# Cat not eating all tests normal



## tsbergman (Sep 6, 2010)

I have a 13 year old female spayed cat who is not eating. She has gradually stopped eating over a 2 month or so period. Her weight has gone from 10.37 in April to under 8lbs today. 

My normal vet ran all the tests...blood work, ultrasounds, fecal... no results. She does take thyroid medicine and has for many years. Vet cannot offer any idea of why she is not eating or any advise. Just keeps on ultra-sounding this poor kitty. I think they are waiting for some tumor to pop up.

Frustrated I went to a holistic vet.

She took her to a holistic vet who took her off her meds and gave her some adjusting. Told me to switch to all raw diet. Nothing is any better. If anything worse. The new holistic vet says it takes time. I'm so confused and crazy worried.

Any advise from anyone...Is there a vet out there with any ideas.

So worried I cannot eat or sleep myself.
Teresa


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Teresa,

I am so sorry you are going through this with your old girl. You are obviously an extraordinarily dedicated and loving caretaker. I'm not a vet, but I do have a lot of experience with ailing cats, and most of my vets have stated a desire to be reincarnated as one of my animals. ;-)

It would be very helpful if you could post all of your cat's test results to this thread so that we can get a better idea of what might be going on. Do you have copies of all past and present blood, urine, and fecal tests? If not, I strongly recommend you get them from your vet.

Could you also please provide specific information about which meds your cat has taken, when, and at what doses? When meds did the holistic vet have you stop (I hope NOT the thyroid med).

Without having any of these specifics available, all I can suggest is that you take your girl to a university veterinary clinic where they will have all of the most comprehensive diagnostic equipment and all of the veterinary specialists to interpret the results.

I hope you can post her test results here soon.

Laurie


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## tsbergman (Sep 6, 2010)

Yes she did take her off her thyroid medicine!!! That is the big difference between holistic and traditional vets.

I do not have the test results in my hands, but can get on Monday I would think.

Thanks
Teresa


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

I have virtually no experience with holistic medicine, but I do have some experience with hyperT cats. There are only two circumstances that would convince me to stop thyroid medication in a hyperT cat:

1) Radioactive iodine treatment

2) Severe and non-resolving side effects of the thyroid medication

If neither of those conditions is present, the risks of stopping thyroid treatment are far too great, IMO and experience. Uncontrolled hyperT can and very likely will have fatal consequences for your girl.

Perhaps if you could explain the holistic vet's reasoning behind stopping hyperT treatment, I could try to make some sense of that strategy.

Laurie


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## tsbergman (Sep 6, 2010)

She says that is bothering her stomach. Plus the tests showed her thryoid to be slightly low. I told her I was uncomfortable with taking her off the meds, she said lets do it temporarily. I'm so confused...


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Methimazole can be hard on the stomach, but if she's been taking it for many years, and if her liver and kidney values are in normal range, then I wouldn't necessarily tag it as being the cause of her current inappetance. There are, however, options to minimize or eliminate digestive upset associated with methimazole. One is to switch to the transdermal form of methimazole. This is a gel that is rubbed onto the inner ear flap. It bypasses the stomach, thereby eliminating any stomach upset. Another option is to switch to methimazole's pro-drug, carbimazole. Carbimazole converts into methimazole AFTER it leaves the stomach, so it doesn't typically cause the stomach upset that methimazole can cause. I've given both of my hyperT cats carbimazole because they both had mild nausea on methimazole. Neither ever showed any nausea with carbimazole.

In your situation, I would NOT stop treating the hyperT, though I might try switching to either transdermal methimazole or to carbimazole, and I'd definitely reduce the dose slightly to bring her TT4 back into normal range.

Laurie


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## tsbergman (Sep 6, 2010)

Thanks Laurie! I sent your post over to her. Let's see what she says.


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## razzle (May 20, 2010)

My Razzle had hyperthyroidism. I tried the pill and the gel in the ear and he still vomited. I did the radioactive iodine treatment and it worked great. I highly recommend it. No more pills or gels and no more vomiting. His hyperthyroidism is permantely cured. It's great. I don't know if a raw diet will help hyperthyroidism. Did your vet check for kidney disease? I would check online about holistic vets. Go to catnutrition.com (or .org)and catinfo.org (I think) and it will explain about this and raw diets. If it is due to kidney disease then a raw diet needs to be tweeked so that there isn't a lot of phophorus in the diet. Dr. Lisa can suggest a raw diet for cats with kidney disease. You'll need to have a phone consultation to do that but well worth it. I don't know if it costs any money. 

Kathy

Kathy


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Radioactive iodine is certainly the way to go if your girl has healthy kidneys. This is one reason why you need to have copies of her test results, so that you can verify that her kidney and liver values are normal. If they are, you should strongly consider iodine treatment for your girl to cure her hyperT and eliminate the need for methimazole.

Laurie


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## tsbergman (Sep 6, 2010)

Holistic vet says that the medicine is shutting down her whole system while trying to suppress the thyroid. 

She told me she thought she would be a "New" kitty in 2 weeks. I guess I need to commit to a plan. 

Next stop University of GA. Any feedback on that?


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

OK, here are my thoughts on your holistic vet's response. Holistic medicine makes sense to me in theory, but it's the specifics that hang me up. If your girl's current problems are associated with the thyroid med (which they may or may not be), then how is the holistic vet going to treat the underlying thyroid problem that the med has been managing? Stopping the med isn't going to cure the thyroid. After all, the thyroid problem occurred before the med was ever given. Uncontrolled hyperT can be fatal, so the problem must be managed or cured one way or another. How does the holistic vet propose to do that, and what is the success rate of her proposed treatment?

If I were in your place right now, I'd be packing up for that trip to the U of GA.

Laurie


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## candes (Sep 10, 2010)

From what I read the kitties thyroid values were* low*. That is likely the appetite loss right there. Maybe kitty doesn't even need meds anymore. Perhaps doc wants to see her levels without them? Makes sense to me. Either way, the kitties meds did need adjusted. Thyroid may be burning out on it's own.


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## annepanee (Sep 16, 2010)

I can't offer any advice except to take her to get a second opinion. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can spot something different.


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## candes (Sep 10, 2010)

I probably didn't state my feelings well enough in my first post. Your objective should be to have the kitties thyroid levels in the normal range. The abnormal levels are likely why she is off kilter. This is a simple case here. Any doc can do this. 

Not sure if the holistic MD will do do this or not. Since I am not familiar with them. I know they believe in natural treatment. But there are certain meds that HAVE to be utilized. Will holisitc MD's still prescribe those if still needed? I assumed she would, but maybe I am wrong?

Have me on the wrong amount of thyroid meds, and my life would be heck. Know the normal ranges for her thyroid tests and keep her there.


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