what happened?
We wanted to share what has happened to Precious in
the past 3 months. It has not been pretty and of course
it has been traumatic for her. And us almost as much.
She was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in early October.
And put on 5 mg. of methimazole a day.
We did not realize that she is in the 4% group of
felines who can not take this. It was actually killing her.
In the 4 weeks she was on it, she became so very lethargic.
She was not interested in play, her food, watching the birds
outside. She slept 20 hours a day.
In the 3rd week, we found fresh drops of blood on her
food mat. Grabbed her up and inspected her head to tail
and could find not cuts or scratches and missing claws
to account for it. Unfortunately I continued giving
her the pills. But 5 days later, she rubbed her bleeding
nose on my hand. It was a Friday and no one to help
us at the vet office. I immediately researched on line
about methimazole and discovered this is a bad sign.
Stopped giving her the meds and got an appointment
for Monday to have a blood test.
Her red and white blood cells were way low, her platelets had
started clumping and her T4 had gone from 7.1 down to
point 9. Her thyroid was really no longer functioning.
Our only choices were to give her special food for the
rest of her life, no treats ever, not a bite of anything else.
And she is only 14 so this did not sound good to any of us.
We chose to go with the I-131 radioactive iodine.
Our vet here left it for me to find where and when it
could take place. We waited six weeks to get an appointment.
The closest Animal Hospital was 60 miles away with
an 8 AM appointment to have her blood tested first.
She had her iodine by 4 PM and spent the night.
Precious was there 36 hours and we were so glad
to get the call to come and get her.
Now we wait, in 4 weeks she must have a blood test and
see if this is working for her. This treatment works in
95% of cats. We are hoping she has the results needed.
"Lookie at me! I'm radioactive!"
We appreciate all the well wishes. We hope any kitty out
there that has hyperthyroidism is watchful for the possibility
that methimazole is not always the right medicine.
Thank you for stopping by for a visit and a comment.
It is much appreciated.
