After putting off regular check-ups for my cats for financial reasons, in December 2009, I took Max, my 16-year-old male tuxedo cat, in for an exam after noticing that he would drool from the right side of his mouth after eating.
I thought that this would simply require the basic dental thing--bring him in the morning, pick him up in the afternoon, pay $350. His initial labwork all looked excellent--except for this thyroid thing. Which probably explains the increasing incidences of loose stools over the past few months. (I thought this was because he was eating a lot of supermarket canned food.)
Doc prescribed the usual Tapazole. Half a pill twice each day. After about a week, Max started pulling his fur out around the anal/genital area. Doc reduced the meds to half a pill once each day. After about a week, the fur-pulling is still happening, but not so much or so often. I don't think this is a reaction to the meds--I think the oral discomfort is preventing normal grooming.
Here's the big problem: The dental problem is making eating increasingly difficult--and I believe it's making grooming difficult, too. It seems that around the time that I noticed Max was having trouble eating is when I noticed his coat started to get really matted, especially on his underside. Doc says that until the hyperthyroidism is controlled with the meds (about 3-4 weeks with the typical dosage), anesthesia for the dental work is too risky. Doc has prescribed liquid pain-killer and liquid antibiotic for the oral situation.
I'm very concerned that Max is not eating enough. So far, he seems to be urinating normally and I think he's making one bowel movement per day (sometimes real loose, sometimes semi-formed). Sometimes it's hard to tell who's doing what when I cannot keep the 2 cats completely separate.
I want to go back to the original dosage of Tapazole to speed things up, because the 3-4 week waiting time until the second lab test is an awfully long time to go with this dental condition. And by the way, the Pill Pockets worked great at first, but I think Max is getting tired of having things shoved in his mouth.
It's heartbreaking to see 2 problems that are, by themselves, readily fixable, together creating a worrisome situation. All because I lost a good-paying job a few years ago and have had to take lesser-paying survival jobs since.
I would appreciate any wisdom you might have. And, more specifically, can the Tapazole pills be ground up and mixed with some tasty liquid that can be administered with a feeding syringe? Would it be helpful to use a feeding syringe to get more food in Max? Would brushing his teeth be helpful? Is there a way to roughly estimate the risk associated with anesthesia beforehand (like using an echocardiogram to check for cardiomyopathy)?
I thought that this would simply require the basic dental thing--bring him in the morning, pick him up in the afternoon, pay $350. His initial labwork all looked excellent--except for this thyroid thing. Which probably explains the increasing incidences of loose stools over the past few months. (I thought this was because he was eating a lot of supermarket canned food.)
Doc prescribed the usual Tapazole. Half a pill twice each day. After about a week, Max started pulling his fur out around the anal/genital area. Doc reduced the meds to half a pill once each day. After about a week, the fur-pulling is still happening, but not so much or so often. I don't think this is a reaction to the meds--I think the oral discomfort is preventing normal grooming.
Here's the big problem: The dental problem is making eating increasingly difficult--and I believe it's making grooming difficult, too. It seems that around the time that I noticed Max was having trouble eating is when I noticed his coat started to get really matted, especially on his underside. Doc says that until the hyperthyroidism is controlled with the meds (about 3-4 weeks with the typical dosage), anesthesia for the dental work is too risky. Doc has prescribed liquid pain-killer and liquid antibiotic for the oral situation.
I'm very concerned that Max is not eating enough. So far, he seems to be urinating normally and I think he's making one bowel movement per day (sometimes real loose, sometimes semi-formed). Sometimes it's hard to tell who's doing what when I cannot keep the 2 cats completely separate.
I want to go back to the original dosage of Tapazole to speed things up, because the 3-4 week waiting time until the second lab test is an awfully long time to go with this dental condition. And by the way, the Pill Pockets worked great at first, but I think Max is getting tired of having things shoved in his mouth.
It's heartbreaking to see 2 problems that are, by themselves, readily fixable, together creating a worrisome situation. All because I lost a good-paying job a few years ago and have had to take lesser-paying survival jobs since.
I would appreciate any wisdom you might have. And, more specifically, can the Tapazole pills be ground up and mixed with some tasty liquid that can be administered with a feeding syringe? Would it be helpful to use a feeding syringe to get more food in Max? Would brushing his teeth be helpful? Is there a way to roughly estimate the risk associated with anesthesia beforehand (like using an echocardiogram to check for cardiomyopathy)?