism are weight loss, increased appetite, and increased thirst and urination. Hyperthyroidism may also cause vomiting, diarrhea, and hyperactivity. The coat may appear matted or greasy.  My Tiger was hyperthyroid, her main symptom was weight loss, but also increased thirst and urination.  She was diabetic as well, so her weight loss was more dramatic.  I would most definitely take your kitty to get a complete Senior Panel with Thyroid bloodwork done, she is at that age where it needs to be done. Please let us know how it goes, if she is hyperthyroid, the treatment is usually Methiamazole, and it is managable.

RuthM said:

 
The most common clinical signs of hyperthyroidism are weight loss, increased appetite, and increased thirst and urination. Hyperthyroidism may also cause vomiting, diarrhea, and hyperactivity. The coat may appear matted or greasy.  My Tiger was hyperthyroid, her main symptom was weight loss, but also increased thirst and urination.  She was diabetic as well, so her weight loss was more dramatic.  I would most definitely take your kitty to get a complete Senior Panel with Thyroid bloodwork done, she is at that age where it needs to be done. Please let us know how it goes, if she is hyperthyroid, the treatment is usually Methiamazole, and it is managable.

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Thanks for your response.  Sasha is slightly overweight and has not shown any weight loss yet.  Since I've posted, everything has been normal, no vomiting, diarrhea or even increased water intake.  She has an appointment today at 10:45 which I left work early for because the next time they can fit me in is next week. How long would it take to get the results of bloodwork back?  

Anyways, asking for positive vibes and will update when we get back. 

UPDATE: I just got back from the vet.  Apparently Sasha is completely healthy and I am just a crazy, paranoid cat mama.  The vet isn't worried about any thyroid problems since Sasha hasn't lost weight and her coat is good.  She did feel the bumps under Sasha's throat which she thinks are salivary glands, but she had another vet feel it and it seemed normal to both of them (just the way her body is).  They tried to aspirate it but it was too small and slippery to get anything.  I am getting some bloodwork done just to be thorough but I won't get the results back until tomorrow.  

That was some expensive peace of mind but I am a very "better safe than sorry" kind of person.  I'll update tomorrow about the bloodwork. Thanks to everyone who answered!  I really appreciate it!!

wonderful news!!!

So glad you got her into the vet- and that you received a good vet report. Our vet clinic usually gets bloodwork results back in a day or two; they are not set up to do more than routine bloodwork. I did not mean to get you all worried, it's just that with all my girl's illnesses, I get really concerned when someone says their kitty is vomiting and having diarrhea  for any length of time. Thank you for reporting back and hope everything is fine.

(Late) update and questions:

So my vet called about the blood work results while I was on my way to work and thus super distracted.  She said that everything was pretty normal except one thing that was a little high that is usually because of something like allergies or worms/ parasites (I don't remember what it was that was high exactly). I did ask her to leave a note of the bloodwork results, but all they did was print it out for me without any "translations" as to what it meant.  Anyways, she wanted me to treat both Sasha and Kyubi for worms for whatever was high in her blood tests.  They've already had their first round of Panacur and will get another round in a few days.  

My questions are:

1. Do I need to change their litter?  I did this when Kyubi had roundworms, but I don't even know what she has or might have.  I don't know if this sounds stupid, but I don't want to change the litter if I don't have to, as I just put in some fresh litter (like 40 lbs of it).

2. How could she have worms?  She had a fecal test in January and she and Kyubi both tested negative. 

The conversation was kind of confusing.  I asked if we could just do a fecal test before we treated them since she might test clean and thus not need a treatment.  My vet said that some things might not come up on a fecal test.  We decided to treat Sasha and Kyubi and then do the blood test again to see if whatever was high goes down.  

3. Does anyone know enough about blood tests to know what was high?  

I'm not usually shy about asking my vet questions, but I was really flustered because I was outdoors and almost late to work.  I should've just asked her to call back another time, but I didn't think the conversation would be so technical and long.  Anyways, I have a copy of the blood work if anyone wanted to see it and can "translate" it for me.  I will probably ask for a better explanation when I go in to have Sasha checked again.  

I did a quick search and came up with EOSINOPHILS as the possibly high blood value. Is a type of white blood cell and can be raised due to allergies, parasitism, or some skin or intestinal disorders. (http://www.allfelinehospital.com/blood-work-explanation.pml)

Is it possible it's more the allergy part than the worm part? Did your vet ask for another fecal sample?

Donutte said:

 
I did a quick search and came up with EOSINOPHILS as the possibly high blood value. Is a type of white blood cell and can be raised due to allergies, parasitism, or some skin or intestinal disorders. (http://www.allfelinehospital.com/blood-work-explanation.pml)

Is it possible it's more the allergy part than the worm part? Did your vet ask for another fecal sample?

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Thank you for your reply @Donutte  .  That does sound about right.  I asked the vet if we should just do a fecal test and she said that some things come up clean on the test.  She said we can still do one and treat the cats, but I didn't see a point in that if we're already going to deworm them again anyways.  She wanted to do another test for that blood value after the last Panacur treatment and see if it went down.  

Sasha does seem to have seasonal allergies.  She scratches her cheeks and chin fairly often and gets scabs sometimes.  I asked the vet about that a while ago and they said it was pretty common and that I could give her some allergy meds if Sasha seemed too uncomfortable.  I was wondering if this could be the reason of the high blood value and did bring it up, but I don't remember what the vet said (I was running late for work).

Since I don't know what Sasha "might" have, should I change their litter just to be safe?  It's kind of a waste, but I don't want to have to do this all over again. Ugh.  

Sasha's acting completely normally.  The bump under her chin has disappeared too.  Could the high blood value be a fluke? 

Ruaryx said:

 
Thank you for your reply @Donutte  .  That does sound about right.  I asked the vet if we should just do a fecal test and she said that some things come up clean on the test.  She said we can still do one and treat the cats, but I didn't see a point in that if we're already going to deworm them again anyways.  She wanted to do another test for that blood value after the last Panacur treatment and see if it went down.  

Sasha does seem to have seasonal allergies.  She scratches her cheeks and chin fairly often and gets scabs sometimes.  I asked the vet about that a while ago and they said it was pretty common and that I could give her some allergy meds if Sasha seemed too uncomfortable.  I was wondering if this could be the reason of the high blood value and did bring it up, but I don't remember what the vet said (I was running late for work).

Since I don't know what Sasha "might" have, should I change their litter just to be safe?  It's kind of a waste, but I don't want to have to do this all over again. Ugh.  

Sasha's acting completely normally.  The bump under her chin has disappeared too.  Could the high blood value be a fluke? 

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I think anyone one-shot test has the potential to be a fluke. That's why most of the time they go based off of multiple blood tests. Personally, I don't make any changes until I know something for sure. Did she say just how high the level was above normal? Was it just slightly or a lot?