Denyce
01-17-2004, 03:34 PM
I took Deirdre to the vet yesterday because of her weight loss and just general not rightness.
I got some good and not so good news on her blood work. There is definitely something wrong with her. My vet really feels it is hypothyroidism. Even though she is a bit young she is about 8 years old so she is on the bottom edge. But we are hoping for that diagnosis since our only other alternative is probably cancer. She is slightly anemic and her weight went from 9 pounds at the beginning of Dec. to 7 lbs 13 oz yesterday. And that is still with her voracious appetite. She fits the profile of hypothyroidism pretty closely. Her symptoms really
fall in line with that diagnosis. In April we had done a full blood work up on her and back then her T4 levels came back normal but that can happen. So her blood is being sent to Michigan State for a full thyroid panel so we can get a better diagnosis.
Her other blood levels of calcium and such don't show any possibilities of cancer, however, they use prednisone to keep
cancer at bay and it masks the blood symptoms of cancer. She has been on pred for about a year and a half because of her chewing her hair off. So there is a bad and a good about that. If it is cancer then we have been keeping it in better check...however...we have also masked the symptoms so
we don't know it. The only indicator may be that one of her kidneys is slightly enlarged. But all her kidney values came back great so she isn't in any failure. And hyperthyroidism can cause some heart and kidney problems until the thyroid tissues are killed off.
The good news if it is the thyroid is that it is easily treatable and she can still go on to lead a happy life. The bad news in that is that the best treatment for it is a radioactive injection that targets and kills all thyroid tissue no matter where it is in the body. It is a pretty safe procedure for the cat...however you are making the cat radioactive for a while. So the treatment can only be done at certain facilities and requires a hospital stay. Our vet said it was a 3-5 day stay. However, what I have read so far says it is more like a week to 4 week stay. The cat has to
remain in a lead lined cage during that time with minimal exposure till the radioactive levels decrease to a safe level. But it is a cure...not just a treatment like oral medication it. But it is also at least 1200 dollars. Surgery is also an option but it can lead to some severe complications like death. That is pretty severe huh?
I am having a bit of a time processing all of this. It will be a while till I have the blood results back. I don't know what to hope for. It seems insane to hope for the hypothyroidism....our vet is certainly keeping her fingers crossed for that. But on the other hand if it is cancer it is probably a death sentence. What I really want is for there to be nothing...but that isn't going to happen because with the anemia and weight loss there is certainly a chronic illness going on. But she is my baby...the thought of
having to send her away to Baltimore or Pittsburgh for a week or more to stay in a lead lined cage with strangers just breaks my heart. But if it means her survival I will do it....but it still breaks my heart. Thank god I have Brian who doesn't even blink at spending 1200 to save the life of a cat.
I would be asking for prayers but I don't know what to pray for. I thought I was dealing with this better than I am.
Denyce
I got some good and not so good news on her blood work. There is definitely something wrong with her. My vet really feels it is hypothyroidism. Even though she is a bit young she is about 8 years old so she is on the bottom edge. But we are hoping for that diagnosis since our only other alternative is probably cancer. She is slightly anemic and her weight went from 9 pounds at the beginning of Dec. to 7 lbs 13 oz yesterday. And that is still with her voracious appetite. She fits the profile of hypothyroidism pretty closely. Her symptoms really
fall in line with that diagnosis. In April we had done a full blood work up on her and back then her T4 levels came back normal but that can happen. So her blood is being sent to Michigan State for a full thyroid panel so we can get a better diagnosis.
Her other blood levels of calcium and such don't show any possibilities of cancer, however, they use prednisone to keep
cancer at bay and it masks the blood symptoms of cancer. She has been on pred for about a year and a half because of her chewing her hair off. So there is a bad and a good about that. If it is cancer then we have been keeping it in better check...however...we have also masked the symptoms so
we don't know it. The only indicator may be that one of her kidneys is slightly enlarged. But all her kidney values came back great so she isn't in any failure. And hyperthyroidism can cause some heart and kidney problems until the thyroid tissues are killed off.
The good news if it is the thyroid is that it is easily treatable and she can still go on to lead a happy life. The bad news in that is that the best treatment for it is a radioactive injection that targets and kills all thyroid tissue no matter where it is in the body. It is a pretty safe procedure for the cat...however you are making the cat radioactive for a while. So the treatment can only be done at certain facilities and requires a hospital stay. Our vet said it was a 3-5 day stay. However, what I have read so far says it is more like a week to 4 week stay. The cat has to
remain in a lead lined cage during that time with minimal exposure till the radioactive levels decrease to a safe level. But it is a cure...not just a treatment like oral medication it. But it is also at least 1200 dollars. Surgery is also an option but it can lead to some severe complications like death. That is pretty severe huh?
I am having a bit of a time processing all of this. It will be a while till I have the blood results back. I don't know what to hope for. It seems insane to hope for the hypothyroidism....our vet is certainly keeping her fingers crossed for that. But on the other hand if it is cancer it is probably a death sentence. What I really want is for there to be nothing...but that isn't going to happen because with the anemia and weight loss there is certainly a chronic illness going on. But she is my baby...the thought of
having to send her away to Baltimore or Pittsburgh for a week or more to stay in a lead lined cage with strangers just breaks my heart. But if it means her survival I will do it....but it still breaks my heart. Thank god I have Brian who doesn't even blink at spending 1200 to save the life of a cat.
I would be asking for prayers but I don't know what to pray for. I thought I was dealing with this better than I am.
Denyce