Cat suddenly ill, but no diagnosis

[vwilkins]

My 9 year old cat who I rescued 5 years ago got suddenly ill. Five days ago his third eyelid started showing. Next day lethargy. Next day not eating and hissing.
I took him to vet Monday. Did bloodwork, hydrated him. Checked his teeth and eye. Gave appetite stimulant.
All types of suggestions for X-rays, eye tests, dental work etc , but vet doesn’t correlate any of this to my cat not eating.
He is already on meds for hyperthyroidism. Bloodwork shows this number is high ( due to not getting meds for a couple days) kidney numbers high, signs of inflammation (wbc count).
Yesterday he ate a teaspoon of food. Today maybe a 1/4 can. Now he seems twitchy and restless.
Vet suggesting he see either a neurologist or an eye specialist??
It just seems like I’m in a rabbit hole. I feel like she’s just throwing test suggestions at me. I went down this path with another kitty and after spending over $1000 and him being unhappy he had to be euthanized. I don’t want to do it again.
I just feel like my vet is missing something

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi - Welcome to the site!

I can't help other than a thought of a different vet, or maybe if you have a university medical veterinary department you, or your current vet could contact/consult with them?

But I did want to suggest this link below, because your baby needs to eat. If you have to handfeed him, do that. It takes time, and patience, but it gets the calories in. Scoop a little food onto the end of your finger and see if he'll lick it, or try a tongue depressor/popsicle stick. Open his mouth with gentle pressure at the hinge of his jaw and using the popsicle stick, gently swipe the food onto his tongue. I've read that people swipe the food onto the roof of the mouth - I can't get that to work for me, but Poppycat and I regularly do the "up on the counter, get the food in " routine.

Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

 

[FeebysOwner]

What you are describing sounds like classic signs of both hyperthyroidism and CKD. Right now, the key would be to get him eating more again, and get his medication level stabilized in order to run a T4 to see where is thyroid level is. He may need the dosage increased. It is also possible that he has a urinary tract infection (hence the WBC), so running a urinalysis might be another test that should be done before going down the neurology/eye specialist path, IMO. Depending on his kidney values, it could be that he needs sub-Q fluid treatment at home a couple times of week.

Getting a recommendation from friends/family/neighbors/co-workers for another vet to have a second opinion seems to be something else you should consider. You can get copies of all of his records to share with another vet, and that might help reduce the need for redundant tests.

Have you joined either the hyperthyroidism and/or CKD forums to see if they have some tips for you ([email protected] | Home / [email protected] | Topics)? And, you probably ought to take a look at this web site as well - Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Cat (felinecrf.org) - loaded with lots of information that you might find helpful.

For the time being, try all kinds of food to see if you can jump-start his appetite. How To Get Your Cat To Start Eating Again – TheCatSite Articles. Get more appetite stimulants if you think they are helping any.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I totally agree with FeebysOwner . With high WBC, did your Vet not think there might be an infection going on? Did he prescribe any antibiotics? What did he tell you to do about the high kidney values? Did he think they were high because of the dehydration? It is true that dehydration can make numbers high, so I will have to leave it up to your Vet to determine whether or not they think that's what caused it or not. And did he think just a couple days of not getting his thyroid medicine was enough to cause high numbers there? It's really important to get that under control, naturally.

I think it may be the appetite stimulant that is making him twitchy and restless. It is Mirtazapine? Sometimes it does that. You could ask for Mirataz if that's not what you got. It's a transdermal gel with fewer side effects.

Why does your vet think Neurologic?