Tabitha is not well

[anef]

Turns out that she has thyroid problems.  She has lost huge amounts of weight over the last few months.  I didn't really notice (I am a Bad Cat Mother), because for the whole of her life (or the last ten years of it since we moved to Cambridge) the vet has been saying "Your cat is too fat, she needs to lose weight".  So it never occurred to me that she was getting unhealthily thin.  From 5 kilos last year she has gone down to 3 kilos, and then last month to 2.5. 

So I took her to the vet a couple of weeks ago because she had a weepy eye, and the vet said "that is the least of her problems".  The weepy eye is probably because of an infected tooth, and the vet can't anaesthetise her to take it out because of the thyroid problem.  Her heart might not take it.  So she gave me some antibiotics, some thyroid medicine and said "come back in 3 weeks".

Unfortunately the thyroid medicine seems to be making her sleep all day, and through mealtimes.  I took her back to the vet on Friday, and saw the other vet, who looked at the tooth, which seemed to be better, and said that sleep was when the heart slowed down and repaired itself, so that lots of sleeping was probably not a bad thing.  In fact Tabitha has put on 0.25 kilos just in the couple of weeks of being on the tablets, so there is some good news.  He gave me some more thyroid pills. 

Yesterday, she hissed at me when I tried to pill her, one side of her face has swollen up, and the weepy eye is still weeping.  So I deduce that the bad tooth is bad again, although she is eating quite cheerfully.  That is, once I have found the particular tin of cat food that she really wants to eat, as opposed to the muck that I keep trying to palm off on her.

So I guess it's another trip to the vet next week, which means somehow fitting it round work and Naomi's wedding.  I might try to see if Michael can take her on Monday.  Sigh.

Comments

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor thing :-(

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Aw poor Tabitha. Tho, guiltily, I half feel it wouldn;t hurt Java to contract some condition where she miraculously lost weight - if Tabitha was over weight Java must be a jumbo jet!!
Did you get my email btw? i know Naomi;s wedding is probably absorbing all attention!

[timill]

Ouch.

Our Princess is on thyroid medication, but it's a liquid. We put 0.5ml in a syringe and squirt it into her mouth - if your vet can get the stuff, it might be easier on Tabitha.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Thyroid pills -- what fun! They're bright pink the first few times they're spat out ...

Let me know if I can help -- e.g. vet trips -- I have a bit more time to spare than you do!

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Oh, poor Tabitha. But the tablets do work for this.

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

You are not a bad cat mother but I'm sorry to hear that Tabitha has a bad tooth and thyroid problems.

[dorispossum.livejournal.com]

hope Tabitha gets much better v soon.