Hi,
Recently our family was adopted by a starving black stray in dreadful condition. We believe him to be about 15 years old. It is possible he was chased away from his home as we have discovered he has a thyroid problem.
This was discovered when we took him to a vet for a general check up when it was obvious he intended to stay. He was tested for just about everything and apart from the thyroid, malnutrition and a serious but probably repairable liver damage, he was fine. Xray showed the lungs were clear.
He had been with us about a week when on returning home one night we discovered Bagheera staggering all over the place and almost incapable of controlling his back legs. He was no better the following day and so we went back to the vet. It was noticed that his left pupil is considerable smaller than his right (but his sight is not affected) and both eyes were flicking from left to right. Antibiotics were given and we went back about a week later
and the flicking had gone although the imbalance in size remains to this day.
Because he was starved, he does tend to guzzle his food and often overeats to the point where he waddles. The vet felt this swollen stomach when combined with unidentified fever was probably a sign of FIP. However, he has not vomited, he does not have diahorrea, he responds to antibiotics and is slowly putting on weight and condition. His fat stomach goes down when he goes to the toilet but at the moment this is not very regular. He is, however, very lethargic, but could this be due to age and lack of strength due to the recent poor diet?
Our vet does not think it worthwhile testing for FIP as the results are so inconclusive. I should be interested to hear views from any members about what may be causing Bagheera's condition and any suggestions you may offer to help improve his health.
Thanks,
Michael
Recently our family was adopted by a starving black stray in dreadful condition. We believe him to be about 15 years old. It is possible he was chased away from his home as we have discovered he has a thyroid problem.
This was discovered when we took him to a vet for a general check up when it was obvious he intended to stay. He was tested for just about everything and apart from the thyroid, malnutrition and a serious but probably repairable liver damage, he was fine. Xray showed the lungs were clear.
He had been with us about a week when on returning home one night we discovered Bagheera staggering all over the place and almost incapable of controlling his back legs. He was no better the following day and so we went back to the vet. It was noticed that his left pupil is considerable smaller than his right (but his sight is not affected) and both eyes were flicking from left to right. Antibiotics were given and we went back about a week later
and the flicking had gone although the imbalance in size remains to this day.
Because he was starved, he does tend to guzzle his food and often overeats to the point where he waddles. The vet felt this swollen stomach when combined with unidentified fever was probably a sign of FIP. However, he has not vomited, he does not have diahorrea, he responds to antibiotics and is slowly putting on weight and condition. His fat stomach goes down when he goes to the toilet but at the moment this is not very regular. He is, however, very lethargic, but could this be due to age and lack of strength due to the recent poor diet?
Our vet does not think it worthwhile testing for FIP as the results are so inconclusive. I should be interested to hear views from any members about what may be causing Bagheera's condition and any suggestions you may offer to help improve his health.
Thanks,
Michael