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2:40pm June 9, 2015

Fey health update.

We found out why she’s throwing up and losing weight and everything.

Here’s what the paperwork says:

CATS VERMONT - Veterinary clinic for cats

Fey Baggs

Lab work –> Hyperthyroidism –

common older age cat problem.

Treatment options:

* Medication – pills or ear gel – once or twice daily – lifetime

* I131 – @ BEVS – curative procedure

Plan – start medication; while deciding ultimate plan.

L. Moore, DVM

So I’m probably going to go for the ear gel in the meantime, because Fey can deliberately cough up any pill I get her to swallow, and then bite me without holding back, making  me  have to go on antibiotics.  Ear gel lets it go in through the skin on their ears, and she doesn’t like having her ears messed with but she will like it better than daily power struggles with pills or even liquid meds.

I’m glad it’s something treatable.  I’m not sure if I will be able to afford the radioactive iodine treatment even though it’s supposed to cure it. They sent me a brochure just in case.  I’d have to go to a new vet for this, since Cats Vermont doesn’t do the procedure, and come up with money somehow, and I’m not sure whether the money is a little out of my price range or way out of my price range.  (I’m comfortable asking for money from a friend if it’s a little out of my price range, but if it’s $1000 or something I’d either have to formally set up some kind of fund system for her, or I’d have to just resign myself to her being on thyroid meds the rest of her life just like I’ll be on steroids the rest of my life.  I’d love to cure her though.  But I’m sure the cure is not without risks, especially in a 16-year-old cat, and I’d want to talk to the vet about this.)

I’m actually surprised the bloodwork came back with something so obvious and easy though.

Here’s what the brochure says:

FELINE HYPERTHYROID TREATMENT WITH RADIOIODINE

Radioiodine Therapy (131I) is the preferred treatment for feline hyperthyoidism.  The treatment is safe, highly effective and permanent.  Radioiodine is given as one injection under the skin similar to a routine feline vaccine.

If it’s one injection I’m wondering why it’s so expensive?

Oh wow I think I’ve actually been to this other vet before.  Not with Fey, but with a friend’s parrots, including the night her last parrot died.  (It was horrible, my friend was screaming and crying and wailing and everyone in the waiting room felt horrible for her but didn’t know what to do to make anything better.  We knew he was dying when we took him in but we had to try.  He made it as far as the exam, stood up, tried to talk, and water poured out his beak and he died.  Fortunately this happened away from my friend, she just got to hold the body afterwards, which seemed to calm her down a bit.  This place is also the local 24/7 emergency vet, so I’m very familiar with them from lots of parrot emergencies.  They’re pretty good, especially with the range of animals they have to deal with in a range of situations.  I’m sure they’d handle Fey’s treatment well if I could find a way to pay them.  I’ll have to get a quote on the amount, and see whether I can afford it, or whether I’d have to ask for help, or set up online fundraising, or just forget about it entirely and plan on giving her meds the rest of her life.  Which is hardly the end of the world – I’m on steroids the rest of my life after all.  And the rest of her life could be anything from a month to years, cats are unpredictable when they get old.  She’s sixteen right now, which is over the average feline lifespan but only by a little.  Many cats live to 18-20, and a few even live older.  And she’s definitely a tough old lady.  I think if Death came to her and she didn’t think she was ready she could scare the crap out of Death and send it running… for awhile.  :-P)

5:18am May 27, 2015

Fey’s vet visit — good news and bad news.

Good news:

  • They cleaned her ear out and nothing was seriously wrong with it beyond a lot of black earwax stuck in it.
  • She thoroughly enjoyed getting high on the pain meds and sedation they gave her.  (Hell, since there’s no risk of a cat abusing drugs she has no access to on a regular basis, she might as well make the most of it.  The vet seemed to think so as well.)
  • She’s going to have ear medication to keep this from happening again hopefully.
  • They did blood tests to try to figure out why she’s throwing up.
  • The vet said there’s a lot of possibilities, and a lot of treatment options we can try to see what, if anything, works.

Bad news:

  • While she may have that condition that Nikki has (which is easily treatable, which is why it would be good news), she didn’t show any signs on the examination, so it’s unlikely.
  • They still don’t know why she’s throwing up.
  • She has lost 25% of her body weight since last August.  She only weighs a little over 7 pounds.  Lifting her to put her in her carrier was like lifting a feather.  Because we couldn’t find all her carriers, I had to use my smallest kangaroo pouch carrier.  The one she never properly fit in before. She fits in it fine now.  :-(

I really hope she doesn’t have anything like what I have.  Gastroparesis would suck for a cat.  

3:32pm June 11, 2013

Fey at the vet today. She wasn’t happy. We couldn’t find the lump. The vet said that’s not unusual at all. She was however very tender and at her age (14!) they suspect arthritis. She’s also gained weight which they said is normal if Sh moves around less. They said a trip from one end of the bed to the other is wonderful that she’s even doing that much, let alone her periodic kittenish rampages. I liked that they see it’s okay for her o act old when she feels old. Several suggestions for the arthritis but first thry want to figure out the lump.

10:31am April 13, 2012
This was during the vet exam itself. They had a fuzzy mat they put out, I’m sure she appreciated being able to dig her claws into it. She looks terrified here. But she only hissed once and didn’t bite anyone.

This was during the vet exam itself. They had a fuzzy mat they put out, I’m sure she appreciated being able to dig her claws into it. She looks terrified here. But she only hissed once and didn’t bite anyone.

10:29am April 13, 2012
At the vet today, Fey jumped off the table and tried to hide in her carrier.

At the vet today, Fey jumped off the table and tried to hide in her carrier.

6:27pm February 6, 2012
This is Fey after the vet. They had to put her under briefly for some mildly invasive testing. They told me it wouldn’t be enough to make her “loopy”. What they didn’t understand was how traumatic the experience is when you’re a cat and don’t know what’s going on. And time disappears and comes back and you are sore from blood tests and catheters and in a cage in a room full of cats (when you hate other cats and stress out when you’re near one). Not to mention your own cage smells like someone else. I can’t explain what it is about her body language here. But if she was human she’d be crying. I can see it all over her body.

This is Fey after the vet. They had to put her under briefly for some mildly invasive testing. They told me it wouldn’t be enough to make her “loopy”.

What they didn’t understand was how traumatic the experience is when you’re a cat and don’t know what’s going on. And time disappears and comes back and you are sore from blood tests and catheters and in a cage in a room full of cats (when you hate other cats and stress out when you’re near one). Not to mention your own cage smells like someone else.

I can’t explain what it is about her body language here. But if she was human she’d be crying. I can see it all over her body.