New To The Board, But Need Help Desperately !!!

Hi, my name is Phillip and I've come across this board searching for answers to my cats condition.

He's a 13 yr old Minx who, up until the past few months, has been in great health!

Always been an inside cat, we've taken him outside for grass and to play but he's always stayed inside, along with our 2 other cats.

Well, about 2 months ago, we noticed that he started to lose a little bit of weight, but he was all the time eating and suddenly wanting water all of the time !

After a day or two of noticing how bad he was wanting to eat and constantly wanting water, we took him to the vet. He examined him and gave him an antibiotic called Doxycycline (Antibiotic) or something like that, for his fever, and told us to give him a qrt pill each day and see what he does.

Well he started to get a little bit of his weight back and seemed normal, he was eating all the time still and always wanted water all of the time.

So, 3 days ago we carried him back because this time he had stopped eating all together and bearly drinks enough water, to seemingly keep himself from dehydrating!

He did'nt have a fever this time, so he ran a lieukemia test and took blood from his thyroid. The Vet thinks he has Hyperthyroidism, which is causing him to lose the weight.

He also seems constipated and his butt is red from him licking it all of the time. He seems like he's stopped up and cant go to the bathroom but he can urinate perfectly fine.

The Vet called later in the day and said the Leuikemnia test was negative and that he did'nt have Diabeties either, but that it would't be until sometime either Thursday or Friday when he would know the results of the blood work (Labs are closed).

He did'nt give us any pills or anything for him, and he's been...I dont want to say hiding from us, but he has been acting completely unlike himself and keeps getting in the bathrooms and laying in cool places, like the window sill and sometimes under my bed, corner of the living room, closet.

He comes out every now and then to get some of the fresh water that we keep refreshing every hour or so for him. He purrs whenever I come up to him and when he's laying down he rolls over wanting me to pet him, but I can tell that he's so weak....it's just so hard to not know what to do for him :cry:

I'm just so worried about him, and I dont want to see him suffer like this, or possibly die before it's too late when the results come back and we find out what it is..... but I dont want to have the blood work come back and it be something I can fix for him only to have put him asleep because I did'nt want him to suffer!

Please help! Thank you!

 

did this vet offer to give your cat any sub-q fluids? Did he offer to show you how to do that? Will help with his dehydration.
You can check to see if he is dehydrated by pulling on the skin between his shoulder blades. If the skin snaps back quickly he's fine...if it stays tented he's dehydrated and needs fluids.
You could also syringe feed him.
AD canned cat food (from a vet), pedialyte and NutraCal mix them together whole can of the food, a good healthy squirt of the nutracal and enough pedialyte to make the whole mixture very soupy. Get a plastic syring and feed him that way.
Lots you can do to make him comfy until you get the test results back....or find another vet who shows some compassion.
For his sore butt you could wipe with unscented baby wipes or even witch hazel.
Maybe 1/2 his problem is constipation but I hope he doesn't have any obstruction keeping him from pooping.
I'd find another vet...one who is a bit more willing to diagnosis your cat and treat.

 

Will the blood results let me know if he has CRF?

I'm afraid of that being what it is, because I'm sure it's not just a virus and the other tests were negative....I just cant figure out what it wrong.

Seems like the Vet is just taking his time, but him taking his time is doing nothing for my cat!

I'll try those methods that you described, thank you for those, and hopefully I can take him to another vet tomorrow that can run those tests and let me know whats wrong with him, alot more quickly.

 

a complete blood panel would show any organs that might be failing.
The 2nd opinion is a good choice. Seems this vet should be doing more for your cat. Some vets see an older cat and just assume the end is near and why bother with heroic efforts. But one can't know the end is near if one doesn't even know what is wrong with the pet!!!
Please let us know what happens. And try to get your cat rehydrated...that can make a world of difference in how they act.

 

Got an update!

It turns out that Itty is indeed Hyprthyroid...

However, he also had an infection, which when the first vet ran a blood panel it should've showed how extremely high his white blood cell count was, but he never bothered to say anything about that!

He never said a word about it, instead, just gave the cat back to us and we are STILL WAITING for HIS test results on my cats thyroid....

Well, it was the 31st and I really did'nt want to see him suffer through the night and all the next day until he eventually passed away, so I was calling all vets around and none were open

But by the grace of god, there was ONE vet that was open and turns out that it was a really expensive, but very professional place that said for me to bring him in.

I took him in and immediately the vet looked at him and she said that he was seriously critical! She was examining him like in a ER after a car wreck patient had been wheeled in! She was asking me alot of questions about his condition while she was looking over him.

I told her that another vet had done tests on him, and she asked which one, I told her what all he said that he did but he did;nt have any answers....

She said that she could find out in a matter of hours what exactly was wrong with him, if I would let her redo the tests.

We left and she called about 2 1/2 hrs later and said that he had an infection and was indeed hyperthyroid. She asked if the other vet had told me that he had an infection and he did'nt!

She said that ANY vet or dr. can tell an infection just by the white blood cell count, so if he did do the tests like he said he did, then he would've known that he had an infection ... but he did'nt say a word about any such thing!

She hooked him up to an IV that has medicine for the Hyperthyroid and the infection, plus something to get him hydrated again.

Today she called and said that he was eating on his own again and he was even purring when she was talking and petting him....and he NEVER does that to strangers!

I'm so happy that he is getting better, but I'm definately going to have something done about the first vet that I took him too, because that is TOTALLY unexceptable :m3:

If it was'nt for her, I'm sure Itty would no longer be with us anymore, so I'm very thankful that there are vets out there that are passionate at what they do.

She said that she wants to keep him tonight, just to see how he's doing in the morning, but hopefully he'll be well enough that I can bring him home tomorrow afternoon

 

That's great! Nice to read about good news!

 

good for you for getting a 2nd opinion hyperthyroidism in a cat is easy to regulate. My mother's cat has had it for years. A pill a day and a blood test 2x/year keeps him going.
If you find your cat is hard to pill ask your vet about a compound that can be rubbed into his ears. My mother has to do that. Her cat is horrible to pill and her being 71 and my father 76 they don't like to wrestle with Tinker. They get the meds in a compound and simply give Tinker a daily ear rub.

 

glad to hear that

your little manx is doing better....

 

Hello and welcome to Auspet. I am so glad you took him to another vet. :y_the_best: Mostly I am just so happy he is doing better. That was a close call. Well, at least you now have found a good vet to take him to from now on. He's a beautiful cat. Those all grey cats are my favorite.

 

Yea, that was an extremely close call and I feel bad that I did'nt take him to the second vet in the first place

He came home and ran into my room and jumped on my bed, layed in his corner and stated purring and rolled over wanting me to pet him

He did'nt eat much that first day home, but just a few minutes ago he scarfed down a ton of Turkey and a whole can of Fancy Feast !

We have to take him back in 6 days for them to do another blood test to see how far he's progressed, but I'm sure he's going to be alright.

We just have to give him a bunch of medicines for a few days, and probably a thyroid pill everyday to keep that under control, but that's not a problem at all.

I'm just so glad that I did'nt lose him and that I found this vet, which is where I'll be taking all of my pets, from now on.