Questions.... Fister's upcoming vet visit

[Lizzie]

Considering Fister's age, and the possibility of a little weight loss, and an increase in appetite, I would add a thyroid check to the blood test. I ask for a geriatric blood panel for cats over 10 which always includes thyroid levels. The lab usually keeps a little of the blood sample after they send the results to the vet so more specialized tests can be done if any levels are a little high. So, if the thyroid level is in the high end, they will do a further T4 (?sp) which is very specific to thyroid levels. Hyperthryroidism is easily treated, as you have probably read from those of us who have gone through it with our cats.

I feed Taranis the Royal Canin SO and consider it definitely a more fattening food than Hills WD. I hate the fact that she has to be on it since she's always had a weight problem. Fister may just enjoy the R.C. SO more than the Hills, it certainly has better ingredients and I know my cats would steal it from Taranis if I let them. Or it could be an early thryoid issues as mentioned above.

Poor Fister. He looks so very relaxed in the photos you have shown of him recently and he's about to get a reality check with a visit to the vet. Good luck with the check-up.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Randi, I was also going to suggest that you have his thyroid checked out. You may also want another urinalysis done. My vet recommends that a cat with crystal problems should have one done at least every 6 months.

Storm turned 11 in Jan. and he had lost some weight due to a UTI. I took him to my new vet and had another urinalysis, bloodwork and thyroid check. His bloodwork showed that he had high calcium levels in his blood again so she did another blood test and luckily Storm's fine. He also eats the Royal Canin Urinary S/O dry and wet and loves it. He's now at 14.5lbs which is a good weight for him because he's a very large cat. I measure out his food and he only eats about 1/2 cup of dry at the most. He prefers to eat his wet food over the dry. Good luck. I hope that everything checks out fine with Fister.

[Logan]

Randi, after Lilly died, I took Butter back to Dr. Robinson (he had been seeing a wonderful cat vet, previously, for about two years). Scott and I decided that we needed to support Dr. Robinson's practice since they have been so good to us over the years.

Anyway, he was due all of his annual shots, apply his Revolution treatment, plus needed his steroid shot to stop the itching problem. Dr. Robinson did a full blood panel on him, checked him all over, gave him his shots and was able to report to me that he is in excellent condition. He said he wished his own blood work looked that good! That made me feel better. I was concerned about his weight because he appeared to be too thin to me, but he was a healthy 11+ pounds, which is what he usually weighs. Dr. Robinson had to gas him to get the necessary blood, but he clipped his claws and checked him thoroughly while he was under. It was incredibly expensive, but he wanted a baseline to have on hand if Butter were to have some problems in the future. He also told me that we won't need to do that extensive bloodwork every year, just every now and then. We think that Butter is probably around 10 years old at this point, so he and Fister are close to the same age. I hope Fister will get a good report like Butter did. I know as Mimi aged, she became much thinner (and she couldn't spare any extra pounds since she was 6 lbs at the most in her healthiest days). We never did the "senior" bloodwork on Mimi, I don't think, but I told Scott that I feel better doing it, just in case, on Butter. I want/need Butter to stay around here for a long, long time. I will say that no amount of bloodwork would have extended Mimi's life. She had a wonderful 17+ years with me and I do miss her so much.

Keep us posted and let us know what the vet has to say.