So back in mid-January my husband hauled the cats into the vets for me, as I was unable to get off work, for their yearly checkup and rabies shots. Had to have the vets check both cats’ ears (both have had ear infections in the last year), as well as various odds and ends.
Trouble has allergies to something, vet says they’re not severe enough (at least at this point in the year) to be worth medicating her for (I won’t argue, I just wanted to be sure it wasn’t a respitory infection or something).
Janie on the other hand has been having some odd issues for a while. None severe, none regular, just odd, they finally got regular enough to make me ask the vet about them, and after some discussion the vet ordered bloodwork. A week later I got a phone call, Janie has a hyperactive thyroid. Not hugely bad, but enough to be throwing her off. Normal is 3 (3 what I didn’t catch), she’s at 5.7 (ditto…), but the vet said thats not as high as its sounds, she’s seen as high as 13 previously with no more symptoms than Janie is showing. End result is a little pill shoved down her throat once a day and a return for more bloodwork in 3 weeks.
Its been a week and a half since we started medicating Janie for her thyroid, and the difference is amazing. She’s got to have been having thyroid issues for a whole lot longer than I ever thought possible. Her coat is fluffier, and shinier, she LOOKS better, and is acting just overall like a whole new cat. I gotta say, if your cat has a “sensitive stomach” with no obvious cause or regularity, is loosing weight, or just can’t seem to put ON weight no matter how much you try to feed her, occasionally seems to have trouble jumping, and you realize that she isn’t the perkiest you’ve ever seen her you may want to have your vet check her blood levels. I now feel horrid for not bringing the various symptoms to the vet’s attention sooner, but I really never did put them all together.
Sigh. At least we figured it out eventually, hopefully before any real damage was done!