Please think good thoughts for my kitty! **update**

[Deleted User]

So, our 17 year old cat, Bebe has been losing weight.  After a few vet visits, they have narrowed it down to her having hyperthyroidism or cancer.  The first can be treated with pills (she is not a candidate for surgery due to her age according to the vet) and if it is cancer the prognosis is likely much worse due to her age.  We expect the bloodwork results Monday or Tuesday.  I've had her since she was a kitten and I was in middle school...I know that she has lived a long and happy life, but I really don't want to lose her.  Any good thoughts would be appreciated!!!

Update1:  So, her bloodwork came back today which showed elevated liver enzymes and elevated calcium.  So, no hyperthyroidism.  We take her back on 4/11 (the earliest he could do xrays since he is leaving for a conference tomorrow) to see if there is a mass in her liver like he suspects... So, not the best news but I kind of expected that. 

cagoldi

Poor Bebe. I hope the labs don't reveal cancer. Keep her comfortable and give her lots of snuggles.

AlisonM12

Hoping that it's just a thyroid issue and little kitty cat will be feeling better soon. Keep us posted.

We just lost our older cat to kidney failure now I"m thinking about her and missing her!

Also have a cat with a hyperthyroid. He is younger (8) so in the next year will probably get him the iodine treatment since the cost would breakeven quickly as compared to the medicine and yearly bloodwork.

@sing2phins - would love to hear what you think of the iodine treatment that your cat got!

[Deleted User]

Thank you so much ladies for all the well wishes

So on a side note, the bump apparently changed my SN mid post so I will post something letting everyone know this is me (crwjcc1). 

@wedding06 she has always been a "talker" so it's hard to say if she is vocalizing more, but she is absolutely eating more.  She will push our other female cat (Lily) off her food bowl and start to eat her food as well.  The vet did not mention renal disease, but did say "there are some other possibilities that we will check for" - so maybe that's what he meant?  We had a cat with renal disease when I was in high school and we were able to control it for nearly 4 years before he passed, but he seemed more lethargic and almost in pain when he was first diagnosed (at least from what I remember).  She doesn't seem to be in any pain and is still trying to keep up with DD and our young female cat.  Just really skinny. 

The vet mentioned the cancer because after the second exam (today) there *may* have been a mass in her stomach.   I asked specifically if it could be cancer.  We had a cat (different from the renal disease cat) when I was in high school that had cancer and we ended up taking him for chemo (my parents decision) and so I was asking because they found a mass in his stomach area too.

So the vet said it is likely the thyroid or possibly cancer.  I hope that all makes sense. 

Can you tell I am a super cat person and have had many many cats in my life.  I also have one now that is diabetic and I give him insulin twice a day so meds we can manage! 

cagoldi

You sound like a good cat mom, @Mommyxtwo1113.

[Deleted User]

@cagoldi Thank you so much!  We have taken in a lot of cats that have been in unfortunate situations and try to make sure that they have a happy comfortable home to live the rest of their lives in.  We usually look for special needs kitties (our diabetic cat and last year we had one with a heart problem), but Bebe found us when she was a kitten and we were walking our dog.  I've had her since she was a tiny little baby 

[Deleted User]

@sing2phins our vet quoted us $1800 for the procedure but then said that he did not think that our cat would tolerate it well, for some reason I thought it was surgery,  but I guess it's more like chemo?  just for the thyroid. 

AlisonM12

Sing2phins said:

AlisonM12 said:

Hoping that it's just a thyroid issue and little kitty cat will be feeling better soon. Keep us posted.

We just lost our older cat to kidney failure now I"m thinking about her and missing her!

Also have a cat with a hyperthyroid. He is younger (8) so in the next year will probably get him the iodine treatment since the cost would breakeven quickly as compared to the medicine and yearly bloodwork.

@sing2phins - would love to hear what you think of the iodine treatment that your cat got!

@AlisonM12 We opted for it despite the cost (I think we paid about $1600, but I don't remember for sure) because they told us it was basically a cure, 99% effective.  He had been vomiting constantly and had some other symptoms and was diagnosed with thyroid issues. 

The treatment itself is pretty simple; you drop the cat off for a few days and they take care of him - you leave food and any toys or bedding you want, but they have to be destroyed (you can't bring them home - radioactive!).  You have to use a separate litter box when they come back for a while (or throw out your regular one after the specified time period (we used the disposable, biodegradable ones, but had to put plastic under them), only pet a few times a day and wash your hands immediately.  That kind of thing.

It apparently worked - his bloodwork doesn't show any thyroid problems, but it unfortunately didn't solve the vomiting issues 100%.  He still randomly pukes, and it seems to go in spurts.  He'll go weeks without and then puke 3 times in a week.  I don't know what that's about.

Also, he doesn't do great with taking medicines anyway, and they told us the medicine dosage is hard to get right, so it would mean many trips to the vet for bloodwork to see how it was working and to adjust the dosage, and since he's had incidents when they draw blood where his heart races and he breathes hard - to the point they keep him for observation - I wasn't really trying to subject him to that more often than absolutely necessary.

I think that's everything.  I hope that was at least a little helpful

Thanks so much, that is helpful! For some reason I think the place that does it around us keeps them for 2 weeks! They must prefer to let the radioactive stuff works its way out while they are confined. I'm glad to hear that it's effective. My cat doesn't have the vomiting but takes medicine twice a day that's in the form of a treat. He likes it and his levels are under control but it would be nice to not have to worry about that twice a day. And when we go away it's a pain becuase he hides from whomever is in charge of kitty sitting.